Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on personal, social and societal life worldwide. The virus threatens the physical health, social contacts and financial and economic security of many. The pandemic has led to polarisation in society, to an increase in social inequality, to a threat to democratic rights and to international tensions. Social work has not been left unaffected either. Based on research conducted by the Centre for Social Innovation of HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht Netherlands and financed by ZonMw, a concise ethical manual was developed for social professionals in crisis situations. It contains a series of questions for reflection that can be used to make the most important ethical challenges explicit and to take action. The guide is also suitable for carrying out a brief ethical review, as it were, individually or collectively, in the hectic day-to-day work.
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This paper addresses the following question: What is the current opinion and conception of ordinary Dutch people regarding the influx of refugees from the Middle East, and how can local government formulate a policy on this issue?
It is argued that a mainstream area that has become unpleasant is rejected by some and protected by others. Both poles, the renegades and the fanatical stragglers, grew out of the same discontent, although the polarized stayers are strongly identified with the in between. This creates the blind spot, the gap, and the in between is disregarded. Let the third and largest group live there, the indifferent, the people who think it is all right. They see both the change minded and the conservatives as somewhat polarized.
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