Persuasions, Resistance and Other Discourse Virtuosities

This article concerns the discursive power relations that have led to equality work in Finland. In addition to marketisation, publicly-funded projects, especially those funded by the European Union, have permeated the public sector. Equality has been labelled women’s work and something that women do and the continuity of equality work requires a complex form of competence. In this article, ways have been looked to analyse the current situation by conducting an analysis that will enable to see not only the discursive power relations that shape gender equality work but also how it has been possible that gender equality work has succeeded in remaining continuous. Persistence of problems concerning equality as well as co-operation between women and the ‘discourse virtuosity’ of equality work have opened up opportunities for continuity but not without problems

From Risk to Resilience : The therapeutic ethos in youth education

Peer reviewe

The Rise of Survival Discourse in the Era of Therapisation and Neoliberalism

Peer reviewe

TROUBLING GENDER EQUALITY : REVISITING GENDER EQUALITY WORK IN THE FAMOUS NORDIC MODEL COUNTRIES

This article concerns gender equality work, that is, those educational and workplace activities that involve the promotion of gender equality. It is based on research conducted in Sweden and Finland, and focuses on the period during which the public sector has become more market-oriented and project-based all over the Nordic countries. The consequences of this development on gender equality work have not yet been thoroughly analysed. Our joint empirical analysis is based on discourse-analytic methodology and two previous empirical studies. By analysing interviews conducted with people involved in gender equality work, this article emphasises the effects of market-oriented and project-based gender equality work in education and working life in Sweden and in Finland. The findings highlight an alliance between projectisation and heteronormativity that acts to regulate how gender equality ought to be talked about in order for its issues to be heard. A persistently constructed 'remedy' to 'the gender equality problem' is that girls and women are positioned as 'needing' to change more than boys and men, by adopting more traditionally 'masculine manners' and choosing to work in more 'masculine sectors'. The findings also show that the constitutive forces of these discourses provide little leeway for critical perspectives.Peer reviewe

Prison Break. Education of young adults in closed prisons—building a bridge from prison to civil society?

Prison education is seen in both criminal and education policies as a way of assimilating inmates ‘back into society’. In spite of the policy emphasis on education, the practices in prison education vary from prison to prison. The stated aim of prison education in EU and in Finnish national level policies is to teach inmates the skills and knowledge that they can use in life after release and thus reduce recidivism. In this paper, we analyse policies and practices related to education programmes in closed prisons in Finland with discourses of employability and therapisation of education. International and national policy documents and ethnographic data and interviews with young people and teachers have been use as data sources. Our aim is to draw a picture of multiple and complex power relations that shape the young adults in prison as flexible subjects that are able to make the transition from prison ‘back’ to civil society.Peer reviewe

Emerging Multi-Professional Assemblages of Youth Guidance and Support Producing the Resilient and Future Oriented Citizen

