De wereld der objectiviteit

Samenvatting

A critique of the sociological approach to the lives of the Dutch poor. The feelings of the author after leaving his job as a M nurse in a mental home in the provinces are described, esp the shock of the impact of life in Amsterdam. Poverty still exists in the city; in 1954 there were still neighborhoods in which 60% of the families had a weekly income under 70 guilders. These neighborhoods include Eastern Islands, Funen and North Jordan. Quotations from a sociological report (no details given) are commented upon as supercilious and out of touch with reality. It is noted that, if almost 50% of the inhabitants of Eastern Islands voted Communist in 1954, only 4.7% voted for the Dutch Nazis (NSB) in 1935, as compared with 19.2% in the prosperous Apollo neighborhood and a city-wide mean/average of 10.8%. Also, if 5.4 per 1,000 of Eastern Islands people were in prison in 1947, 5.3% per 1,000 of the Apollo population were jailed in that year, and the city mean/average was 4.8 per 1,000. The sociological approach of the report is contrasted with the human approach of J. Haveman, another sociologist, who stressed the human values of the Dutch poor. Modified AA.