D.A. (Dorota) Lepianka

Postdoc researcher

Introductie

Dorota Lepianka studied American Culture at the University of Warsaw (1995-1998) and Sociology at the Central European University / University of Lancaster (1998-1999). In 2007 she obtained her PhD in social sciences at the University of Tilburg. Her research expertise lies in the field of inequality, poverty and social exclusion as well as their social construction. In her PhD dissertation she investigated popular attributions for poverty and their antecedents across a number of European societies. Previous research projects she participated in related more explicitly to the issues of social inclusion and exclusion as well as the institutional strategies of dealing with the poor on both national and community level.

Her current research interests revolve around the media construction of various social groups. At AIAS Dorota participates in the project Solidarity in the 21st Century coordinated by Paul de Beer. Her role is to investigate the images of the old, the young, the allochthones (migrants) and the autochthones (the ethnic Dutch) in the contemporary Dutch news-media.

Additionally, she is involved in the project The (Polish) Discourses of Poverty and Social Exclusion (sub-project: Media Discourse on Poverty and Social Exclusion) and thus affiliated with the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences.

Recent Publications

Lepianka, D., J. Gelissen and W. van Oorschot. 2010. “Popular Explanations of Poverty in Europe: Effects of Contextual and Individual Characteristics across 28 European Countries”, Acta Sociologica 1(53), pp. 53-72.

Lepianka D., van Oorschot, W. and J. Gelissen. 2009. “Popular explanations of poverty: A critical discussion of empirical research”, Journal of Social Policy 3(38), pp. 421-438.

Lepianka D. 2007. Are the Poor to Be Blamed or Pitied? A Comparative Study of Popular Poverty Attributions. Doctoral Dissertation. Tilburg, ISBN: 978-90-5335-130-7.