Maurice Gesthuizen studies causes of economic marginalization (e.g. having a low education, experiencing economic deprivation), and its consequences for social participation and health. Using quantitative data material, he studies these topics both within the Netherlands, and across nations. He could, for instance, show that negative cognitive and social selection processes caused that the group of low educated people nowadays is qualitatively different as compared to several centuries ago, and that in countries where these negative selection processes were more pronounced, the economic and social marginalization experienced by low educated people was more severe (e.g. relative to higher educated people). In other research he was able to provide empirical evidence showing that in more generous welfare states, economic marginalization is less strongly associated with social isolation and ill-health than in less generous welfare states. Currently, he focuses on reciprocal causal relations between poverty and mental health, and studies the importance of personal, economic and social coping resources in diminishing the impact of poverty on experiencing mental health issues.

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Maurice Gesthuizen studied sociology at the Radboud University Nijmegen (doctoral in 1999), after which, in 2004, he completed his PhD at the same department. After an appointment at The Netherlands Institute for Social research (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau: SCP), where he studied labor market and poverty-related topics, he returned to the department of sociology in 2007. In his work, Maurice always strives to see the people behind the figures and statistical analyses.

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