Peer reviewe

Parasta ennen : Tasa-arvotyön projektitapaistuminen

This book is a study of equality work, that is, the activities which have involved the promotion of gender equality in Finland. The study focuses on the period when the public sector has become more market-oriented, and business-oriented thinking has penetrated activities that have not traditionally emphasised profit-making. I have asked about the kind of power relations that have led to equality work in Finland. In addition to marketisation, publicly funded projects, especially by the European Union, have permeated the public sector. I have analysed the effects this turn has had on the aims and activities of equality work. Despite marketisation, equality work has remained for decades, and problems related to equality have also been recognised. The question of agency is a central focus of this study. I have analysed the kind of agency that has been offered and possible in equality work. With my previous “equality project career”, I have also participated in the formation of my research subject. This study also represents a description of a researcher taking on the responsibility for being involved in the formation of her own research subject. The study data includes national and EU-level political and governmental documents as well as articles and other publications related to equality issues. The data also includes documents from 99 publicly funded equality projects. Notable research data have been drawn from research interviews with 30 people who have been engaged in equality work in different parts of Finland and who have also worked in publicly funded equality projects. As a research method, I have combined Foucault’s discourse analysis and genealogical analysis as well as deconstructive reading. Political and governmental programmes have called for equality work, such as teaching, training, research and other political influencing in order to promote the political interests of the welfare state. Alliance with the state offers the opportunity to accomplish professionalism and continuity. Although equality work has not achieved similar legitimisation compared to other public sector professions. Equality work has fulfilled the interests of welfare state despite current trends towards marketisation. Publicly and budgetary funded equality work has evolved into business-oriented projects in a situation where the project itself has become a new governing mechanism for society. To analyse this trend, I have developed the concept of projectisation. The concept refers to a form of power that has directed discussions of equality in order to be heard. On the other hand, projectisation has contributed to the visibility of problems related to equality while maintaining heteronormativity and hierarchical order of societal differences, especially of gender, as well as harnessing equality for market use, thereby becoming somewhat useful and productive. Equality has been labelled as women’s work and being something that women do and continuity of the equality work has required a complex form of competence. The persistence of problems concerning equality as well as co-operation between women and the “discourse virtuosity ” of equality work has also opened up opportunities for situational change. Key words: Equality work, project, projectisation, genealogical method, discourse analysis, deconstructive reading, heteronormativity, agency, discourse virtuosity.Kirjoitukseni on tutkimus tasa-arvotyöstä, toiminnasta, jolla sukupuolten tasa-arvoa on Suomessa edistetty. Tarkasteluni ulottuu hyvinvointivaltion rakentamisen aikana muotoutuneen valtiollisen tasa-arvopolitiikan syntyvaiheista 2000-luvun puoleen väliin asti, mutta erityisesti 1990-lukuun ja sen jälkeiseen aikaan. Ajanjakson aikana julkinen sektori on markkinoitunut ja liiketaloudellinen ajattelu järjestänyt toimintaa, joka ei ole perinteisesti orientoitunut voiton tavoitteluun. Samalla julkisrahoitteiset, erityisesti Euroopan unionin rahoittamat projektit ovat läpäisseet julkista sektoria. Olen ensinnäkin kysynyt, miten tasa-arvotyö ja siihen liittyvä sukupuoli ovat Suomessa muotoutuneet. Olen lisäksi analysoinut, minkälaisia jännitteitä tasa-arvotyöstä on ollut löydettävissä. Toimijuus on ollut tutkimuksessani keskeinen juonne, ja olen tarkastellut, minkälainen toimijuus on ollut tasa-arvotyössä tarjolla ja mahdollista. Olen myös itse tutkijana ja tasa-arvoon liittyvän ”projektiurani” kautta osallinen siihen, mitä tutkin. Tutkimukseni on samalla kuvaus tutkijan vastuun ottamisesta osallisuudestaan tutkimansa kohteen muotoutumisessa. Tutkimukseni on monitieteinen suomenkielinen monografia. Se paikantuu tasa-arvo- ja koulutuspoliittiseen tutkimukseen, työelämän naistutkimukseen, hyvinvointityötä ja ammatteja koskevaan tutkimukseen sekä yhteiskuntatieteellistä hallintajärjestelmää ja hallinnallistumista koskevan tutkimuksen piiriin. Työssäni yhdistyvät feministisen, kasvatustieteellisen, kulttuurintutkimuksen, politiikan tutkimuksen ja yhteiskuntatieteellisen tutkimuksen näkökulmat. Tutkimusaineistoni on koostunut tasa-arvoa koskevista kansallisista ja kansainvälisistä poliittisista ja hallinnollisista dokumenteista sekä muista aikalaiskirjoituksista. Lisäksi käytössäni on ollut eri vuosikymmeninä Suomessa toimineisiin 99 julkirahoitteiseen tasa-arvoprojektiin liittyviä dokumentteja. Merkittävän tutkimusaineiston muodostavat tutkimushaastattelut, joissa on haastateltu eri puolilla Suomea tasa-arvotyötä tehneitä ja tasa-arvoprojekteissa toimineita 30 henkilöä. Lukutapoina olen soveltanut foucault’laista diskurssianalyyttistä ja genealogiasta lähestymistapaa sekä dekonstruktiivista luentaa. Opettamisena, kouluttamisena, tutkimisena ja erilaisena muuna poliittisena vaikuttamisena tehty tasa-arvotyö on ollut hyvinvointityötä. Liittoutuminen valtion kanssa on tarjonnut mahdollisuuksia tavoitella professionaalistumista ja toiminnan jatkuvuutta. Tasa-arvotyö on yhtäältä toteuttanut erilaisia hyvinvointi- ja tasa-arvopoliittisia intressejä ja toisaalta julkisin budjettivaroin toteutetusta tasa-arvotyöstä on tullut liiketalouden kielellä operoituvia projekteja tilanteessa, jossa projektista on tullut uudenlainen yhteiskunnallisen hallinnan muoto. Kehittelemälläni projektitapaistumisen käsitteellä olen viitannut vallan muotoon, joka on määrittänyt, miten tasa-arvosta on pitänyt puhua kuulluksi tullakseen. Yhtäältä projektitapaistuminen on edesauttanut tasa-arvotyön jatkuvuutta ja tasa-arvoon liittyvien ongelmien nimetyksi tulemista. Toisaalta se on ylläpitänyt heteronormatiivisuutta ja yhteiskunnallisten erojen, erityisesti sukupuolen ja toiminnan hierarkkista järjestymistä sekä tasa-arvon ja yhteiskunnallisten erojen valjastumista markkinoiden palvelemiseen, hyödylliseksi ja tuottavaksi tulemiseen. Tasa-arvotyö on ollut vaativaa ja kurinalaista ja sillä on ollut naisleima. Toisaalta tasa-arvoon liittyvien ongelmien pysyvyys ja naisiksi nimettyjen välinen yhteistyö yhdessä tasa-arvotyössä muotoutuneen diskurssitaituruuden kanssa ovat tarjonneet myös tilanteisia muutoksen mahdollisuuksia. Avainsanat: Tasa-arvotyö, projektitapaistuminen, projekti, genealoginen metodi, diskurssianalyysi, dekonstruktiivinen luenta, heteronormatiivisuus, toimijuus, diskurssitaituruus

