Abstracts 1999
Sosiologia Volume 36, Number 1, 1999
Social policy or structure? Income transfers, socio-demographic factors and poverty in the Nordic countries and in France
Olli Kangas, Doctor of Political Science & Veli-Matti Ritakallio, Doctor ofPolitical Science, University of Turku
The paper compares poverty in Denmark,Finland, Norway, Sweden and France. We sought to answer the question whether or not itwould be justifiable to talk about a Nordic model in terms of poverty and povertyalleviation. We had two kinds of goals: (1) descriptive/analytical and (2) methodological.
(1) First, we compared conventional poverty rates derived from national databases. Then,we pooled the four Nordic countries into a single data set "Scandinavia" andcompared this with France. The results from both exercises provide strong evidence of theexistence of a homogenous Nordic model in terms of incidence of poverty, poverty profiles,and effectiveness of social policy.
(2) The methodological objective in the article was to "change the world," inother words to simulate what would happen if France had the Scandinavian social structureand yet its own social policy, and vice versa. Our reweighting simulations showed that theresults of the "Scandinavization" of France depend on the method of simulation.
A static simulation, changing the socio-economic structure but preserving the existingmedian incomes and poverty lines as they are, would almost eradicate poverty in France.The "Frenchification" of Scandinavia would lead to dramatic results in theNordic countries: the number of persons totally dependent on social transfers wouldincrease, the effectiveness of transfer systems would decrease, and the poverty rate wouldrise almost to the existing French figures.
A dynamic simulation also changes the poverty lines to correspond to the existing medianincome: in "Scandi-France" the median income would rise because of increasedfemale labor force participation, and in "Franco-Scandinavia" it would fallbecause of a lower female employment rate. In "Scandi-France" the poverty ratewould decrease almost to the existing Scandinavian figures, but the poor would be betteroff that the poor actually are in France. In "Franco-Scandinavia" the rate ofpoverty would be approximately the same as today, but the poor would be worse-off thanthey actually are.
In sum, differences in the French and Scandinavian poverty rates are explained by thedynamic interplay between social security and structural variables. Differences in familystructure and labor market behavior would seem to be among the most important explanatoryfactors, but it is necessary to keep in mind that these background factors are greatlyaffected by the institutional setups of individual welfare states.
Problems of relations between the macro and micro levels: mass unemployment and effortsto reduce it
Heikki Leimu, Docent of Sociology, University of Turku
How to consider thepersistent problem of unemployment sociologically in a comprehensive manner? In the lastinstance, we have to cope with macro and micro perspectives, or the sociology of bigsocial structures, and the sociology of interaction. Silverman (1985) states: thoughresearch data are often collected either at the structural level or at the interactionlevel, solid research requires consideration of both levels and their relations.
When we base explanations of system action on actions at a level lower than that of thesystem, the major problem is that of moving from the lower level to the system level. Thishas been called the micro-to-macro problem and it permeates the social sciences (includingeconomics.) (Coleman 1990)
Findings at the macro level have not provided clear evidence on what would have been, froman employment perspective, sensible labour market policy or economic policy. This iscaused by the macro-micro gap which, to my way of thinking, research has not been able tospan. I consider the problems to move from micro to macro via social mechanisms based onrational choice-theory. Hedström and Swedberg (1996b) offer a typology of appropriatesocial mechanisms: situational mechanisms (covering macro to micro,) individual actionmechanisms (within micro) and transformational mechanisms (micro to macro.) I apply thesesocial mechanisms to the deregulation efforts of the labour markets and the workplacemobility of employees. I am seeking to illustrate why deregulation and requiringflexibility from employees in the labour markets do not eventually achieve the intendedreduction in unemployment. I finally offer a sketch of the changes to current researchthat would be required for this new direction of research strategy.
When we attempt to descend from the macro level to the micro foundation, the researchapproach is extremely ambitious (Hedström & Swedberg 1996a). To obtain the linksbetween analytical levels presupposes empirical research, in addition to abstraction andsimplification, which is also evident in my illustration. As fruitful and interesting associal mechanisms seem to be in linking the macro and micro levels, the research involvedhas no shortage of problems. In this context, I can only refer to the numerous levelsfound and the relationship of rational choice to variable sociology. For instance,according to Blau (1994), to consider only two levels (i.e. the macro and micro levels)and not include a meso level can be misleading, as all levels in a social structure haveunique characteristics.
All in all, it is obvious that studies of different types, performed at different levels,will have to be combined in order to achieve more realistic policy recommendations and toreally reduce unemployment. This requires a formidable amount of both theoretical andempirical research.
