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This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of highly cited articles published in the Web of Science category "Education and Educational Research" in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). A total of 2091 journal articles published in this category and cited more than 100 times up to the end of the year 2016 were retrieved as highly cited articles. Distributions of highly cited articles per publication year, journals, institutions and countries were analysed, as well as the citation life cycle of the top-cited articles. The USA, its institutions and researchers are the absolute leaders in the category of Education and Educational Research according to the results of the conducted analysis.

Calls for submission of papers for the workshop Interface between Social Science and Animal Science during the 38th International Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology in Helsinki, Finland.

This article discusses the use of a pragmatic approach as the philosophical foundation of pedagogy in Finnish universities of applied sciences. It is presented that the mission of the universities of applied sciences falls into the interpretive paradigm of social sciences. This view is used as a starting point for a discussion about pragmatism in higher education. The Learning by Developing (LbD) action model is introduced, analyzed and compared to pragmatism. The paper concludes that, at least in practice-oriented academic subjects, a pragmatic approach to pedagogy, as well as the LbD action model, is effective and could be considered in several universities as the basis of philosophy of pedagogy.

We present a search system for grammatically analyzed corpora of Finnish parliamentary records and interviews with former parliamentarians, annotated with metadata of talk structure and involved parliamentarians, and discuss their use through carefully chosen digital humanities case studies. We first introduce the construction, contents, and principles of use of the corpora. Then we discuss the application of the search system and the corpora to study how politicians talk about power, how ideological terms are used in political speech, and how to identify narratives in the data. All case studies stem from questions in the humanities and the social sciences, but rely on the grammatically parsed corpora in both identifying and quantifying passages of interest. Finally, the paper discusses the role of natural language processing methods for questions in the (digital) humanities. It makes the claim that a digital humanities inquiry of parliamentary speech and interviews with politicians cannot only rely on computational humanities modeling, but needs to accommodate a range of perspectives starting with simple searches, quantitative exploration, and ending with modeling. Furthermore, the digital humanities need a more thorough discussion about how the utilization of tools from information science and technologies alter the research questions posed in the humanities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors address the transformation of research data into open data. The article draws on the experience in four countries: Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Lithuania. The transformation process presents several challenges where legal, organizational and individual aspects influence the process. Research data often contain personal data. Research data could also be covered with intellectual property (IP) rights. This means that personal data and IP regulations should be integrated into the dissemination model. While there is a potential conflict between the policies for open data that aim to make data freely available and those of an entrepreneurial university that emphasize commercialization of research results, these policies need to be made compatible. Researchers producing data are vital for reconciling the two, but they currently lack the motivation to contribute towards the implementation of the open data policy due to missing career incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyse the media debate in Finland that began after the publication in Science of a survey on the public acceptance of evolution. According to the results Finland ranked 17th among 34 countries. This was unexpected in a secular high tech nation with a consistent top performance in international comparative surveys on public education. We trace the main arguments in this debate in relation to previous studies on the public understanding of science and argue that newspaper claims of declining acceptance of evolutionism in Finland were based on rather ambivalent data. Furthermore, in the debate, evolutionary theory became a metonymy for science in society. The results published in Science provided a platform for a critique of religion and alternative movements, something quite uncommon in Finnish media. Finally, the debate was taken as an opportunity to promote evolutionary psychology as a legitimate social science.

