The Concept of Society in the Making of the Nordic Welfare State

Peer reviewe

Reinterpreting the Historicity of the Nordic Model

In conventional images of the so-called Nordic model, the strong state is opposed to markets or civil society and co-operation is opposed to conflict. These opposites appear problematic if one takes seriously the Nordic market- and interest-centered language used for the practices of social regulation, including the stubborn use of “labor market parties” instead of the EU concept “social partners”. Applying an approach sensitive to the historical and political aspects of language and concepts, the paper argues that a particular notion of social citizenship developed in the Nordic countries, in which interests rather than rights were put into the center. Such a notion of social citizenship was associated with two intertwined ideas, important in the development of the Nordic pattern of social reform: the idea of symmetry between workers and employers and the idea of a virtuous circle between divergent interests. With these ideas democracy and citizenship were combined with paid work and conflicting interests. This combination has been questioned by the projects for competitive national (and European) communities, responding to globalized and financialized capitalism. The vigorous comparisons of “models”, and the popularity of the concept of “the Nordic model”, can be seen as an aspect of this current transformation

Democratic welfare nationalism and competitive community : changing ideals of social harmony in the regulation of capitalism

Peer reviewe

Wars, nation and the welfare state in Finland

Peer reviewe

The Conceptual History of the Welfare State in Finland

Peer reviewe

The concept of nationalism in discussions on a European society

In scholarship, nationalism has been found to be an integral ingredient of any sense of nationhood. In everyday public use, nationalism is used as a term of disapproval. The stubborn discursive border between the two uses of the concept of nationalism evokes questions about the historical preconditions of creating an ism concept based on the roots 'nation' or 'national'. In the period often called 'the age of nationalism', from the French Revolution to the First World War, nationhood was essentialized in ways that did not allow nations to be explained as constructions of any ism. 'Nationalism' gained popularity from the 1890s onwards as a critical concept directed at ideas and actions that broke against what was seen as the legitimate role of a nation. Defining the role of nations and nationhood took place in a series of political contests utilizing the concept of nationalism. Debates on Europe and 'European society' created one of the contexts of these contests. In current scholarly discussion on the idea of a European society, the critique of 'methodological nationalism' has been targeted at the nation-state-bound notion of society. However, in much of policy-oriented research and policy planning, the references to nationalism only contain views and actions found to be reactions against globalization and European integration. 'Nationalism' does not apply to efforts to improve 'our' national and European competitiveness nor 'our' joint EU policies of external bordering.Peer reviewe

Images of the Nordic welfare model : Historical layers and ambiguities

Throughout the twentieth century, the Nordic welfare model has been attributed different characteristics and connotations. The notion of a Nordic model was constructed during the gradual transformation of the five Nordic nation states into welfare states. We argue that this can be described as a ‘modelization’ process driven by national and regional interests articulated in an international context. We focus on four historical phases: the formative phase of modern social policy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the interwar period, the Cold War period, and the ongoing post-Cold War era. In the concluding discussion, we explain the stickiness of the image of a Nordic model by highlighting several dualisms in the uses of the concept that allowed not only for the settling of conflicting interests but also for the continuation over a century of both continuities and discontinuities.Peer reviewe

Sosialismi vyöryy Ruotsista ja Pirkkalasta

Arvosteltu teos: Peruskoulua vastaan: Yksityiskoulut ja yhteiskuntajärjestys 1966-1975 / Ville Okkonen. Turku : Turun yliopisto, 2017

Suojelu, suoritus, subjekti : työsuojelu teollistuvan Suomen yhteiskunnallisissa ajattelu- ja toimintatavoissa

Summary: Protection, performance, and subject