Fields and capitals : constructing local life

Associational Activeness and Attitudes towards Political Citizenship in Finland from a Comparative Perspective

This article first focuses on the development of the system of associations and association memberships in Finland as well as additional forms of political participation from a comparative perspective and, second, expands the examination by analysing ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ dimensions of participation, i.e., the development of the number of Finnish association memberships and people's ideas of, and attitudes towards political citizenship. The typology of polity regimes adopted in this article (Schofer & Fourcade-Gourinchas) functions as a structuring scheme for understanding the differentia specifica of Finnish political participation. Two structural characteristics of the civil societ…

The Precarization Effect

What’s in the name ‘precarization’? Such a question can always be asked when we are dealing with a highly contestable concept (Gallie, 1956) or a family of concepts — as is definitely the case here, where it is also customary to speak about ‘precariousness’, ‘precarity’, and even ‘precariat’. This is a family of concepts or terms that has been defined in so many different and often incompatible ways that the answer to the question seems to greatly depend on the perspective or approach adopted. This is not as big a problem in the case of ‘precariousness’, which can be used to describe a variety of situations and events quite generally; but it makes all the difference when one refers to ‘prec…

Social Movements, Voluntary Associations and Cycles of Protest in Finland 1905-91

During the 20th century five cycles of protest have emerged in Finland: 1905-18, 1928-32, 1944-48, 1966-76, and the continuing cycle of new social movements beginning around the end of the 1970s. This article begins with an examination of the differences and similarities in the formation of these cycles against the background of antecedent political opportunity structures. The question of the relationship between social protest movements and formal voluntary associations is then addressed. It is shown that social movements and formal voluntary associations have been interactive, mutually reinforcing ways of reacting to different manifestations of social crisis. Existing formal associations …

Interest, Voluntary Associations and the Stability of the Political System

In this article the adequacy of the sociological paradigm in voluntary associ ations' research is investigated by comparing it with its nval, the incor poration or system integration paradigm (types 1 and 2) and with two approaches that are their combinations: multi-dimensional theones of disper sion and cross-cutting of interests (type 3) and multi-dimensional theories of incorporation and system integration of interests (type 4). I express the view that by themselves both pluralism and incorporation paradigms are , unable to depict the complex system of political stability. An adequate theory must contain elements of two dimensions of maintaining stability: firstly, the idea of dispersion…

The Making and Unmaking of Precarity : Some Concluding Remarks

We live in societies in which the making and unmaking of precarity has a structuring power. In the labour market, precarity is created through laws and practices that reduce protections and benefits; but the labour market itself is also the place where precarity can be unmade through (at least partial) de-commodification and re-regulation. Precarity also penetrates people’s lives and mechanisms of identification, with practices of producing stigma but also of resisting it. Not by chance, the making and unmaking of precarity has become a central focus for contentious politics through the definition of the new subject of the precariat, and the struggles against precarity as a stripping of fun…

Osallistumisen ongelma

Traces of peasantry and post-socialism : researching realities with Ilkka Alanen

Late-modern Hegemony and the Changing Role of Voluntary Associations in Finland

Voluntary associations in Finland have traditionally dominated the field of collective action and been core agents in the (re)production of hegemonic blocs. Major changes in the institution of voluntary association may have a greater impact on the Finnish political regime than in many other countries, so the Finnish case might serve as a laboratory for the analysis of general tendencies of associational development common to all developed democracies. This article addresses (1) the main differences between older and newer types of associations, (2) the challenge posed by the development of a new type of hegemony to the ability of new kinds of associations to create general trust and solida…