This paper explores the separate and joint roles played by intellectual styles, paradigmatic changes and national exemplars in the modernisation of a scientific discipline on the periphery. The post-war development of sociology in Finland is analysed as an example of social science on the periphery. The development of Finnish sociology is characterised by changes largely attributable to exogenous influences. Three distinct phases of development can be discerned, which correspond to shifts from one to two-centre and eventually to multiple-centre influences in terms of intellectual styles and paradigms. The three identified phases of development are related to the differential societal utilisation potentials of sociology. The change from one to ultimately several centre influences had beneficial effects on the internal development of the field in terms of diversification of research practices and orienting concerns towards 'high technology' strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the autumn of 2004, an interdisciplinary social science course entitled Remembering, Forgetting and Forgiveness: Justice and Reconciliation from the National to the International was offered to undergraduate students at the University of Tampere, Finland. The course had 49 students from 10 different countries on three continents. A large portion of the students were on international exchange through the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) programme. The objective of the course was to explore the role of social memory and justice in the process of reconciliation on many different levels. Learning activities aimed to initiate discussions on cross‐cultural understandings of how to overcome violations and forgive or forget. Among the cases explored were child abuse, the massacres in Kosovo, the South African truth commissions and the Finnish civil war. A variety of teaching methods were utilised in the course. Cooperative learning methods were emphasised. Students engaged in group work activities and discussions and listened to a wide range of guest lecturers from diverse disciplines. The evaluation of students was based on individual learning portfolios constructed by students. This paper focuses on how a multicultural education was constructed through the pedagogy of the course, along with discussions with students who assessed their own learning process and perspectives. The theme of the course was judged by students to be very interesting and important, but the role of creative learning methods was viewed as equally significant. Exchange students, in particular, appeared willing to take greater risks in learning during their year abroad. The development of new approaches to learning could thus be an important element of internationalising efforts by universities. Finally, sensitive issues, such as contested collective social memory and complex reconciliation efforts, are best approached through cooperative learning methods that emphasise dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses sociology in Finland. Before World War II, scientific sociology in Finland was very meager and undeveloped. An economically poor country, with her population long accustomed to harsh climatic and topographic conditions, Finland has for centuries been isolated by geography and linguistic barriers. Her economic and cultural elite has been of Swedish stock since the twelfth century. Alter living under the domain of the Russian Czar from 1809 until the First World War(1914-1918), the Finns became independent as a nation in 1917. A great impetus was given to industrial, agricultural, and educational efforts, but academic sociology per remained as dormant as it was in Britain at that time. Since World War II(1939-1945), the misconception of Finland as an "Iron Curtain" country, together with the fact that few scholars visiting Scandinavia cross the intervening Baltic, has still tended to maintain the relative isolation of her culture from that of Western Europe and North America. The historical background of Finnish Sociology, consisting almost entirely of anthropological, folklorist and ethical-historical studies, is important for an understanding of the present trends.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of abatacept, tocilizumab, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors as compared with rituximab in Finnish rheumatoid arthritis patients, who have previously been treated with TNF inhibitors. Methods: A patient-level simulation model was developed to predict costs and outcomes associated with four biological drugs (abatacept, tocilizumab, rituximab and TNF inhibitors) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Following lack of efficacy or adverse events, the patients were switched to another biological drug until all four options were exhausted. After that, the patients were assumed to receive a 6th line treatment until death. The patients’ baseline characteristics and regression models used in the simulation were based on observational data from the National Register for Biological Treatments in Finland. Direct costs comprised drug costs, administration costs, costs of switching, and outpatient and inpatient care, while indirect costs included disability pension and sick leaves due to rheumatoid arthritis. Several subgroup and deterministic sensitivity analyses were conducted. Results: Drug costs were the lowest for rituximab, but when administration costs and costs of switching were included, drug costs were the lowest for TNF inhibitors. Abatacept was associated with the highest drug costs, whereas