BIBU bubble minitron

Paula Saikkonen, Minna Ylikännö

Is There Room for Targeting within Universalism? Finnish Social Assistance Recipients as Social Citizens

bibu_new_banner

Abstract This article focuses on the role of means-tested social assistance in Finland, which is often considered one of the Nordic welfare states described as having a universal welfare model. The article scrutinises the capacity of the final safety net to enhance the social citizenship of social assistance recipients. The Finnish social security system combines social insurance (earnings-related benefits), universal benefits (flat-rate benefits), free or affordable public services, and social assistance as a means-tested and targeted element, and thus it is a discussion on the degree of universalism that best captures the nature of universalism in the Finnish welfare state. Because the final safety net includes public services (especially social work) and income transfers (especially social assistance), its ability to strengthen social citizenship depends on both elements—separately and as a combination—as there may be a simultaneous need for financial aid and services. Whilst national registers provide data on social assistance, there is no national register data on municipal social services, which is why a survey was conducted. In this study, the heterogenic clients supported by the final safety net were described based on an open-ended question in the survey data. Statistics were then used to evaluate the frequency of client groups (capable clients, persistent clients, invisible clients, safety net dropouts). The article concludes that universalism as a social policy principle is challenged by the diversity of the clientele.

BIBU bubble minitron

Sakari Hänninen, Kirsi-Marja Lehtelä, Paula Saikkonen

The Relational Nordic Welfare State
Between Utopia and Ideology

bibu_new_banner

Abstract The success of the Nordic welfare state is well known, but the key drivers of its remarkable expansion are not. This book explores the relationships between citizens that constitute the normative groundwork of Nordic societies, arguing that the quality of relations steers welfare development.

Chapters explore relations of reciprocity, trust and equality that characterize the relational Nordic welfare state. Through an interdisciplinary approach, expert contributors consider the establishment and growth of welfare institutions in Nordic countries, and evaluate the neoliberal challenge that these institutions have faced since the 1980s. This book reveals how and why Nordic societies may find a path of balanced and sustainable development.

Timely and insightful, this book will be indispensable for scholars and students of social and political sciences, as well as jurisprudence, especially those interested in welfare states.

BIBU bubble minitron

Hanna Wass, Heikki Hiilamo, Titi Gävert

Miten palauttaa kirkon päätöksentekokyky?

bibu_new_banner

Tapa, jolla kirkolliskokouksen edustajat valitaan, on niin epäselvä, että edes vaalien jälkeen ei voi olla varma tulevan kauden linjasta. Vaikeaselkoisuus heijastuu päätöksentekoon.

BIBU bubble minitron

Maria Valaste, Hanna Wass,

Poliittinen osallistuminen osana kokonaisvaltaista kotoutumista

bibu_new_banner

Abstrakti Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan ulkomaalaistaustaisten äänioikeutettujen osallistumista vuosien 2012 ja 2017 kuntavaaleihin. Analyysit pohjautuvat Tilastokeskuksen tuottamaan yksilötasoiseen rekisteriaineistoon, jonka äänestystiedot ovat peräisin oikeusministeriön ylläpitämästä sähköisestä äänioikeusrekisteristä. Tutkimuksemme keskeinen lähtökohta on, että kotoutuminen muodostaa yhden dynaamisen kokonaisuuden, jonka eri osat joko tukevat tai heikentävät toisiaan. Tällaisten dynaamisten vaikutusten analysointi on hankalaa johtuen eri tekijöiden keskinäisistä riippuvuuksista. Tämän vuoksi olemme pitäytyneet mahdollisimman pelkistetyissä malleissa. Artikkelissa tarkastelemme ulkomaalaistaustaisten äänioikeutettujen osallistumista vuoden 2017 kuntavaaleihin rakenteellisen ja identiteettipohjaisen kotoutumisen pohjalta. Rakenteellista kotoutumista mitataan osallistumisella työelämään ja tulotasolla. Identiteettipohjaista kotoutumista mitataan avioitumisella syntyperäisen suomalaisen kanssa. Tarkastelemme näissä tapahtuneen muutoksen vaikutusta ulkomaalaistaustaisten äänioikeutettujen äänestystodennäköisyydelle, ja vertaamme sitä vastaavaan muutokseen syntyperäisten suomalaisten kohdalla. Hypoteeseinamme ovat seuraavat: H1a) siirtymä työttömästä työlliseksi nostaa äänestystodennäköisyyttä, H1b) siirtymä työllisestä työttömäksi laskee äänestystodennäköisyyttä, H2a) tulojen lisääntyminen nostaa äänestystodennäköisyyttä, H2b) tulojen vähentyminen laskee äänestystodennäköisyyttä ja H3) avioituminen syntyperäisen suomalaisen kanssa lisää äänestystodennäköisyyttä. Analyysimme tulokset osoittavat, että tarkastelluista mittareista ylivoimaisesti suurin merkitys oli syntyperäisen kansalaisen kanssa avioitumisella. Sen sijaan ylöspäin suuntautuvalla tuloliikkuvuudella ja työllistymisellä oli vain vähän vaikutusta. Tulokset korostavat tarvetta tarkastella poliittiseen osallistumiseen vaikuttavia tekijöitä kokonaisvaltaisesti monipuolisten mittarien ja pitkittäisaineistojen pohjalta.

