Dr. Simone Schneider Receives ERC Starting Grant

The research project "The (Mis)Perception of Economic Inequality" (PERGAP) by Dr. Simone Schneider will be funded with a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) of about 1.5 million euros over the next five years. At the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Simone Schneider will work with her own research team to investigate in particular the influence of welfare state institutions on social perception and preference formation.

Discussions about increasing income inequality around the globe have taken on even greater significance in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic. "How individuals perceive and respond to these inequalities, however, varies between societies. Yet, the social causes and societal conditions for this have been little explored. The basic assumption of the project is that social security systems provide distinct answers to the questions of 'who gets what and why?' and 'who should get what and why?', which ultimately shapes the way citizens view and justify inequalities in society," Schneider explains her research interest. For the investigation, the researcher will develop new analytical tools and create a comprehensive dataset with information from 50 countries on the inequalities inherent in social security systems.

At the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Simone Schneider has worked at the interface of law and social science since 2017. She played a leading role in the development and implementation of the Pension Maps project.

The European Union recently awarded Starting Grants to 397 young scientists from all over Europe as part of the Horizon Europe research program, including eleven applicants from the Max Planck Society. The ERC Starting Grants are intended to help young researchers to realize their own scientific projects.