Society, Nation and Sociology
Pertti Alasuutari, Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Tampere
The paperlooks at the relationship between sociology and its subject: the society.
In particular, the paper looks at the role played by social sciences in the formation ofthe modern nation state. As part of the cultural elite, social scientists and humanistshave helped shape thinking on modern society and culture, both in their own country andinternationally. At the same time, they have indirectly contributed to the development ofnation states and the entire world system. An analysis of recent theorizing and researchon the subject of nationalism is presented here to illustrate the problem -field. What didcause the shift from political definitions of nationalism and the study of nationalistmovements to a cultural definition? Why did the emphasis in theorizing and research moveinto the study of routine everyday nationalism? Explanations are sought from a discursivepoint of view. Varying functions of the use of terms like nation and nationalism areanalyzed, as are the publicly discussed problems that they have been used to refer to. Therecent shift in the way nationalism is defined is explained by the fact that the problemof nationalism is now seen to be linked to the immigration policies of different countriesand not just to nationalist movements.
Two traditions of researching social interaction
Anssi Peräkylä, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Tampere
The paper comparesBales' Interaction Process Analysis with Sacks' Conversation Analysis. These two researchtraditions are in many ways diametrically opposite: the former is quantitative,theory-oriented and aimed to produce global characterizations of interactional situations,while the latter is qualitative, inductive and aimed to characterize specific aspects ofinteractional situations (such as turn-taking or the structure of particular sequences.)It is argued, however, that on another level the Sacks tradition deals with the same kindof questions that the Bales tradition did. For Bales, the allocation of resources,control, and solidarity were among the central structural dimensions of socialinteraction. Without using these terms, conversation-analytical work within the Sackstradition has focused on these same dimensions of sociability, and it has unfoldedprimordial interactional practices that are involved in them. It is also suggested that,in the near future, conversation analysts should start to work on the social organizationof the display of emotions, which was another theme addressed in the Bales tradition.
Sosiologia Volume 36, Number 2, 1999
Levels, Fractions and Life Cycle of Generations
Matti Virtanen, Master of Social Sciences, Stakes
The claim in this article isthat Karl Mannheim's classical text (The Problem of Generations) is still the best basisfor building a conceptual model for analysing the phenomena of generation. The aim of thisarticle is to create better tools for concrete study while condensing and developing thecore logic of Mannheim's conceptual analysis. The project takes as its empirical subjectthe political and generational dynamics of both the generation of Finland's Winter War andContinuation War (1939–44) and the children of this generation.
With his concept of generation, Mannheim seeks to understand the development of social andpolitical movements. Mannheim's process model can be reduced to a series of steps: thebasis is always an age group for which some social upheaval creates a common keyexperience. For a part of the generation, the key experience becomes a motivational forcefor political mobilisation, and the result is one or several fractions representing thesame generational experience. The individuals in the fractions are bonded by common idealsand symbols; the fractions are, to various degrees, at odds with each other and attachthemselves to larger political traditions. The balance of power between these traditionsvaries according to which tradition is favoured by the current societal situation and howwell the fractions that represent the traditions are able to adapt to the changing times.
The writer uses Mannheim's process model to develop a guiding principle for concretestudy: if one wants to explore the dynamics of a generation, intergenerational dynamics,or the dynamics between fractions, one must first reconstruct their life cycles.
The reconstruction is made up of three essential phases, based on the steps in thedevelopmental history of generations. The first phase is locating the nature and characterof the key experience; then comes outlining the process by which the key experiencebecomes a source of mobilisation of fractions; and finally, the researcher examines howthe ideology of the fractions emerges in their activity, what kinds of rises and fallsthey experience during their political life, compared to each other and to othergenerations – up until their natural (political) death.
However, Mannheim's series of steps requires one basic correction. If historicalgenerations with their own distinct consciousness are formed by a common key experience,how is it possible that this common experience can be interpreted in such different ways,as the fractions do in reality? The basic differences originate already at the level ofthe key experience: although the key experience is the same, members of the same age groupsee this same upheaval from very different positions or angles. Depending on the position,the upheaval (key experience) produces a different experience. The difference betweenthese experiences becomes the basis for the differences between fractions in how theybecome mobilised and what symbols they are drawn to.
Diversity of the key experience, mobilised fractions, the moment a fraction is born, thelife cycle of a fraction and the life cycle of a whole generation are the basic componentsof the preliminary conceptual model. The emerging concept of a newly defined generation isimportant, because generations and their fractions are central subjects of politicalactivity. They are a force behind both the preservation and the change of politicaltraditions and social institutions. The mobilised fractions bring to traditions andinstitutions their key experience; the traditions and institutions bring a sense ofcontinuity to rising fractions.