rituximab was associated with the highest healthcare costs. In total, TNF inhibitors had the lowest direct costs, while rituximab had the highest direct costs. The amount of quality-adjusted life years (QALY) gained ranged from 9.405 for rituximab to 9.661 for TNF inhibitors. TNF inhibitors, abatacept, and tocilizumab were dominant in comparison to RTX. Conclusions: TNF inhibitors, abatacept, and tocilizumab had lower costs and higher QALYs than rituximab, and therefore, they were dominant in comparison to rituximab. As TNF inhibitors had the lowest costs and highest QALYs, they were the most cost-effective treatment option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the open-identity label, i.e., the practice of disclosing reviewers’ names in published scholarly books, a common practice in Central and Eastern European countries. This study’s objective is to verify whether the open-identity label is a type of peer-review label (like those used in Finland and Flanders, i.e., the Flemish part of Belgium), and as such, whether it can be used as a delineation criterion in various systems used to evaluate scholarly publications. We have conducted a two-phase sequential explanatory study. In the first phase, interviews with 20 of the 40 largest Polish publishers of scholarly books were conducted to investigate how Polish publishers control peer reviews and whether the open-identity label can be used to identify peer-reviewed books. In the other phase, two questionnaires were used to analyze perceptions of peer-review and open-identity labelling among authors (n = 600) and reviewers (n = 875) of books published by these 20 publishers. Integrated results allowed us to verify publishers’ claims concerning their peer-review practices. Our findings reveal that publishers actually control peer reviews by providing assessment criteria to reviewers and sending reviews to authors. Publishers rarely ask for permission to disclose reviewers’ names, but it is obvious to reviewers that this practice of disclosing names is part of peer reviewing. This study also shows that only the names of reviewers who accepted manuscripts for publication are disclosed. Thus, most importantly, our analysis shows that the open-identity label that Polish publishers use is a type of peer-review label like those used in Flanders and Finland, and as such, it can be used to identify peer-reviewed scholarly books. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A growing body of research indicates that cross-cultural competence in nurses can improve migrant patients’ health-related outcomes, but little is known about the potential benefits of cross-cultural competence on the nurses’ own well-being. Objective: To examine whether cross-cultural competence (empathy, skills, positive attitudes, and motivation) is associated with perceived time pressure at work, psychological distress, and sleep problems among registered nurses in Finland, and whether there are differences in these potential associations between native and foreign-born nurses. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was based on a sample of 212 foreign-born nurses licensed to practice in Finland and a random sample of 744 native Finnish nurses. Data were collected with a questionnaire and analyzed using multiple linear regression and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: Of all four dimensions of cross-cultural competence, only empathy was associated with perceived time pressure (β = –0.13, p = .018), distress (β = –0.23, p < .001), and sleep problems (β = –0.14, p = .004) after the adjustment for gender, age, employment sector, and frequency of interacting with patients and colleagues from different cultures. There were no differences between native and foreign-born nurses in these observed associations (all ps > .05). Conclusions: Cross-cultural empathy may protect against perceived time pressure, distress, and sleep problems in both native and foreign-born nurses. Thus, the promotion of this component of cross-cultural competence among nursing personnel should be encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unselected population-based nationwide studies on the excess mortality of individuals with severe mental disorders are scarce with regard to several important causes of death. Using comprehensive register data, we set out to examine excess mortality and its trends among patients with severe mental disorders compared to the total population. Patients aged 25–74 and hospitalised with severe mental disorders in 1990–2010 in Finland were identified using the national hospital discharge register and linked individually to population register data on mortality and demographics. We studied mortality in the period 1996–2010 among patients with psychotic disorders, psychoactive substance use disorders, and mood disorders by several causes of death. In addition to all-cause mortality, we examined mortality amenable to health care interventions, ischaemic heart disease mortality, disease mortality, and alcohol-related mortality. Patients with severe mental disorders had a clearly higher mortality rate than the total population throughout the study period regardless of cause of death, with the exception of alcohol-related mortality among male patients with psychotic disorders without comorbidity with substance use disorders. The all-cause mortality rate ratio of patients with psychotic disorders compared to the total population was 3.48 (95% confidence interval 2.98–4.06) among men and 3.75 (95% CI 3.08–4.55) among women in the period 2008–10. The corresponding