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Willem de Koster (Delft, 1984) is a PhD candidate in sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam and a member of the Centre for Rotterdam Cultural Sociology (CROCUS). He obtained his Master’s degree cum laude at this university in 2005, with a thesis on virtual community formation by right-wing extremists. His dissertation addresses the subject of virtual community by focusing on the interrelationship between participation in online forums and offline questions of identity.

Next to his doctoral research, Willem studies the consequences of cultural change in the West. In collaboration with various colleagues he has written on cultural conflict, individualization, secularization, the rise of the penal state and welfare chauvinism.

Willem’s articles are published in British Journal of Criminology, Information, Communication and Society, International Political Science Review, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Journal of European Social Policy, Mens en Maatschappij, Sociologie and Symbolic Interaction. Currently, he is working on books entitled Paradoxes of Individualization (with Houtman and Aupers; under contract with Ashgate, UK) and The Logic of Ideology (with Achterberg, Houtman and Van der Waal).

Besides his research activities, Willem teaches various courses in sociology and is an editor of the Dutch refereed journal Sociologie.

Contact

Department of Sociology
Faculty of Social Sciences
Erasmus University Rotterdam
P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
The Netherlands

tel: +31 10 408 2390
fax: +31 10 408 9098
e-mail: dekoster@remove-this.fsw.eur.nl