Simone M. Schneider

Dr. Simone M. Schneider serves as Head of the Research Group PERGAP at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy in Munich while maintaining an active affiliation with Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. Awarded a prestigious ERC Starting Grant in 2021, she leads the five-year PERGAP project investigating how welfare state institutions shape citizens' perceptions of economic inequality and distributive justice across European contexts.

Her academic foundation includes a PhD in Sociology (2014), MA in Social Sciences (2009), and BA in Social Sciences (2006), all completed at Humboldt University Berlin. This rigorous training underpins her interdisciplinary approach bridging sociological theory with empirical policy analysis.

Dr. Schneider's research program centers on three interconnected strands: (1) mechanisms through which individuals perceive and legitimate social inequalities, (2) socio-political contextual influences on these perception patterns, and (3) resulting emotional and behavioral responses. Her work uniquely integrates comparative social policy analysis with social psychological frameworks to examine inequality reproduction processes, particularly focusing on cognitive mechanisms in healthcare evaluations and income satisfaction across diverse institutional settings.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals consistent methodological sophistication in analyzing large-scale European survey data, with predominant thematic clusters examining healthcare system evaluations across migrant/native populations, cognitive determinants of inequality perceptions, and institutional influences on distributive justice norms. Her work demonstrates particular expertise in East-West European comparative analysis and longitudinal crisis impact assessment.

Her scientific recognition is anchored by the ERC Starting Grant (2021), positioning her at the forefront of inequality perception research. This funding enables her team to develop comprehensive institutional datasets linking social security structures with citizen perceptions—a significant methodological advancement in the field.

As Principal Investigator of the PERGAP project, Dr. Schneider directs a multidisciplinary research team analyzing how welfare state architectures moderate the relationship between objective inequality metrics and subjective perceptions. The group employs mixed-methods approaches including advanced statistical modeling of cross-national surveys and experimental designs, collaborating with policy institutions across Europe to ensure research relevance.