“Without art, we should have no notion of the sacred; without science,
we should always worship false gods.” – W.H. Auden
Martha C.E. Van Der Bly is a sociologist whose work explores common humanity, shared human destiny, and global society. A theoretical sociologist grounded in both quantitative and qualitative research, as well as visual sociology, she investigates what unites people across social groups rather than what divides them.
Van Der Bly’s theoretical critique of Kant’s ‘unsocial sociability’ was described as ‘pathbreaking’ by global historian Bruce Mazlish (MIT). Her research on the sociology of the performance arts was cited by the Secretary of State in the Dutch Senate. Her empirical research on globalization and culture won a World Society Foundation Award.
In recent years, Van Der Bly has independently developed two longitudinal projects in visual sociology and documentary filmmaking addressing major challenges in world society: religious strife and peaceful religious integration in ‘Searching for Mama Salone’s Secret’; and the Holocaust in the context of the erosion of the post-war world order in ‘Eva’s Mission’, which follows Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss (1929-2026) over nearly a decade and includes filming conducted in twelve countries, five of them with Schloss. The projects were developed through Sundance Collab, selected by the European Documentary Network, and supported by several foundations, including the Amsterdam Art Council (AFK).
Van Der Bly (Martha Christina Elisabeth (Martine) van der Blij, born in Groningen, The Netherlands) holds a PhD in Sociology from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) at the Institute for International Integration Studies (IIIS), an MA in Sociology (cum laude), a BA in Sociology (cum laude), and a BA in Roman Languages and Cultures from the University of Groningen (RUG), The Netherlands. She received a classical secondary education at the Murmellius Gymnasium in Alkmaar (Alpha track), with Latin and Greek.
Van Der Bly has held several national and international academic appointments, including Research Associate at the Amsterdam Centre for Globalisation Studies (ACGS) at the University of Amsterdam, an Honorary Visiting Fellowship in the Department of Sociology at City University London; Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Global Governance (CsGG), London School of Economics (LSE); and Garnett Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Prior to returning to academia to pursue doctoral research on globalization, she had a successful career in global finance as a manager and project leader for the multinational ING Group in the fields of Direct Marketing (DM) and International Payments and Cash Management (IPCM), gaining unique, practical knowledge of the workings of global capitalism.
RESEARCH
Van Der Bly’s recent empirical work examines dynamics of sameness and difference in the sociology of religion, building on her earlier research of sameness and difference in the fields of art and of national identity.
Her theoretical essay ‘The Pananthropoi – Towards a Society of All-Humanity (a response to Kant’s ‘Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose’) was described as “pathbreaking” by the renowned global historian Prof. Bruce Mazlish (MIT), in particular for her critical analysis of Kant’s concept of ‘unsocial sociability’.
In her PhD research, ‘The Universal Surname – A Theoretical-Empirical Enquiry into the Relationship between Globalization and Sameness’, Van Der Bly examined the dynamics of sameness and polarization in the field of national identity as responses to globalization. This research was awarded a full scholarship from the Royal Irish Academy, received a Culture Foundation Award granted by the Culture Foundation in Amsterdam, and won awards from the World Society Foundation (University of Zurich), among others.
Her MA thesis explored shared audience experiences across so-called highbrow and lowbrow performance art. Titled ‘The Artificial Divide – A Theoretical-Empirical Enquiry into the Dual Structure of the Performing Arts in the Netherlands’ (published as M. van der Blij), the study included a critical analysis of national CSO data, won the national Boekman Award, and was subsequently published as a book. The research had significant practical impact, leading to commissions from both local and national governments to inform cultural and arts policy, and was cited by the then Secretary of State for Art and Culture in the Dutch Senate.