'Basic trust. That is what is missing here. Trust in a good outcome. In each other. In that things are good the way they are. [There is] no sense anymore [...] that we are part of a bigger picture. [...] So if you, then, with your wallet full of cash and your Audi A6, are going to believe in the fairy tale that you really matter, then I will focus on the fairy tale of faith, hope and love.'
Juf Ank, the main character in the popular Dutch television series De Luizenmoeder, has had enough: the feeling that no one trusts each other anymore and that there is little faith, hope and love. As a scientist, Ronald van Steden deals with matters of police, public order and security, and this scene got him thinking. "The sense of security is broader than crime. Modernisation, individualisation and globalisation affect the sense of security people experience. It sometimes seems we are no longer part of a bigger picture."
Van Steden believes it is important to place his research on crime in a broader perspective of security. "In my collaboration with the police, I am often involved in practical research, but I also want to provide a bigger picture of the story of how we operate as a society. When people feel a sense of unease, I want to take a serious look at where that feeling comes from."
This is why Ronald van Steden asks the question: what is the political and social significance of security? What is the situation now, and how did it arise? His book addresses feelings of unease and insecurity, it deals with polarisation, secularisation, difficulty in dealing with change, our Disney-like experience economy where everything has to be whole, beautiful and safe, and much more.
Readers should not get the feeling that safety and trust are in bad shape in the Netherlands, Van Steden stresses. "The Netherlands is fortunately known as a high-trust society. But there are sociologists who do warn that trust is declining. Look at the gap between rich and poor, the protests, the us versus them mentality. This can undermine mutual trust. It is important to keep the conversation going."
The book is both philosophical and socially critical, portraying from a philosophical perspective how we have arrived at our current lack of trust and security. But Van Steden also looks to the future: what can we do as individuals and as a society to be able to live together in trust again?
Van Steden tries to offer tools to deal with the changing world. "Administrators and policymakers often approach this problem from a pragmatic point of view. They think: security is about crime, and in order to bring down the crime rate we will put up more cameras. There is an obsession with control." The idea of control is a theme that often recurs in the book. "Because when are you safe enough? You can't aim for 100 per cent security. It's about how people relate to each other, how they deal with others and with fear. Therefore, we should also see safety as security."
To deal with this feeling, Van Steden recommends looking at tools from the Christian social tradition, which emphasises that people are part of a bigger picture. "Whether you say you believe in God or in society, if you keep faith in a bigger picture, have trust in each other and are willing to help each other, we will move forward as a society and people will feel safer," Van Steden said.
Ronald van Steden is Associate Professor in Public Administration and Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Senior Researcher at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR). The book Het onbehagen van juf Ank: over veiligheid en vertrouwen in roerige tijden was published on Saturday 18 March by publisher Buijten & Schipperheijn Motief.