Hans Blokland Works is an addition to Social Science Works, the social enterprise that I am privileged to direct. Before and after I founded this enterprise, I published articles and books at other places. These can be found on this website, along some other info like interviews and reviews. I used to be Dutch. Consequently, I also published and sometimes still publish in the Dutch language. These Dutch publications can also be found on this site.

Hans Blokland Works is an addition to Social Science Works, the social enterprise that I am privileged to direct. Before and after I founded this enterprise, I published articles and books at other places. These can be found on this website, along some other info like interviews and reviews. I used to be Dutch. Consequently, I also published and sometimes still publish in the Dutch language. These Dutch publications can also be found on this site.

Books

Talking Politics and Society Again: Reengaging with Fellow Citizens

Talking Politics and Society Again: Reengaging with Fellow Citizens is the title of the new book of Hans Blokland. It will be published by Transcript Verlag in Bielefeld and will

Migrationspolitik auf der Flucht

In den letzten Jahren hat Social Science Works umfangreiche Untersuchungen über die Lebensbedingungen und Perspektiven von Flüchtlingen durchgeführt. In diesem Zusammenhang haben u.a. Laila Keeling, Anjali Zyla, Sahba Salehi, Nadia Lejaille, Genevieve

Pluralism, Democracy and Political Knowledge

The political discontent or malaise that typifies most modern democracies is mainly caused by the widely shared feeling that the political freedom of citizens to influence the development of their

Een Lange Leegte

Wat zijn de uitingen en de oorzaken van het sociale en politieke onbehagen in onze westerse democratieën? Wat zijn de politieke mogelijkheden om dit onbehagen te verminderen? Wat zijn de

Modernization and its Political Consequences

People’s capacity to give meaning and direction to social life is an essential dimension of political freedom. Yet many citizens of Western democracies believe that this freedom has become quite

Pluralisme, Democratie en Politieke Kennis

Welke mogelijkheden hebben hedendaagse burgers om gezamenlijk richting te geven aan hun samenleving? Volgens Hans Blokland komt de politieke onvrede in onze westerse democratieën in hoge mate voort uit het

Freedom and Culture in Western Society

Freedom has become a dogma. This value forms the basis of our civilization and of our political consciousness, but often we have forgotten its meaning and justification. Critically examining the

De Modernisering en haar Politieke Gevolgen

De mogelijkheid om gezamenlijk richting en betekenis te verlenen aan het samenleven vormt voor burgers een essentiële dimensie van politieke vrijheid. Velen in de westerse democratieën hebben echter het gevoel

Publiek Gezocht

Sinds de jaren tachtig is de Nederlandse samenleving in de ban van het marktlibe­ralisme en wordt het publieke debat beheerst door begrip­pen als individuali­se­ring, privatise­ring, decentralise­ring, deregu­lering en flexibilisering. De

Wegen naar Vrijheid

Vrijheid vormt één van de meest centrale waarden van onze beschaving. Niettemin zijn de meningsverschillen over de betekenis van dit begrip groot. Deze worden niet kleiner wanneer de vraag aan

Vrijheid, Autonomie, Emancipatie

Vrijheid, Autonomie, Emancipatie: Een Politiekfilosofische en Cultuurpolitieke Beschouwing (Delft: Eburon. 1991) is in 1995 in een bewerkte versie uitgegeven bij Boom Amsterdam onder de titel Wegen naar Vrijheid: Autonomie, Emancipatie

Latest Publications

New book published: Talking Politics and Society Again: Reengaging with Fellow Citizens.

Talking Politics and Society Again: Reengaging with Fellow Citizens is the title of the new book of Hans Blokland. It will be published by Transcript Verlag in Bielefeld and will be available from March 27, 2025. The product flyer of Transcript is here: Talking...

Widerstand gegen den Verfall der Demokratie: einige Lehren aus Deutschland zur Deliberation

Demokratien auf der ganzen Welt scheinen für eine wachsende Zahl von Bürgern an Attraktivität zu verlieren. Zum Teil lässt sich dieser Trend dadurch erklären, dass die Bürger immer weniger in der Lage zu sein scheinen, den Kurs, den ihre Gesellschaften...

Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber Flüchtlingen in Deutschland: Beobachtungen und Erklärungen

Seit 2021 hat Social Science Works eine große Anzahl von Interviews mit Flüchtlingen in Deutschland veröffentlicht. Für die Durchführung dieser Interviews gab es mehrere Motive. Indem wir mehr über die Hintergründe der Neuankömmlinge erfahren, hoffen wir, zur Verbesserung der Migrations- und Integrationspolitik beizutragen. Kenntnisse...

Indifference to refugees in Germany: observations and explanations

Since 2022, Social Science Works has published a large number of interviews with refugees in Germany. There were several motives for conducting these interviews. By learning more about the newcomers’ backgrounds, we hoped to help improve policies related to migration and integration. Knowledge of...

Die Entwicklung einer Nichtregierungsorganisation, die sich in einem zunehmend feindseligen und gleichgültigen Umfeld für Demokratie,

In einer Zeit, in der die Bürger zunehmend das Vertrauen in Politik und Gesellschaft verlieren, ist es wichtiger denn je, dass staatliche und zivile Organisationen zuverlässig, transparent, berechenbar und anständig sind. Wenn es immer schwieriger wird, die Bürger für eine...

Developing a social enterprise devoted to democracy, deliberation and respect in a progressively hostile and

As citizens increasingly lose trust in politics and society, it becomes more important than ever for state and civilian organizations to be reliable, predictable, transparent, and decent. When citizens become more and more difficult to mobilize for democratic participation, when...

Migrationspolitik auf der Flucht: Erfahrungen von Neuankömmlingen mit Untätigkeit, Trägheit und Gleichgültigkeit

In den letzten Jahren hat Social Science Works umfangreiche Untersuchungen über die Lebensbedingungen und Perspektiven von Flüchtlingen durchgeführt. In diesem Zusammenhang haben u.a. Laila Keeling, Anjali Zyla, Sahba Salehi, Nadia Lejaille, Genevieve Soucek und Hans Blokland mit einer Vielzahl von Flüchtlingen gesprochen...

Social media are useless for civic and political participation: experiences with a project in Germany

The political participation of young people in general and rural youth in particular is not optimal. Consequently, they are underrepresented in politics, which in turn affects the extent to which their interests are reflected in public decision-making. This can cost...

Weten burgers wat ze willen? Hoe te reageren op groeiend rechtspopulisme

“Weten burgers wat ze willen? Hoe te reageren op rechtspopulisme” verscheen in het herfstnummer van De Helling (Jg. 23, Nr.3, pp. 36-41), het blad van het wetenschappelijke bureau van Groen Links. De PdF van het artikel is hier: De Helling (23-03) Blokland. De...

Wissen Menschen was sie wollen? Wie auf den wachsenden Rechtspopulismus zu reagieren ist

In Thüringen gewann die AfD Ende Juni 2023 zum ersten Mal die Wahl eines Landrats. Kurz darauf wurde in Sachsen-Anhalt ein AfD-Bürgermeister gewählt. In Umfragen erreicht die AfD inzwischen bundesweit 20 Prozent und liegt damit vor SPD, Grünen, Linke und...

Resisting democratic decline: deliberation and some lessons from Germany and beyond

Democracies around the world seem to lose appeal for growing numbers of citizens. Partly explaining this trend, citizens seem less and less able to steer, on the basis of substantial rational considerations, the course their societies have taken. Blind processes...

Politics is no Match for Business: Charles Lindblom, Elon Musk and the Privileged Position of

The interplay between Elon Musk and the social democratic government in Brandenburg, where Tesla recently opened a Giga factory, illustrates what Charles Lindblom termed in 1977 the privileged position of business. To make sense of this relationship, academics, politicians and...

Click bellow to read more articles

Printed Articles

Since 1986 I have published articles and chapters in various magazines, weeklies and books. This was initially mainly in Dutch and then in English and German. In addition, in the last decade I started to write more and more web articles. This is not only motivated by the desire to save trees. Especially in the Netherlands, many journals have simply ceased to exist. To the extent that they still appear, this is done in a much lower frequency. Throughout the Western world, people are reading less and less, and they are also doing so on paper to a decreasing extent.

Click bellow to read the articles

Podcast

In the winter of 2022, Zak Reimer talked with Hans Blokland about some core ideas behind Social Science Works and its projects: democracy, deliberation, populism, radicalization, discrimination, usable knowledge, among other things. By introducing short series discussing one or two issues, rather than long elaborate conversations, we hope to give you more insight, information or even inspiration to reflect on important social-political theories, methods and problems that SSW deals with.

Click here to read more