Paul Schnabel

Paul Schnabel (born 17 July 1948, Bergen op Zoom) is a Dutch sociologist and the director of an agency of the Dutch government called Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau (Social and Cultural Planning Office), usually abbreviated as SCP (or SCPB).

Schnabel grew up in Breda. He studied sociology in Utrecht. He received his Ph.D. in 1982 for his dissertation on new religious movements and mental health.

Apart from his work for the SCP he has other appointments in several institutions in Dutch society such as the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD), and the Scientific Council for Government Policy. He is a columnist to the Dutch newspapers NRC-Handelsblad and Het Financieele Dagblad. As of 2008, he is also the chairperson of the committee that selected the 1,000 texts deemed as "key" of the Dutch and Flemish cultural history for the Digital library for Dutch literature. .

In 2006 he was listed in De Volkskrant in the top ten of the most influential persons in the Netherlands.

Selected bibliography

 * Tussen stigma en charisma: nieuwe religieuze bewegingen en geestelijke volksgezondheid/Between stigma and charisma: new religious movements and mental health Erasmus university Rotterdam, Faculty of Medicine, Ph.D. thesis, ISBN 90-6001-746-3 (Deventer, Van Loghum Slaterus, 1982) available on the internet
 * De weerbarstige geestesziekte: naar een nieuwe sociologie van de geestelijke gezondheidszorg, 1995, SUN (with Derksen, Jan)