Identity Politics, the Ethos of Vulnerability, and Education

In this article, identity politics is understood as a form of politics stressing collective but malleable group identities as the basis of political action. This notion of identity politics also allows thinking of identity as intersectional. The focus of this article, and a problem related to identity politics, is that when discussed in the context of the neoliberal order, identity politics has a tendency to become harnessed by the ethos of vulnerability. Some implications of the 'vulnerabilizisation' are considered in the field of education, which is a field currently thoroughly affected by neoliberalism. Therefore, it is also important to look closer at the relationship between identity politics and the ethos of vulnerability. In addition, we re-consider poststructuralist thinking as a theoretical and political approach to see what it can offer in terms of re-thinking identity politics and in analyzing the ethos of vulnerability. When categories of vulnerability keep expanding into various psycho-emotional vulnerabilities defining subjects that can be known and spoken about, it is crucial to ask whether we regard these changes as educationally and politically progressive. The article discusses some problematic policies in educational environments and the phenomenon of trigger warnings.Peer reviewe

Tarkastelussa kasvatuksen ja koulutuksen sosiaalinen oikeudenmukaisuus ja tasa-arvo

Muun muassa syrjäytymisvaarassa oleviin liittyvää tutkimusta vahvistetaan kasvatustieteissä. Helsingin yliopiston kasvatuksen ja koulutuksen sosiaalisen oikeudenmukaisuuden ja tasa-arvon professuuri on Suomessa ensimmäinen laatuaan