Jos van der Lans


Josephus Johannes Maria van der Lans is a cultural psychologist, journalist and writer. Between 1999 and 2007 he was member of the Dutch Senate for GreenLeft

Background

Van der Lans has a Catholic background. Between 1960 and 1967 he attended a Catholic primary school in Amsterdam and The Hague. Between 1967 and 1973 he attended a Catholic secondary school in The Hague. He attended the atheneum and specialized in sciences. Between 1973 and 1981 he studied psychology at the Catholic University Nijmegen. In 1977 he received his candidate's exam and in 1981 he received his doctoral exam.
As a student Van der Lans was active in the student movement and in university politics. Between 1975 and 1977 he was chair of the Nijmegen Student Union and between 1977 and 1978 he was the student member of the board of the subfaculty of psychology. In 1978 Van der Lans joined the Communist Party of the Netherlands, which he left in 1986 because internal struggles had caused the decline of the party.

Journalist and Writer

Since 1981 Van der Lans started to work as journalist. First as a freelancer for the magazine Jeugd en Samenleving. Between 1982 and 1987 he was editor of the magazine Marge, the monthly journal for social work. Between 1983 and 1984 he was part-time teacher in psychology at the Advanced School in Nijmegen. Between 1987 he was assistant editor in chief and later editor in chief of the Welzijnseweekblad, the weekly magazine for social work and the Tijdschrift voor de Sociale Sector, another journal on social work. Between 1987 and 1995 he wrote for De Helling, the quarterly of the think tanks of the political parties CPN, the Pacifist Socialist Party and the Political Party of Radicals. These parties merged in 1989 to form GreenLeft, which Van der Lans joined. De Helling became the quarterly of the think tank of this party. In this period Van der Lans was also active in civil society. He was a member of the Board of the Catholic Youth Organization, Catholic Service Institute for Life Forming. He also was a member of the board of the De Helling.
Between 1990 and 1991 Van der Lans was full-time freelancer with his own advice bureau, which worked in the public sector. Between 1991 and 1994 he worked for De Volkskrant, a major centre-left daily as editor of the opinion & discussion page "Forum". He also worked for the Tijdschrift voor de Sociale Sector and other magazines in the semi-public sector. In 1993 he left De Volkskrant and worked De Groene Amsterdammer, a left wing weekly and for Vrij Nederland, another leftwing weekly. At Vrij Nederland he edited the opinion & discussion page "Burning Issues". He also had a column in the Tijdschrift voor sociale vraagstukken and the weekly magazine for parents J/M. He continued to be active for de Helling as an editor. Between 1995 and 2000 he also was a member of the board of the GreenLeft think tank.
In 2005 Van der Lans wrote Koning Burger a critical analysis of the relationship between government and citizen. It was followed by Ontregelen on the position of professionals in the public sector. Van der Lans continues to work as a freelancer. He writes several columns: for the magazine of Aedes, for DANS and the GreenLeft magazine.
Furthermore, he is the member of several boards in the semi-public sector, such as organisation advise bureau De Beuk, HVO Querido, a foundation for social work, the Foundation for the interest of homeless people in Amsterdam, the Foundation Culture at 't IJ and his own foundation EROPAF!, an initiative based around his [|vision on the role of professionals and citizens in the public sector].

Member of the Senate

Between 1999 and 2007 Van der Lans was a member of the GreenLeft parliamentary party in the Dutch Senate. He spoke on a range of issues: transport, public works and water management; housing, spatial planning and the environment; culture and economic affairs. Between 2003 and 2007 he chaired the parliamentary committee on Transport, Public Works and Water Management. He voted against his own parliamentary party on the parliamentary approval of the marriage between Willem-Alexander en Máxima Zorreguieta out of republican sentiments.

Political and social ideas

Van der Lans mainly writes on the welfare state and specifically the role of social work and public housing agencies. He is primarily interested in the relationship between government, citizens and professionals in the public sector.
Since 1994 Van der Lans has pled, together with Paul Kuypers in their Modern Paternalisme, against the culture of non-interference in social work. Social workers should intervene actively in the life of their clients without becoming moralist or overly persistent. According to Van der Lans this culture of non-intervention is a result of the larger scale of social work and the increased respect for privacy of citizens. Professionals such as teachers, policemen and social workers, should according to Van der Lans be freed from the increased bureaucracy in the public sector. In the eyes of Van der Lans, the increased bureaucracy is a result of the larger demand of the transparency in the civil service from the politics. When professionals free themselves from bureaucracy they can orient themselves to their work on the "front lines of society". They should interfere in the life of their clients with a "right at it"-mentality.
Van der Lans is very critical of the role of citizens in the public sector. In his eyes citizens act as "kings": they expect government to solve their problems immediately. The government reacts as servant: politicians claim to want to listen to citizens. According to Van der Lans these relations have changed radically: before the politicians were the "kings" and the citizens servants. Van der Lans denies that there is a problem of representation in politics: never has politics tried to respond so strongly to the demands of citizens. This has shown the weakness of government however, which cannot deal with all the demands of all the citizens in the short term.

Private life

Van der Lans co-habits. He has four children, two of which are foster children.

Publications

This is a selection of Van der Lans' publications