rate ratio of patients with psychoactive substance use disorders was 5.33 (95% CI 4.87–5.82) among men and 7.54 (95% CI 6.30–9.03) among women. Overall, the mortality of the total population and patients with severe mental disorders decreased between 1996 and 2010. However, the mortality rate ratio of patients with psychotic disorders and patients with psychoactive substance use disorders compared to the total population increased in general during the study period. Exceptions were alcohol-related mortality among patients with psychoactive substance use disorders and female patients with psychotic disorders, as well as amenable mortality among male patients with psychotic disorders. The mortality rate ratio of persons with mood disorders compared to the total population decreased. The markedly high mortality amenable to health care intervention among patients with severe mental disorders found in our study suggests indirectly that they may receive poorer quality somatic care. The results highlight the challenges in co-ordinating mental and somatic health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on findings from a study, which aimed to gain insight into young people's depression as a part of their life course by analysing written accounts of 81 young Finnish people who self-identified as having been depressed. The participants’ accounts were seen as reflecting both their actual life and their narrative interpretations of it in relation to the prevailing normative conceptions regarding youth. The accounts can be grouped into four main story types. The story type referred to asgrowing up on a sidetrackdepicts depression as having its origins in childhood adversities that hinder the realisation of normative goals.Falling off the trackdepicts how a young person's life can be derailed as a result of experiences that cause or exacerbate depression. In the storymissing the track, depression is intertwined with one's experience of failure in meeting normative expectations, whereas the storyquestioning the trackfeatures the problematisation of such expectations. The results underscore the importance of tackling different adverse conditions in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood in a timely fashion, as well as the importance of therapy, counselling and guidance, which help young people to manage difficulties and depression in their life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The health transition theory argues that societal changes produce proportional changes in causes of disability and death. The aim of this study was to identify long-term changes in main causes of hospitalization in working-age population within a nation that has experienced considerable societal change. Methodology: National trends in all-cause hospitalization and hospitalizations for the five main diagnostic categories were investigated in the data obtained from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register. The seven-cohort sample covered the period from 1976 to 2010 and consisted of 3,769,356 randomly selected Finnish residents, each cohort representing 25% sample of population aged 18 to 64 years. Principal Findings: Over the period of 35 years, the risk of hospitalization for cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases decreased. Hospitalization for musculoskeletal diseases increased whereas mental and behavioral hospitalizations slightly decreased. The risk of cancer hospitalization decreased marginally in men, whereas in women an upward trend was observed. Conclusions/Significance: A considerable health transition related to hospitalizations and a shift in the utilization of health care services of working-age men and women took place in Finland between 1976 and 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This prospective cohort study aimed to examine the associations of trust towards the supervisor (vertical trust) and trust towards co-workers (horizontal trust) with retirement intentions. The participants were 14 840 women and men working in the municipal sector in 2000–12 (Finnish Public Sector Study). Trust (vertical trust towards the supervisor and horizontal trust towards co-workers) and retirement intentions were assessed in repeated surveys. Multivariable multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between baseline trust and retirement intentions at 3.7 years of follow-up. Demographic characteristics, health, psychological distress, health risk behaviors, personality factors, and psychosocial factors were included as covariates. Of the participants, 67.0% trusted their supervisor and 54.9% trusted their co-workers. Employees who trusted their supervisor (odds ratio (OR) 0.60, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.53–0.67) and employees who trusted their co-workers (odds ratio 0.62, 95% confidence interval 0.55–0.70) at baseline were less likely to have strong retirement intentions at follow-up compared to those who did not trust. These associations largely persisted after adjusting for all covariates and taking into account baseline retirement intentions. In conclusion, trust in the supervisor and co-workers predicted retirement intentions. These observational findings suggest that increasing trust in the workplace may contribute to lengthening working careers and preventing early retirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: A marked decline in suicide rates has co-occurred with increased antidepressant sales in several countries but the causal connection between the trends remains debated. Most previous studies have focused on