Interplay of verbal and non-verbal communication in in-depth interviews
Annika Lillrank, Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
This paperdiscusses my experiences of conducting in-depth interviews. Forty-two interviews wereconducted with parents whose child had been diagnosed with cancer. One characteristic ofinterview interaction was that there was overt talk and covert emotion. The parents' overttalk revolved around everyday matters and the normal order of things, and was seeminglyunconnected with the covert emotional interaction. As the interviewer, I was overwhelmedby the covert emotions that seemed to indicate great emotional pain. My analysis couldonly proceed after I came to realise that the paradox of great emotional pain and overttalk had to be taken at face value, because it described the parents' subjectivelyexperienced reality.
The concept of projective identification in the psychoanalytic approach proved to be thekey to successful analysis. The emotional pain I experienced through projectiveidentification seemed to be illustrative of what lies at the heart of the parental crisis:the parents' own feelings of incompetence and failing to live up to their own ideal selfconstructed to conform with the most basic cultural and social norm of good parenthood. Asa consequence, their self-respect was seriously damaged. Hence, the parents were undersuch heavy pressure that, in the interview interaction, they focused on overt talk whiletrying to ignore the emotional pain involved.
Sosiologia Volume 36, Number 3, 1999:
Globalization as Sociological Concept
Pekka Kosonen, Doctor of Political Sciences, University of Helsinki
Research anddiscussion on globalization have gained new ground in the 1980s and 1990s. This samedevelopment can be noticed within sociology, a science that has long been connected withthe nation state. Recently, several well-known sociologists, e.g. Bauman, Beck, Castells,Luhmann and Robertson, have published their own interpretations of the theme. Thisglobalization discussion is at the center of the article.
It is no easy task to give an exact definition of globalization, as the concept has beenused in many different senses. In the article, the point of departure is thatglobalization is a social process in which the constraints of geography and thenation-state system of economic, social and cultural arrangements recede, and in whichpeople also become increasingly aware of that process. The main interest lies in recentchanges, over the past ten to fifteen years, since this era has been witness to new kindsof world-wide processes. The article distinguishes between the various dimensions ofglobalization. In economic terms, the international location of enterprises and thederegulation of capital markets represent major changes. With regard to globalenvironmental changes, much hangs on the social construction of environmental issues.Cultural globalization has often been questioned in the light of national and localdifferences, and there are, indeed, contradictory developments: both culturalhomogenization (McWorld) and diversification (glocalization). In the political arena,nation states are weakening, while global governance has not become a reality. All of theaforementioned processes have an impact on welfare states, although no clear-cutconclusions can be drawn. Finally, the article discusses the challenge globalizationpresents to sociological research.
The Individual in the Throng of Masses: C.G. Jung, Modernisation and Escape fromHistory
Petteri Pietikäinen, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Helsinki
The articleexamines the social assumptions behind the Swiss depth-psychologist Carl Gustav Jung's(1875–1961) Analytical Psychology. The main thesis of the author is that Jungianismoffers us a therapeutic "good myth" with the aim of transporting humankind fromthe heaviness/dullness of time and history to psychological myth. Jung believed thathealthy cultural evolution would eventually lead to a kind of new traditionalism, wheretraditional symbolic systems of meaning (such as religions, myths and art) and nostalgicand organic communality could inhabit the archetypal universe inside the human mind. Herelativises the historical, and thereby limited, state of being by comparing it with amythical state of being: through "encounters" with archetypal images onetranscends the dull and/or morbid reality of the everyday, reaches the transhistoricalmyth and is able to attain Wholeness. Jung presented this abolishing of historical time asa therapeutic antidote to the pathologies of so-called mass society. Jung'spsychomythology, which rejected history, brought him closer to the National Socialists,who also sought to create a sense of experiencing Sacred Time. Jung was not a NationalSocialist, but his archetypal psychology became popular in Hitler's Germany after thebarring of Freudian psychoanalysis. German psychotherapy of the 1930s was influenced bythe Jungian way of explaining history mythically.
