A Shot at the Abstract

The city of Amsterdam is unique on the world stage. It is a mid-sized metropolis, heavily touristed, and well-known for its permissive attitudes towards soft drugs and sex work. Our research seeks to understand the way that these permissive attitudes are understood by natives of and visitors to the city. For the “native” component of our study, we will be looking at how the permissiveness of Dutch society affects the way in which the Dutch perceive their homeland. We will ask a series of questions regarding this subject and see if there is any variation in opinion based upon such demographics such as age, religion, geographic location, etc. Furthermore, we will try and establish what the appropriate social conventions are when participating in the unique Dutch culture, and how people living in Amsterdam feel about all of the outside attention. Conversely, we hope to explore the ways that visitors to the city view this permissiveness, how it colors their impressions of Amsterdam and the Dutch, and how they understand the social norms and conventions around activities which are illicit in their own countries. Also important is where tourists get information about cultural norms, the accuracy of these sources, and the ways in which normative behavior is communicated across cultures. Our research will be situated geographically both within the city of Amsterdam and across national lines. We will address these questions through several methods, including on-the-street interviews, online research, surveys, and participant observation in many different areas of Amsterdam.