overall suicide rates and neglected differential effects in population subgroups. Our objective was to investigate whether increasing sales of non-tricyclic antidepressants have reduced alcohol- and non-alcohol-related suicide risk in different population subgroups. Methods: We followed a nationally representative sample of 950,158 Finnish adults in 1995–2007 for alcohol-related (n = 2,859) and non-alcohol-related (n = 8,632) suicides. We assessed suicide risk by gender and social group according to regional sales of non-tricyclic antidepressants, measured by sold doses per capita, prevalence of antidepressant users, and proportion of antidepressant users with doses reflecting minimally adequate treatment. Fixed-effects Poisson regression models controlled for regional differences and time trends that may influence suicide risk irrespective of antidepressant sales. Results: The number of sold antidepressant doses per capita and the prevalence of antidepressant users were unrelated to male suicide risk. However, one percentage point increase in the proportion of antidepressant users receiving minimally adequate treatment reduced non-alcohol-related male suicide risk by one percent (relative risk 0.987, 95% confidence interval 0.976–0.998). This beneficial effect only emerged among men with high education, high income, and employment, among men without a partner, and men not owning their home. Alcohol-related suicides and female suicides were unrelated to all measures of antidepressant sales. Conclusion: We found little evidence that increase in overall sales or in the prevalence of non-tricyclic antidepressant users would have caused the fall in suicide rates in Finland in 1995–2007. However, the rise in the proportion of antidepressant users receiving minimally adequate treatment, possibly due to enhanced treatment compliance, may have prevented non-alcohol-related suicides among men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is a major public health threat that is exacerbated by food production. Food items differ substantially in the amount of greenhouse gases their production generates and therefore individuals, if willing, can mitigate climate change through dietary choices. We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study to assess if the understanding of climate change, concern over climate change or socio-economic characteristics are reflected in the frequencies of climate-friendly food choices. The study population comprised 1623 young adults in Finland who returned a self-administered questionnaire (response rate 64.0%). We constructed a Climate-Friendly Diet Score (CFDS) ranging theoretically from −14 to 14 based on the consumption of 14 food items. A higher CFDS indicated a climate-friendlier diet. Multivariate linear regression analyses on the determinants of CFDS revealed that medium concern raised CFDS on average by 0.51 points (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.03, 0.98) and high concern by 1.30 points (95% CI 0.80, 1.80) compared to low concern. Understanding had no effect on CFDS on its own. Female gender raised CFDS by 1.92 (95% CI 1.59, 2.25). Unemployment decreased CFDS by 0.92 (95% CI −1.68, −0.15). Separate analyses of genders revealed that high concern over climate change brought about a greater increase in CFDS in females than in males. Good understanding of climate change was weakly connected to climate-friendly diet among females only. Our results indicate that increasing awareness of climate change could lead to increased consumption of climate-friendly food, reduction in GHG emissions, and thus climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the reference mortality model K2004 approved by the Actuarial Society of Finland and the technique that was implemented in developing it. Initially, I will present the historical development of individual mortality rates in Finland. Then, the requirements posed for a modern mortality modelling will be presented. Reference mortality model K2004 is based on total population mortality rates, which were adjusted to correspond with that portion of the population that has a life insurance policy. First, the model presents a margin of the observed life insurance mortality rate in the total population with a Lee-Carter method together with a forecast, where the downward trend in mortality rates is expected to continue at the rate illustrated since the 1960s. Then, the mortality rate has been adjusted into life insurance mortality per age so that it corresponds to the differences observed between total population and the portion of population that has a life insurance during 1991-2001. Finally, a cohort and gender-specific functional margin will be presented to obtained data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to determine the typical teaching methods used in upper secondary physics in Finland and Norway and how students would like to study physics. Moreover, the further aim of seeing how certain background variables may explain students' desire to study their chosen specialist subject, physics or social science (humanities), is discussed. The students' opinions were surveyed using a questionnaire and the data analysed by multivariate methods. The questionnaire was answered by randomly selected 2nd-year upper secondary students. Students say that physics teachers typically present new material or solve problems on the blackboard. This is also what students want. On the other hand, students would like to discuss difficult concepts and problems more, as well as work on problems and tasks in small groups. They would