Inari Gustafsson, Author at BIBU

Nordic authoritarianism: Child-rearing values and political behavior in a multiparty context

Vilja Helminen, Hanna Wass, Anu Kantola, Marko Elovainio

This article explores how authoritarianism as a factor in child-rearing values (CRV) is associated with political orientation, party support, and policy preferences among voters and societal elites in the Nordic context, which is characterized by social trust and solidarity, feelings of affinity, and a modest degree of ideological polarization. Based on a representative citizen survey conducted in 2018 (n = 4,076) and an elite survey conducted in 2020 (n = 948) among Finnish political, administrative, advocacy, business, and influence elites, our findings suggest that authoritarianism in Finland mostly relates to culturally conservative, and less to economically conservative, political orientations. While authoritarianism is connected to policy preferences and political orientations on both cultural and economic dimensions, it has more relevance for preferences regarding cultural issues than economic ones. Our findings support the notion that authoritarianism plays a role in political orientation mainly in the cultural realm. Overall, our study indicates that authoritarianism as captured by the CRV scale might be a politically important underpinning among both citizens and societal elites also outside the U.S.

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Unpolitical solutionism: Wealth elite sentiments against democracy and politics

Hanna Kuusela, Anu Kantola

The last few decades have been marked by discourses that challenge many basic presumptions supporting liberal democracy. Populist parties in particular have raised criticism against democratic systems, and authoritarian programmes have made electoral gains. This article offers the elite's perspective on this phenomenon, which is often discussed in the context of lower income groups. Drawing from qualitative interviews with 90 Finnish top earners, the article shows how wealth elites sustain strong discontent towards liberal democracy and see it as an ineffective and sometimes fundamentally flawed system. They are concerned with its alleged (in)efficiency and disagreements typical of democratic processes and are correspondingly fascinated by solutions that are presented as self-evident but that no one has the courage to execute. In this article, we refer to this type of reasoning by introducing and developing the term unpolitical solutionism, which refers to a preoccupation with quick solutions to complex problems that are political in nature. The concept of unpolitical solutionism builds on discussions of unpolitical democracy (Urbinati) and technosolutionism (Morozov) and brings them to our dialog. By analysing wealth elites' views in a Nordic democracy and by developing the concept of unpolitical solutionism, this article contributes to recent discussions on different forms of unpolitical argumentation in the context of (liberal) economic thinking.

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Sosiaaliturva ja vastikkeellisuus : Tapaustutkimus Suomen perustulokokeilusta

Paula Saikkonen, Antti Halmetoja, Miska Simanainen

Vastikkeettomuus on yksi keskeisimmistä perustulon ominaisuuksista. Artikkelissa analysoidaan sosiaaliturvan vastikkeellisuuden muutosta Suomen perustulokokeilussa. Tulosten mukaan vastikkeellisuuden muutos oli kokeilussa vähäinen suurelle osalle perustuloa saaneista. Vastikkeellisuuden käsitteen huolellisempi käyttö tukisi sosiaaliturvajärjestelmän
kehittämistä.

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Reconciling welfare policy and sustainability transition – A case study of the Finnish welfare state

Paula Saikkonen, Ilmari Ilmakunnas

The paper investigates the capacity of welfare policies to support sustainability transitions. Welfare policy involves the discussion on public and private responsibilities and choices in public spending. The Finnish government's decision to turn Finland into a carbon neutral welfare society by 2035 is interpreted as a possible sustainability transition. The government launched a social security reform at the same time as the carbon neutrality target was announced. It was assumed that one of the major reforms would be utilised to achieve the carbon neutrality target. According to our analysis, the Finnish government showed strong political will for sustainability transition. However, one of its major reforms was not utilised to create policies to support the shift towards a carbon neutral welfare society.

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Lapsuuden psykiatrisilla ja käytöshäiriödiagnooseilla on yhteys nuorten aikuisten maksuhäiriömerkintöihin

Aapo Hiilamo, Markus Keski-Säntti, Sami Pirkola, Tea Lallukka, Antti Kääriälä

Tutkimus selvitti miten lapsuuden psykiatriset ja käytöshäiriödiagnoosit yhdistyvät maksuhäiriömerkintöihin nuorilla aikuisilla ja miten yhteys vaihtelee vanhempien sosioekonomisen aseman mukaan. Maksuhäiriömerkinnät ovat huolestuttavan yleisiä haavoittuvissa ryhmissä. Nuorisopsykiatrian tueksi tarvitaan taloudellisia ongelmia ehkäiseviä toimia.

