Social security can, and should, in my opinion, be seen as an ever changing answer to major social questions. For example: who is part of our society - who belongs - and who does not or not entirely?

Robert Vonk is endowed professor of History of Social Security. This chair is part of the Department of Economic and Social History at Utrecht University.

From regulations to groups
His research focuses on the development of social security, both in a national and international perspective. His special interest lies in the history of social security for specific groups, taking the interconnectedness and interdependencies of various social security schemes into account, from subsistence security, work and reintegration, participation and social support to health care. He is especially interested in the history of groups on the margins of social security. Groups that did not or did not always have access to it, such as women, children and younger people, people with disabilities, the self-employed, part-time workers, migrants, refugees or the homeless.

Transnational history
In addition, his research focuses on the transnational dimensions of social security. The history of social security is something countries share and is furthermore heavily intertwined. In his research he analyses which knowledge and practices spread across countries, how these international processes of influence worked and took shape, which actors played an important role in this, and how the international dimensions related to national policy making. His special interest is in the role of international organizations and international (in)formal networks.

Why?
The history of social security opens a window on shifting views on social order. Social security is not only about security and risk, but also about inclusion and exclusion, about the tension between autonomy and equality, or the relationship between inequality and equal opportunities.