The invention relates to a method for the production of polyvinyl alcohol-free, aqueous polymer dispersions by means of radical polymerisation of one or several ethylenically unsaturated monomers in an aqueous medium. The invention is characterised in that polymerisation occurs in the presence of a stabilisator system, containing a) one or several polyalkylene oxides having identical or different structural units from the group comprising -(CH2)n-O- wherein n = 2 to 4, -CH2-CHR-O- wherein R = C1- to C15- alkyl, -CH2-CHOR'-O- wherein R' = H, C1- to C15-alkyl, containing, in the case of alkylene oxide-mixed polymerisates, alkylene oxide units with static distribution, and with identical or different end groups R'' from the group comprising an H group, OH group, alkyl group and O-alkyl group. The alkyl radical can be branched or unbranched and is a C1- to C20 alkyl radical, and b) one or several compounds of the group comprising condensation products of alkylene oxides having 2 to 4 C atoms with linear or branched alkyl alcohol having 6 to 24 C- atoms, alkyl phenols, or linear and branched alkyl monocarboxylic acids having 6 to 24 C atoms, and block copolymers made of at least two different alkylene oxides having 2 to 4 C atoms.