The strong romantic, idealistic element in Jung's psychology linked him to the mainline ofGerman intelligentsia of the early 1900s, holding that mass society was the questionableend product of the process of modernisation (industrialisation, urbanisation,"proletarisation" of the masses.) The rise of the masses seemed to be proof ofthe uncontrollable unpredictability of cultural evolution. Jungianism can be linked notonly to general (German) conservative cultural critique but also to the holism of theearly 1900s, where the inhuman Machine of positivist, materialist and mechanistic sciencewas challenged by a "Living Wholeness," the science of life and the human mind.Holistic scientists and researchers came from all sectors of the political field, but theyhad one thing in common in their social critique: they saw mechanistic science as a threatto culture in general. Holism is, for the most part, a counter reaction to"reductionist" positivism. Jung created his own holistic term of individuationto describe the process of psycho-spiritual development and "coming toselfhood." To him, the omnipresent terror of the state represented the greatestthreat to this "self-realisation."
Since Jung's death, his teachings have spread all over the Western world and, in the pastfew years, also to former Socialist countries like Russia and the Ukraine. As part of newspirituality in the Europe of the early years of the next millennium, Jungianism will mostlikely strengthen its position as a social movement and a therapeutic belief system. Thewide spread of Jungianism would seem to warrant international and multidisciplinaryresearch into its teachings, into the promoting and spreading of those teachings and intothe clientele or readership. As a field of research, Jungianism would be particularlysuited for departments of religious studies and of sociology.
" 'Course They Need a Place to Stay but, You Know..." Racism in FinnishYouth's Talk of Foreigners and Refugees
Pekka Pälli, Master of Arts, University of Tampere
The article analysesdiscursive practices that reproduce and perpetuate racism and serve to give justificationto racist views. The study is based on the assumption that the practices of categorization– dividing people into 'us' and 'them' – and forming groups are primarilydiscursive in nature. The data consist of interviews with young Finns. The intervieweesspeak of racism in Finland and give their own views on refugees as well as on foreignersand immigration in general.
It is clear from the accounts analyzed that open, active racism is a social taboo that iseasily denied and condemned. The same accounts, however, often condone and justifydiscriminatory practices and the prevailing inequality in our society. There areindications that racist discourse does not manifest itself as openly racist. The messageis delivered through other, apparently non-racist arguments. It becomes obvious thatracism disguises itself in logical and rational arguments, views and attitudes thatconstruct and perpetuate the division between 'us' and 'them'.
In justifications for Finland's policy on refugees and foreigners, a common theme is thatrefugees form a socioeconomic threat. This threat is used as an argument for not admittingany refugees at all into Finland or for at least diminishing the quota for refugees.
The socioeconomic arguments are often backed up with examples, based on either personalexperience or otherwise verifiable observations. Television is one possible source ofevidence: it provides ready-made examples to support views and rationalizations andthereby offers ready-made interpretations for the interviewees' use.
Also present in the young people's talk of foreigners and refugees is an emphasis oncultural differences. On the one hand, this emphasizing of cultural differences can beseen as an attempt to look after cohesion and integrity within one's group. On the otherhand, it can also be indicative of a change in discourse: using the incompatibility ofcultural backgrounds as an argument can be viewed as a sign of a shift from argumentsabout biological race to cultural arguments; in talking of racism, the concept of race iseasily replaced by the concept of culture.
From the accounts analyzed, it is obvious that various categorizations andparticularizations, both of the group of Finns and of the group of foreigners, areconducted functionally. From this point of view, social categorization and its antithesis,particularization, are both resources of language use. Using either of these constitutesrhetorical activity with ideological results: it serves to reproduce and perpetuate thedivision of people into "us and them". This distinction is clearly present inthe arguments used in justifying and constructing views on foreigners and refugees.
Explaining Sexual Orientation
Marko Salonen, Master of Social Sciences, University of Tampere
Accounts ofsexuality are culturally constructed everyday explanations, used in constructingsexualities. In order to study everyday accounts of sexuality and their distinguishingfeatures, I collected data using the non-active role-playing method (projection). In thisstudy, the 65 respondents were asked to imagine and then to explain possible changes insexual orientation.
Three categories of explanatory factors could be found in the accounts: 1) Distinguishingbetween inward and outward sexuality, 2) Peer pressure and self-expression as indicativeof the complex relationship between the individual, sexuality and the society, and 3)discursive use of permanency or temporality of sexuality in explaining the relationshipbetween the past, the future and sexual orientation.
The accounts followed a different logic for each different situation. For example, changesin the sexual orientation of a gay man were most often attributed to self-expression,while changes in the sexual orientation of lesbians were most commonly attributed toconforming to the norms of the society. Accounts also varied according to the gender ofthe fictional actor. Changes in the sexual orientation of men were, as a rule, explainedas temporary exploration of outward sexuality and self-expression. In contrast, changes inthe sexual orientation of women were explained as finding one's permanent inward sexualityand coping with normative social pressure.
