Issue lecture Josse de Voogd: About outsiders and established people 

At Issuemakers we constantly think about the target groups we want to reach. We take assumed social differences into account. Because a PvdA member prefers to read de Volkskrant than The Telegraph, a PVV voter is not open to a positive message about the Netherlands of Rutte IV, and there is of course a huge 'gap between city and countryside.' We think we know well how the Netherlands works, but since yesterday we have become even more aware that sharp interpretation is really a profession in itself. 

Electoral geographer Josse de Voogd, author of the influential work de Atlas of the Netherlands who dropped out, gave the Issue lecture 'About outsiders and established people'. In it he gave a sharp image of a Netherlands that is usually hidden from view. A country with not so much countryside and not so much city. A country in which the voting behavior of people with a cargo bike is at odds with that of people with a roller shutter on the window. But also a country in which one third of the population has 'dropped out'. They are never at the controls, are not heard, the system does not work for them. De Voogd makes a convincing case for this group, supported by interesting data such as the figure below (SCP, 2020). Satisfaction with their own life and the state of the Netherlands is low among dropouts and high among established people. 

De Voogd also had a message for the communications profession, for which the Netherlands, which has dropped out, is too often a blind spot. 'Keep collecting stories!' 

Josse de Voogd's Issue lecture can be listened to for exactly one week, free and online. Click here to do that.