also like the teacher to lead the discussion when topics are discussed in the classroom. The student gender, as well as other predictors (perceived subject easiness, interest and workload, quality of instruction), excluding nationality and specialist subject, explain very little about how students say they like to study their specialist subject. The results were interpreted to mean that students preferred more versatile teaching methods, especially discussion in the classroom led by a teacher, than is presently the case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economy- and technology-driven theories dominate current explanations of social change. The political orientations of the European Union and many of its member states are increasingly based on the idea of knowledge economy where public organisations move towards market-orientation. Among the other producers of knowledge, universities are expected to become part of the innovation system where innovation stands for product making and the final goal is to contribute to the international competitiveness of the national economy. This study focuses on the complicated role of public universities as adaptors of market forces logic. The focus of attention is on the reorientations that Finnish universities have made in terms of commodification. At the same time universities have elaborated new aggressive strategies in order to strengthen their scientific basis and to distance themselves from the demands for new managerialism. One of the key problems in this process is related to the difficulties to integrate the two traditional university functions into the third one, i.e. commercialisation. We make some observations concerning EU policies, but concentrate mostly on changes that have taken place during recent decades in Finland by analysing market-orientation in three Helsinki area universities. In the context of current technology policy, all disciplines have been seen as potential contributors to market competition. However, social sciences produce knowledge that cannot be classified by using pure economic concepts. To sharpen our analysis of market-orientation we study three social science departments at the respective three universities. This analysis indicates the importance of scientific identity as a component of market-orientation. It also shows the importance of contextual issues and the tensions that arise between scientific and commercial orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social exclusion is a popular and widely used concept in the social sciences as well as in current European policy rhetoric. However, there is no general agreement on the content and use of the term; it has been used differently and for different purposes in different historical and social contexts. In this article, the social exclusion is understood as life‐historical phenomenon. Two cases have been selected as representing the most extreme trajectories based on a larger follow‐up study concerning former students of residential institutions for young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties in Finland. The cases give us an example of a detailed life‐course analysis, with the emphasis on risk and protective factors and demonstrate that the process of social exclusion is a complicated issue that cannot totally be understood by analysing the statistical connections between certain risk factors and the life‐course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In various earlier studies focusing on support for the welfare state, attitudinal differences have been explained by factors linked to individual social characteristics of respondents. This study focuses mainly on how macro-sociological variables influence attitudes towards the public service system in Finland. An attempt is made to investigate whether differences between municipalities in public-policy measures, political climate and the economic situation have effects on ordinary citizens' support for the service system or whether such support is only related to the individual-level factors, such as socio-economic position and gender, that are traditionally used in studies of attitudes. A focus on attitudes towards economy measures makes it possible simultaneously to investigate the kinds of municipal-level circumstances that affect the acceptance of a retrenchment of the 'service state'. The analyses are based on individual-level data (n = 1,024) and municipal-level Finnish data. The results show that different indicators of macro-sociological factors do have an impact on people's attitudes towards public services. Individuals in municipalities where economic conditions are relatively poor, where the level of social and health expenditure is low and, on some issues, where bourgeois parties are the dominating political bloc, show a lower level of support for the welfare services. However, the impact of tax policies is not that significant on any of the questions studied. The interpretation of the results includes a discussion of specific problems associated with this type of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the main results of a study of the power structure of Finnish society. