As many as 4500 people took part. They completed a questionnaire with open questions and multiple-choice questions. These were about inequality and the causes of inequality. Wasilewska comments on the results: 'Our tax system was often cited as a cause of inequality, as was the difference in wages. These findings surprised us as we hadn’t ruled out other answers such as some people working harder than others. This was indeed what some respondents said but they were a distinct minority.'

Inequality on the rise

Wasilewska says: 'Inequality has been on the rise in many advanced economies, which has emerged as an important topic of political debate. You also see an increase in concern about inequality. Studies show that more and more people feel there’s too much income inequality. The subject is on the minds of many and that’s a plus for a researcher such as myself. It’s nice to be working on something many people think about. Moreover, I studied economics and sociology and this survey is a great way of combining these disciplines.'

Surprising findings

The study led to findings that surprised Wasilewska in a number of ways. Not only had she not expected so many people to feel that inequality was the fault of the system, but the researchers also discovered that, if respondents were given more information about wealth or income inequality, their opinions on the causes of inequality didn’t change. While the income inequality is relatively low in the Netherlands, the wealth inequality is rather high. 'We had expected that, if we gave this information to respondents, they would change their minds, but this was not the case,' Wasilewska says.

Extensive data set

The survey is part of Wasilewska’s PhD programme, which began in September. She talks about her studies with great passion: 'I thought it was great to be able to work with such an extensive data set on a topic that appeals to many people. To me, it adds value to be  investigating something that’s also a topic of conversation outside the academic world. It’s  amazing that I can delve into the subject with such a rich data set. Sometimes, a researcher has to make do with a very limited data set and you only have students, for instance, as participants. But here we have an actual reflection of the Dutch population.'

'Another point worth noting is that we worked with open questions. It was interesting to see people’s gut responses to the questions we put to them. At the same time, it was a real challenge because so many people took part. It was a big job figuring out how best to process all the answers from the 4500 respondents. In the end, we had to hire some assistants to get the job done. The advantage is that you then get an even clearer picture of the arguments. Many people, for example, indicated that they believe inequality isn’t caused by factors like luck or hard work. They don’t think it has anything to do with who you are, but they put it down to the system you’re in. It struck me that most people were nuanced in their answers although there were some who were less subtle and took the liberty of expressing themselves in no uncertain terms. But they have every right and they were just a small minority. You see that people want some kind of change to a system they consider unfair and I think that’s very commendable.'