Sustained changes in policy concerning long-term care that aim to increase responsibility of informal networks beg the question of whether, and if so, which older adults might be or become vulnerable in terms of care received. Societal developments like individualization have changed personal networks. The distinct family-focused network type ensured receipt of care for many in the past, but non-kin has gained importance at the cost of kin. Also, relationships that generally were governed by norms of solidarity might rely more on keeping balance in exchange of support and care. In the current project, I aim to understand how network type and potential for informal care has changed across birth cohorts of older adults over a time span of about twenty years. First, I study informal and formal care use of older adults with different network types among different birth cohorts. Second, I look at whether the importance of reciprocity for receiving care have changed over the period of investigation. Third, I focus on two categories of older adults that are potentially disadvantaged, namely older adults in a low socio-economic status and divorced older people. As a result of this study, I will be able to give a much needed answer to the pressing questions of how societal developments have changed networks of Dutch older adults, whether or not the conditions underlying support exchange have changed and what implications this has for the use of formal care of older adults. I employ data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA), a unique cohort-sequential panel study that allows me to study network types and informal and formal care use among older adults (born 1908-1957) over the years 1992-2016.

This project studies the conditions under which industrial conflict is contagious or not. The core hypothesis is that industrial conflict produces important strategic information for other unions and employers. It investigates whether waves of industrial conflict result from the transmission of this strategic information. The project studies: (a) the diffusion of strategic information in formal and informal networks of negotiators for unions and employers; (b) worker mobilization by negotiators and mass media; (c) institutional factors that hinder or facilitate the diffusion of strategic information. The communication infrastructure of industrial stakeholders actively supports the dissemination of results and recommendations.

The so-called refugee crisis in 2015 created a new impetus for studying possibilities and challenges regarding long-term inclusion in the countries of settlement. Many studies show that having a job is crucial for rebuilding refugees’ self-esteem and their abilities to actively contribute to society. Getting a good start when motivations are high (by learning the language, being allowed to study or get employment, building a relevant network, and so on) is essential for refugees’ long-term job opportunities. However, refugees’ entrance into – and long-term inclusion in – the labour market is difficult, even with organizations that have explicit diversity policies and where inclusion of specific marginalized groups, such as refugees, is a particular objective. There is a lack of thick narratives of refugees’ life trajectories during the first years along their paths of integration into their new society and, particularly, their inclusion into the labour market. Community grassroots initiatives offer new, exciting angles for studying refugees’ short-term engagements and their potential for refugees’ long-term integration. This project’s objective is to begin such an inquiry by investigating the contribution of a neighbourhood initiative in Amsterdam, in terms of both short-term engagement with (e.g. building social networks) and longer-term integration into the Dutch labour market. The aim of this research is to collect thick narratives of Syrian refugees’ experiences of their involvement in the grassroots initiative Hoost on their paths towards integration, both during their six months in Hoost and as inhabitants of Amsterdam after moving into their own houses.

The fact that more and more older adults need informal care puts a lot of pressure on their partners and children. A solution would be to share the care in a care network with informal and professional caregivers. FAMCARE examines under which individual, family and societal conditions 1) different care network types arise, and 2) care networks contribute to the wellbeing of care recipients, partners and children. FAMCARE uses unique data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA, 1992-2022) and replicates the 2001 multi-actor study among partners and children of LASA-respondents to compare 1) and 2) over time.

Non-standard employment – employment with a non-permanent contract – is currently in the heart of economic and political debate. This project uses a new longitudinal approach to examine the role of non-standard employment by treating careers as ‘process outcomes’ where the whole employment trajectory matters, and not as ‘point-in-time transitions’ where only the outcome of a single episode matters, as previous research has done. The results show that careers of workers in non-standard employment are much more diverse than previously assumed: they are not limited to prospects or precarity, but vary on a range of employment security and income security.