Author Description

The Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). as well as the ministry of Justice have placed Social Cohesion, as an important subject of research, high on their agenda. In doing so the organization wants to respond to. major concerns in. Dutch society about the growing lack of social and economic integration of various groups. In this respect one might think in the first place of refugees and ethnic minorities, but of course the lack of social cohesion is not restricted to these groups. In fact, it has many faces. It may relate to certain specific population groups, which are relegated to the margins of Dutch society, but. it may also apply to some sub-sectors of the population, which find themselves in particularly unfavorable situations that impede their normal functioning and integration in society. In this respect one might think of the long-term unemployed, the disabled, the mentally disturbed, the alcohol and drug addicted, and the homeless who art roaming around in our big cities.