TY - JOUR AU - Dam, Peter van PY - 2011/01/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Een wankel vertoog. Over ontzuiling als karikatuur JF - BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review JA - BMGN-LCHR VL - 126 IS - 3 SE - Articles DO - 10.18352/bmgn-lchr.7380 UR - https://bmgn-lchr.nl/article/view/URN%3ANBN%3ANL%3AUI%3A10-1-108350 SP - 52-77 AB - <p><strong><em>A Shaky Exposition: On De-pillarisation as a Caricature<br /></em></strong>Dutch twentieth-century history is regularly constructed on the basis of the antithesis of <em>verzuiling </em>(pillarisation) and <em>ontzuiling </em>(de-pillarisation). The popular discourse of de-pillarisation suggests the dismissal, around the 1960s, of three societal characteristics: segregated religious and ideological communities (pillars); the societal dominance of such communities; and pacifying cooperation among social elites. De-pillarisation thus connects to the discourses of individualisation, secularisation and politicisation. Conversely, this article proposes seeing a shift in the way citizens have organised themselves – a shift from heavy to light communities – as the essential transformation in Dutch post-war history. From this perspective, the discourse of discontinuity is replaced by a panorama of gradual change. Individuals became more independent and organised themselves more loosely; religious traditions were only admitted to public life as long as they proved to be bonding elements; and politicians legitimized their policies by means of a dialogue among experts whilst, by and large, maintaining their pacifying style.</p> ER -