Search results for "Welfare State"

Changing the heart and soul? Inequalities in Finland’s current pursuit of a narrow education policy

2018

The Finnish educational system is well known for its excellent learning results, highly trained teachers and egalitarian values. However, when the political leanings of the government change, its policies are usually altered as well. In this policy report we give an account of the recent changes and current trends in Finnish education policy. We analyse the characteristics of the Sipilä Government’s current education policy since 2015 and compare it to the Nordic welfare-state ideals of universalism, equality and social justice which have traditionally been the key building blocks of the Finnish education system. The Government’s policy appears to be narrow-minded and ignorant of issues rel…

The Most Invisible Maternal Experience? Analysing How Maternal Regret Is Discussed in Finland

2021

AbstractIn Finland, becoming a mother is often constructed as an individual choice that ultimately leads to personal fulfilment and happiness, despite the occasional ‘negative’ feelings associated with motherhood such as exhaustion, frustration and tiredness. In this cultural atmosphere, maternal regret continues to be a subject that is hidden, forbidden and rarely scrutinised. It is perhaps surprising that in one of the world’s most gender egalitarian countries, which is also perceived to be one of the best countries in which to be a mother, women still testify that motherhood is limited to survival. We argue that, somewhat paradoxically, discussing the negative emotions of motherhood migh…

Reconstructing Care Professionalism in Finland

2015

The public sector plays a special role in the Nordic welfare states through its commitment to the principle of universalism, and in relation to social security and publicly funded services in education, health and care (Rostgaard 2002). In the 21st century, the impact of economic austerity on public resources and a rapid aging of the population have forced welfare states to undergo an extreme reform. In Finland, the reform has meant streamlining the state, restraining public expenditure and recalibrating the universalistic ideals behind the Nordic welfare state model, as well as introducing new management models (Pollitt & Bouckaert 2011). The managerial reforms implemented in Finland have …

HCV eradication: a duty of the State, an option for the individual

2020

In recent years, the debate on ethical issues related to hepatitis C virus therapies has been focused on the problem of drug prices and access to therapies. Nonetheless, the goal of hepatitis C virus eradication set by the World Health Organization in 2016 is raising new ethical issues, since governments are faced with a new challenge: reaching through screening, diagnosis and treatment a large amount of subjects with undiagnosed hepatitis C infection. National governments, especially high-income countries with a Welfare State, are compelled to provide access to therapies, but also to involve those who are still unaware of their disease status. Since people cannot be forced but should be gu…

Citizenship, populism and social work in the Finnish welfare state

2020

This chapter ties together discussions of citizenship and social work practice in the context of growing populist and neoliberal political trends in Finland. These political trends are manifested in populist right-wing nationalist movements on the one hand, and in the neoliberal dismantling of the welfare state on the other. Both political trends – right-wing nationalist populism and neoliberalism – tend to separate people into two groups: those who are ‘deserving’ and those who are ‘undeserving’. Simultaneously, the dynamics of globalisation have radically changed nation states and their traditional concepts of citizenship and related social rights. There is thus a need to redefine the und…

Il volontariato religioso nell'ordinamento giuridico italiano (l'incompiuta integrazione tra società civile e società religiosa)

2011

Lines of development in social research on disability in Finland between the years 1970–2010

2013

This article reviews the development of social research on disability conducted in Finland during the 40-year period from 1970 until 2010. The main focus is the connection of the research with the socioeconomic development of the country. The review starts from the emergence of a new disability service paradigm during the late 1960s. This new paradigm centred around the concept of rehabilitation, and had its roots in the birth of a postmodern welfare state during the same decade. The second shift began during the 1980s and was characterized by the precedence of human rights issues. Both of these changes paralleled international developments, but equally had their roots in the Finnish post-w…

Sosiaalinen kansalaisuus kehittyvässä yhteiskunnassa : T. H. Marshallin sosiaalisia oikeuksia korostava kansalaisuuskäsitys hyvinvointivaltiota koske…

2016

The effect of early career social capital on long-term income development in Finland

2020

PurposeIn this study, the authors examine whether social capital embedded in individuals' social networks is connected to employees' long-term income development in Finland.Design/methodology/approachAnalyses are based on 25–35-year-old employees from the Finnish Living Conditions Survey of 1994 combined with register data on earned incomes from 1995 to 2016. The authors used questions addressing the frequency of meeting parents or siblings, spending free time with co-workers and participation in associational, civic or other societal activities as measures of the extent of network capital. Ordered logistic model was used to examine whether the size and composition of social networks differ…

Social Work and Welfare System in Italy: changes, critical issues, resiliencies

2019

The emergence and growth of the professional figure of the social worker in Italy dates back to the 20th century, when the concept of social assistance witnessed a more concrete legislative application, through the affirmation of the Social State, the type of State that aims to guarantee not only equality and freedom to its citizens, but also, what is known as, “social well-being”: “the profession of social worker, being the progeny of industrial society, assumes the form of the functional specialization of modern social-welfare activity” (Gui 2004: 3). Since the early years of the last century, the social worker (or “social assistant” as it has been the term given in Italy to the social wo…