iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 27/02/2026

How has public belief in the importance of merit🥇 and privilege💰 changed over time? 🆕Data viz shows a widening gap b/w the perceived importance of family wealth (privilege) and hard work (merit) in a majority of countries in the West Paper: doi.org/10.1177/2378... Code: github.com/cybe2001/mer...

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 29/10/2025

Teaser (3/3): some predictions from people who know a lot more about politics than I do (@simonotjes.bsky.social onotjes.bsky.social @tomlouwerse.nl @tomwgvdmeer.bsky.social @hakhverdian.bsky.social @pgkroegerbb.bsky.social)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 29/10/2025

Teaser (2/3): latest polls and most likely coalitions (source: www.peilwijzer.nl and www.coalitiechecker.nl)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 29/10/2025

Teaser (1/2): recent history of election results across the spectrum (source: www.verkiezingsuitslagen.nl)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 15/07/2025

Better parks 🌳, tighter communities🧑‍🤝‍🧑!

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 09/07/2025

💡 We find that some beliefs shifted But how they changed, depended on people's everyday interactions with people with a migration background

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 09/07/2025

We conducted a large, preregistered survey experiment (n=2,792) in the Netherlands Respondents were randomly assigned to see info about ethnic discrimination in education & hiring or unrelated info We then measured: •Perceptions of inequality •Belief in meritocracy •Support for affirmative action

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 09/07/2025

Can providing facts about ethnic discrimination change people's beliefs and raise support for affirmative action? We put it to the test in new @ispp-pops.bsky.social study with @willemdekoster.bsky.social, Jeroen v/d Waal and Masja van Meteren. A thread! Open access link: doi.org/10.1111/pops...

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 03/07/2025

Great piece by Yukiko Asada et al. @socialindicators.bsky.social on taking seriously 'luck' as a driver of life outcomes and inequality, creatively illustrated with reference to the life course of a certain French painter in this figure. Full article: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 30/11/2024

Really cool piece by @rosenjordanblum.bsky.social & co. using party manifesto data to link political change to growing income inequality across the globe. academic.oup.com/ser/advance-...

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

Our findings underline the promise of curricular reform, nonpartisan NGO campaigning or government information provision as effective tools to raise awareness, confront racism of omission, and to foster a fact-based public conversation about racial and ethnic inequalities (17/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

One interpretation of the country-differences we found is of a floor effect: facts produce more belief change where ignorance is greater (🇳🇱). Alternatively, Dutch society’s denial of its racist past may be more easily punctured than the American myth of equal opportunity (16/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

5. Finally, we find that the treatment effect cuts across the political divide: facts about racial inequality impact both people voting Democrat (left) and Republican (right) -- but we do find a 'backlash effect' with strong Republicans, echoing doi.org/10.1016/j.ss... (13/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

4. Looking at conditional treatment effects, we find that the impact of information is greatest in the white, non-immigrant, majority group. Facts about racial inequalities seem to hit harder for people whose experiences with discrimination are likely to be more limited (12/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

2. Dutch people aren't so sure. On average, they "neither agree or disagree" that ethnic minorities have fewer chances than the majority group, and they don't think race, skin color, or immigration status are all that important in determining life outcomes (10/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

Our findings are fivefold: 1. Americans tend to agree (somewhat) that opportunities aren't equal and that government has a responsibility to combat discrimination. They also think race, skin color, and immigration status are "fairly important" in determining life outcomes (9/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

Our experimental treatment informs participants (n=1001 🇺🇸; n=1078 🇳🇱) about labor market discrimination and educational inequities faced by the focal ethnic and racial group, using this graph, an explanation, and a set of bullet points summarizing research findings (8/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

Our focus is on African Americans and on Dutch Muslims, who constitute the largest and, arguably, the most visible and disadvantaged ethnic group in the Netherlands (7/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

Our survey experiment asks whether providing facts about racial & ethnic inequities could help challenge beliefs among minoritized and majority group members in societies marked by similar kinds of inequities but varying cultural narratives (6/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

When we fail to acknowledge ethnic discrimination and structural racism, we risk blaming unequal outcomes on the failings of individuals rather than see how the system was unfairly set up against them all along (5/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

In the Netherlands, the public’s perception of a progressive, tolerant & egalitarian country means that race and racism are topics eagerly avoided or denied altogether. Meanwhile, statues celebrating captains of the slave trade still line the country’s streets and squares (4/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

The American Dream covers up the fact that opportunities aren't equal at all. People are aware of the country's deeply racist past but have an overly rosy & deeply flawed picture of the progress toward racial equity that has been made, and the inequities that remain (3/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

For background: this article came out of our concern with national myths of equality, opportunity, and meritocracy. However, the omission of racial and ethnic inequities in public conversations on each side of the Atlantic takes on a very different form (2/18)

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Jonathan Mijs @jonathanmijs.com · 25/10/2023

What do Americans 🗽 and the Dutch🌷know about racial & ethnic inequalities? Are they willing to change their beliefs after learning the facts? Working with @BUsociologydept graduates Nikki Huang and Will Regan, here's what we learned www.cambridge.org/core/journal... (1/18)

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