Verzuiling: een eigentijds systeem van sociale controle

Samenvatting

Verzuiling - a typical Dutch word untranslatable in one word - is defined as 'the process in which various ideological groups in one society are included in predominantly organizational systems of social control with a tendency of the ideational values to be dominated by the org and of the org'al domination to be ideologically justified'. On the basis of this definition the verzuiling of the socialist, the Roman-Cath, and the Calvinist groups in Holland are analyzed. Socialist verzuiling is on the decline since WWII. Verzuiling is one of the newer forms of social control in which domination by rational org and domination by traditional ideological control are integrated. In totalitarian systems this tendency has reached an extreme form in which the political party becomes identical with the state bur'tic system. During this process intellectuals have the strongest feeling of the loss of their freedom, as e.g. objectivity in scientific research is thought to be a doubtful or not a value at all. 'Neutral' research in sociology is more and more being rejected by Roman-Cath's and Calvinists in Holland. Verzuiling may also be seen as a shifting of the accent in the relation between means and ends of religious groups. As a process, verzuiling is of such growing importance in Dutch social life that in the Universities there ought to be a possibility to study 'columnology', as etymologically verzuiling means splitting up into zuilen (pillars or columns). L. Turksma.