Sosiologia Volume 36, Number 4, 1999:
Refugee Studies and the Concept of Diaspora: A Study of Transnational Social Reality
Östen Wahlbeck, Doctor of Philosophy, Åbo Akademi University
The article is a brief presentation of the debate within social sciences about theconcept of diaspora. The author argues that the concept can be utilised as an importantnew analytical concept in refugee studies. Results from a study of Kurdish refugees areused as an example that highlights the fact that refugees maintain transnational socialnetworks and have a diasporic consciousness. The concept of diaspora describes thespecific characteristics that distinguish refugees from voluntary migrants. The concept ofdiaspora is, perhaps, especially appropriate in the case of the Kurds because of theinfluence of Kurdish nationalism among Kurds in exile. However, the article argues thatthe concept can also be a useful analytical tool in the study of other refugeecommunities. This is because the concept can relate simultaneously to both the country oforigin and the country of exile. In this way, it can describe the transnationalism ofrefugee communities in general. Since the concept can take into account this transnationalreality, it can also bridge the analytical dichotomy between country of origin and countryof exile as well as bridge the gap between the periods before and after migration. Therefugees' own experiences and social reality form a unity that should also be analyticallystudied as a unity. The concept of diaspora is an important tool since it is able toprovide refugee studies with an undivided perspective of its area of research. Finally,the article discusses some of the limitations and dangers connected with the concept. Thearticle argues that the structural context and the actual localities in which diasporasare living should not be forgotten.
Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative? On Methods and Approaches
Pertti Töttö, Doctor of Social Sciences, Turku School of Economics and BusinessAdmistration
Textbooks of methodology usually state that there is little point in arguing about therelative supremacy of qualitative and quantitative approaches, as the two complement eachother. Students in the social sciences, however, often seem to be under the impressionthat the choice of approach is, in fact, a personal one, to be made between two mutuallyexclusive alternatives. Having then come to their “very own“ conclusions aboutwhich of the two represents a sound approach to research, they imagine that this approachcan see them through every conceivable situation. The misconception is partly due to thefact that the literature of methodology does not give sufficient emphasis to the divisionof labour between the different approaches; there are obscure references to a“continuum“ between the approaches or to a need to go “beyond“qualitative and quantitative.
The article looks at the division of labour between the approaches as presented in thelatest Finnish literature on methodology. The author suggests that a good starting pointfor perceiving the division of labour would be to let the research problem determine theapproach that can yield answers to the questions posed. The relationship between problemsand approaches is tentatively analysed by organising questions into four differentcategories: there are qualitative WHAT and HOW questions and quantitative HOW MUCH and WHYquestions. The formulation of the question in the research problem does not, however,suffice to distinguish between theoretical WHAT and HOW questions and empirical WHAT andHOW questions. The former are common to all branches of science: they are the“qualitative“ questions that probe the conceptual significance of the phenomenonunder scrutiny. In the social sciences, it may be possible to obtain answers to questionsof the variety “WHAT is the phenomenon“ by asking the persons participating inthe research study directly. Such studying of meaning differs from theoretical conceptualanalysis in principle, and this article calls it semiotic analysis. It asks WHAT peopleare saying about things and HOW they are saying it, without giving answers to questionsabout the reasons and effects of these things. The HOW MUCH and WHY questions belong tothe realm of causal analysis. The difficulties in perceiving the division of labourbetween qualitative and quantitative approaches spring largely from the fact that bothsemiotic and causal analysis can use both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Negative Finnishness and Community Construction
Petri Ruuska, Master of Social Sciences, University of Tampere
In Finland, Finnishness is commonly spoken of as something negative. This type ofspeech is a product of the years 1905 and 1918, when the elites of the nation becamedisillusioned with the so-called common people. It could be said that this negative speechdoes not construct the nation as an imagined community, because it is used only to referto “the common people,“ always excluding the speaker him/herself.
However, the article views this “talk about the common people“ as just one partof community talk, finding its counterpart, “talk about the elites,“ just asnegative. Together, these two construct the nation as an imagined community. At the coreof such talk is the idea that, while some groups or individuals might have more (or less)actual power than others in the society, as citizens these people are all equal.
The article also looks at two conversations where negative “Finnish talk is used inorder to achieve positive ends. In these examples, it becomes clear that the negativeself-image of the culture can make it easier for people to talk about certain delicatetopics, such as alcoholism; in the end, it even vindicates the heavy drinking citizen: itis the culture that has a problem, not the individual. To exaggerate slightly: the morenegative the culture, the healthier the individual is.