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Striving for normality: Agency, citizen participation and intergroup belonging on the urban periphery of Helsinki

Pekka Tuominen

This article examines how the inhabitants of a culturally diverse suburban estate in Finland strive for meaningful encounters in their lives. The focus is on Kontula, a residential working-class district on the eastern periphery of Helsinki, which has become a powerful symbol of the ills of contemporary urbanity—poverty and social problems, as well as rootlessness and the failed integration of the immigrant populations—in the vernacular geography and media representations of the city. The article examines how everyday mobility in an increasingly segregated city is related to a range of qualities of sociocultural encounters, both within the immediate neighbourhood and across other urban areas. The article also argues that for many marginalised inhabitants, agency predominantly emphasises striving for normality, not a challenge to the system.

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Psychiatric and neurodevelopmental diagnoses in adolescence and adulthood over-indebtedness among Finns born in 1987

Aapo Hiilamo, Markus Keski-Säntti, Sami Pirkola, Tea Lallukka, Antti Kääriälä

Adolescence psychiatric and neurodevelopmental diagnoses are common but their link to adulthood over-indebtedness is unknown. This study aims to determine this relationship and explores the possible mediating role of upper secondary education completion

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With status decline in sight, voters turn radical right: how do experience and expectation of status decline shape electoral behaviour?

Zhen Jie Im, Hanna Wass, Anu Kantola and Timo M. Kauppinen

We distinguish between the experience and expectation of subjective status decline in relation to electoral behaviour. Studies often link support for radical parties, especially radical right ones, to voters’ experience of status decline. A few other studies argue that voters’ expectation of status decline also triggers radical right support. Using multivariate analyses, this article finds that voters who expect status decline consistently prefer radical right parties more than voters who expect status improvement. However, there is no robust evidence of radical right support among voters who have experienced status decline. These findings suggest that the expectation, not experience, of status decline drives radical right support. If these expectations trigger radical right support in Nordic welfare states, they may be even more pertinent in less comprehensive welfare states.

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Miten tieto ja tuki tavoittivat maahanmuuttajayrittäjät koronapandemian aikana?

Pekka Tuominen ja Anu kantola

Koronaviruksen aiheuttama pandemia ajoi suomalaisen yhteiskunnan kriisiin, jossa testattiin monien asioiden ohella sitä, kuinka yhteiskunnan politiikkatoimet tavoittavat kaikki maassa asuvat. Erityisesti pandemia nosti kysymyksen siitä, miten tavoittaa muita kuin kotimaisia kieliä puhuva väestö ja välittää heille tietoa pandemian vaatimista toimista ja tukitoimista. Tämä kysymys oli erityisen tärkeä maahanmuuttajille, jotka pyörittävät yrityksiä Suomessa. Pandemia vei tuloja monilta yrityksiltä, joiden toiminta vaikeutui, joihin kohdistui viranomaisten rajoitustoimia ja joille suunnattiin myös erilaisia tukitoimia pandemian kuluessa. Tässä analyysissa arvioimme pandemian aikana tehdyn haastattelututkimuksen perusteella sitä, miten pandemiatoimia koskeva tieto ja yhteiskunnan tukitoimet tavoittivat maahanmuuttajataustaiset yrittäjät.

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Uneasy self-promotion and tactics of patience: Finnish MPs’ ambivalent feelings about personalised politics on social media

Mona Mannevuo

This article examines Finnish politicians’ ambivalent attachments to social media – specifically Facebook and Twitter – in candidate-centred, personalised politics. The analysis draws on 20 semi-structured interviews with members of parliament (MPs) to investigate the tactics of adaptation and adjustment politicians develop in a work setting that precludes digital detox. To investigate the MPs’ contradictory feelings, the analysis builds on cultural and media theory to contextualise the porous border between the personal and the political that exists on social media. The analysis revolves around four interconnected themes: uneasiness of self-promotion, Facebook’s ordinariness, Twitter as a necessary evil, and tactics of patience MPs utilise when they encounter various forms of online harassment. The article suggests that in parliamentary research, social media should be considered an ambivalent social glue that holds things together rather than merely a platform for self-promotion.

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