BIBU bubble minitron

Hanna Wass, Miroslav Nemcok

What to expect when you’re expecting: Preferences for representation among voters and political elites

bibu_new_banner

Abstract Like any reciprocal relationship, representation is filled with expectations. Different types of voters have different types of ideas on how elected politicians should behave in their role as representatives, and what should be considered as the primary focus of representation. Candidates running for elections or MPs already familiar with real-life decision-making situations might have corresponding yet not necessarily matching preferences. The extent to which these expectations overlap is, in turn, pivotal for the process legitimacy of representative democracies. In this review chapter, we bind three strains of literature together. First, we review the findings and implications of those relatively few previous analyses which have examined the question of whether voters and elected representatives have congruent preferences for the style and focus of representation. Second, the concept of representational congruence is discussed from a methodological perspective. Thirdly, we address the implications of voter-elite congruence for citizens’ satisfaction with the performance of democratic regimes. This is followed by a concluding section which looks ahead and asks: What can be expected from the future studies of congruence in representational expectations and preferences?

BIBU bubble minitron

Lotta Junnilainen

Place Narratives and the Experience of Class: Comparing Collective Destigmatization Strategies in Two Social Housing Neighborhoods

bibu_new_banner

Abstract  KA growing body of literature has investigated the various ways in which residents of stigmatized neighborhoods respond to and cope with stigmatization. However, these approaches have fallen short in tackling the question of how particular places shape responses to stigmatization. In this article, I take seriously the question of context and, based on a comparative ethnography of two social housing neighborhoods in Finland, show how residents in similar social structural positions differed in terms of the cultural milieus they inhabited, presenting them with different cultural resources for dealing with stigmatization. In the article, I suggest that non-recognition is an understudied but significant consequence of stigma related to social housing neighborhoods. Further, I suggest that depending on the historical and cultural context of the neighborhood, different destigmatization strategies are employed when residents face non-recognition. My data shows that locally lived collective place narratives informed residents’ experiences of class: In one neighborhood, the defining element of the locally acknowledged place narrative was class struggle, whereas in the other it was middle-class aspiration. These narratives served as building blocks for their destigmatization strategies.

BIBU bubble minitron

Pekka Tuominen

Historical and Spatial Layers of Cultural Intimacy: Urban Transformation of a Stigmatised Suburban Estate on the Periphery of Helsinki

bibu_new_banner

Abstract  Kontula, a suburban estate at the margins of Helsinki, Finland, has been plagued by a notorious reputation since its construction in the 1960s. At different moments in history, it has reflected failed urbanity, with shifting emphases on issues such as rootlessness, segregation, intergenerational poverty, and unsuccessful integration of immigrants. Unlike many other suburban estates in Helsinki, it has become a potent symbol of the ills of contemporary urbanity in the vernacular geography of the city. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this article explores how its inhabitants experience the dynamic between the internalised stigma and their responses to it. The focus is on how historically formed and spatially defined senses of belonging and exclusion shape their everyday lives and how they have found ways to challenge the dominant perceptions about their homes and neighbourhoods. I argue that an understanding of cultural intimacy, conceptually developed by Michael Herzfeld, offers a useful way to approach the tension between essentialised categories and lived realities. Rather than simply limiting their agency, the shared stigma enables inhabitants to form powerful senses of belonging. The article emphasises how culturally intimate understandings employ both complex historical trajectories and shifts in relative location to question and confront the stigma in the language of mutual trust and belonging.