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether Finland is controlled by one closed, cohesive and unanimous power elite, by several rival elites, or whether, instead, the power structure is so decentralized that there is no justification for referring to a power elite in the first place. The working hypothesis was that Finnish society is controlled by one power elite. The study was based on a positional approach, using a survey questionnaire to collect data both from members of the power elite and from the population at large. The main conclusion of the study is that, with certain reservations, it is legitimate to speak of a fairly cohesive and unanimous, jingle power elite in Finland. Interaction among elite groups is close, and their attitudes are similar. In terms of recruitment patterns the Finnish power elite is fairly closed: the top social stratum is clearly overrepresented and the lowest underrepresented. On the other hand, no single stratum has a dominant position in the power elite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from analyses of the world's oldest national population statistics, socioeconomic public health research in Finland matured by the end of the nineteenth century, which was the golden age of this research. Nationalistic intellectuals, i.e. the ‘Fennomanics’ investigated the socioeconomic backgrounds of the population's health and, in accordance with international models, proposed reforms to promote public health. Discontinuities emerged and research activities declined due to external social conflicts, that is the civil war in 1918, as well as the internal development of biomedicine. However, continuities can also be found as the socioeconomic health research survived through the differentiation of medical specialties in the 1920s and 1930s. Further developments took place with the emergence of modem social scientific health research from the 1930s onwards. The final breakthrough of the socioeconomic public health research in Finland took place as part of research for the welfare state performed since the beginning of the 1960s. In addition, the current expansion of research is based on national and international incentives. Nowadays, socioeconomic public health research is a diversified area incorporating social sciences as well as public health medicine. As the research has differentiated the agenda now includes new issues, such as gender, lifestyles, psychosocial aspects and professional interaction as well as analyses of the medical institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the status of the humanities and social sciences in higher education in Finland. Rationality of higher education from an individual's perspective; Numerical limits of degree programs; Concerns on academic and general degrees; Higher education as an institution and an organization; Humanities and social sciences graduates in the labor markets.

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The article presents information on Scandinavian sociology. The Scandinavian sociology of sport has during the eighties and nineties undergone some remarkable, fundamental? changes, in dialogue with cultural changes on other levels of society. In Finland, a young generation of scholars has deviated from the mainstream towards sensitive narrative introspection of autobiographical experiences, of gender and health, body, movement and society, memory-work and conflict. The changes and the resulting innovations have mostly remained obscured from an international public, though some more comprehensive research reviews have marked some outlines. But the main productions in the innovative fields and their theoretical discussions have taken place in the Nordic languages, while the mainstream of quantitative sociology has kept both to the English language and to the international standardisation of style, method and argumentation. The sociology of sport, born under the auspices of quantitative positivism, had remarkable problems in realizing the creative chances of this crisis and remained rather conservative in its research designs.

The article examines the situation in the field of sociology in Finland during the last years of the 1960s. During the 1960s, students had been critical of the accomplishments of sociology. One of their demands was that sociology should be produced for the people and not just for the benefit of sociological colleagues. The late 1960s also meant an intensification of the debate on the philosophical foundations of sociology. Whatever happens to the student revolt, it is apparent that many sociologists and authors of the 1970s will be individuals who have participated in the student unrest of the 1960s.

Four hundred seventy residents of Ridgewood, New Jersey, and 493 residents of Jyväskylä, Finland, were randomly selected and interviewed about their attitudes concerning nuclear war. In both areas, a high proportion of the samples believed that some kind of nuclear incident is likely in the next decade. The vast majority stated that a nuclear war could not be won and that they expected to die in the event of war. About three fourths in both communities seldom discuss nuclear issues with anyone including their own children, and only one fourth of the U.S sample and about one half of the Finnish sample have ever done anything personally to oppose the arms race. About one half of the Americans and three fourths of the Finns said that the United States was not doing everything possible to prevent nuclear war, and many in both groups favored disarmament. Males in both groups were more likely to believe that nuclear was is winnable and survivable. ‘Survivalists’ and ‘activists’ differed on many key questions. Other issues are discussed, particularly with reference to numerous recent studies concerning nuclear attitudes. Also discussed is the issue of advocacy research and the role of the behavioral sciences in dealing with the nuclear threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]