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This article explores how prisoners plan to achieve desistance from crime. In many respects, prisoners have poor prospects upon their release. A prisoner’s chances of reintegration can be hindered by conditions such as structural barriers, lack of social support, and the after-effects of imprisonment. Using qualitative interviews with prisoners (N=45) who were serving at open low-security prisons in Finland, this analysis demonstrates that the majority of the prisoners had optimistic expectations and devised concrete plans for desistance. To achieve this desired change, the prisoners intended to use three self-regulating strategies; to secure employment or another daily routine, to seek help from others, and to shift surroundings. Even if work, support, and solitude are viable strategies for achieving desistance from crime, this article recognizes the risk of these self-regulating strategies failing due to inherent uncertainties and weak implementation intentions. This article explores how prisoners plan to achieve desistance from crime. In many respects, prisoners have poor prospects upon their release. A prisoner’s chances of reintegration can be hindered by conditions such as structural barriers, lack of social support, and the after-effects of imprisonment. Using qualitative interviews with prisoners (N = 45) who were serving at open low-security prisons in Finland, this analysis demonstrates that the majority of the prisoners had optimistic expectations and devised concrete plans for desistance. To achieve this desired change, the prisoners intended to use three self-regulating strategies; to secure employment or another daily routine, to seek help from others, and to shift surroundings. Even if work, support, and solitude are viable strategies for achieving desistance from crime, this article recognizes the risk of these self-regulating strategies failing due to inherent uncertainties and weak implementation intentions.

The aim of our study is to identify elements of young children’s shared humour by observing children’s own expressions in the everyday life of early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres aged 1–6 in three Finnish ECEC centres. Our analysis shows that young children’s humour plays an important role in routine transitions and play situations. Children’s shared humour is often seen as momentary twinkles, as a flowing current, as carnivalism or what we term “hyperfun.” The article highlights why humour should be more utilised as a pedagogical tool. This study attempts to enrich the discussion on young children’s shared humour in order to gain a deeper understanding of its nature and application in early childhood education and care.

In prior research, intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization has been predominantly studied as distinct from other forms of violent victimization. As a result, relatively little is known about ...

This conceptual article proposes an approach to ethical consumption which is an alternative to “political consumerism”. By illuminating the aspects typically overlooked in political consumerism research, it re-embeds individualized ethical consumption in (1) the broader movement, (2) the communicative process, and (3) the social context. By adopting the notion of “ethical trade” it decenters individualized consumption as the exclusive way of enacting ethics in the marketplace, and by focusing on communication, it turns the spotlight away from individual consumers and onto organizations. Drawing extensively on communication studies, it is proposed that the main function of ethical trade organizations is to mediate between the geographically separated consumers and producers. Furthermore, greater sensitivity to the social context is introduced by distinguishing between two modes of mediation: “mediated familiarity” (the transmission of factual knowledge and the construction of affinity) and “moral education” (the subjectification of consumers who consider their impact on “distant others”)

Improved biosecurity and livestock disease control measures in low resource settings are often regarded as beneficial for agricultural productivity, rural incomes, global health, and sustainability. In this paper we present data from a study of shrimp and prawn aquaculture in Bangladesh to argue that this relationship is not as straightforward as it would seem. Analysing quantitative and qualitative data from a multi‐method field study involving 300 “missing middle” farmers, we demonstrate the importance of socio‐economic and ecological conditions to any disease management strategy. We describe how a technical programme to introduce “disease‐free” seed faltered partly as a result of the farmers' tendency to offset disease and livelihood risks by frequently re‐stocking their ponds. Changes to seed provision were accompanied by calls to alter farmers' livestock production practices. Paradoxically, these changes exposed farmers to more intense risks, potentially locking them into unsustainable disease management practices. The analysis emphasises that vernacular farming practices should be considered as key assets rather than barriers to disease management strategies, and that closer attention be paid to value chain and other risks as drivers of unsustainable practices.

Game studies refers to a multidisciplinary field of scholarly studies of games and play which is establishing as an independent academic discipline in Finland. Helsinki Game Research Collective (HeGRiC) is an emerging network for game studies, based at the University of Helsinki. Its purpose is to increase the visibility of game studies and to facilitate collaboration and expertise accumulation within the University. This essay discusses the origin and goals of HeGRiC as a network to support game studies, discusses the development of game research at the University of Helsinki, and finally, outlines the network’s declarations of intent.

In this article, we present a case study of digital making as an example for constructing social participation around multiliteracy learning in Finnish early years settings. Digital making is explored and evaluated through the practices and experiences from workshops conducted with four- to five-year-old children in one day care centre in the Helsinki metropolitan area in Finland. Reflections scrutinize children’s social interaction with digital technologies and aim to examine shared meaning-making in the design process. We explain how innovative technologies mediate and enable social interaction and what leads children to either collaborate or work individually while making meaning digitally. Our study indicates that although social participation can be intentionally achieved by children themselves, early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals and pedagogical practices play a pivotal role, especially when the cultural tools used in learning are new and unfamiliar to children, in this case tablet computers and smartphones. In this article, we present a case study of digital making as an example for constructing social participation around multiliteracy learning in Finnish early years settings. Digital making is explored and evaluated through the practices and experiences from workshops conducted with four- to five-year-old children in one day care centre in the Helsinki metropolitan area in Finland. Reflections scrutinize children’s social interaction with digital technologies and aim to examine shared meaning-making in the design process. We explain how innovative technologies mediate and enable social interaction and what leads children to either collaborate or work individually while making meaning digitally. Our study indicates that although social participation can be intentionally achieved by children themselves, early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals and pedagogical practices play a pivotal role, especially when the cultural tools used in learning are new and unfamiliar to children, in this case tablet computers and smartphones.

Aims: This article assesses the efficiency of six Nordic state-controlled gambling companies in raising revenue for their host societies, and the terms under which they operate. Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway have established gambling monopolies on the grounds that they help to prevent fraud and money laundering, and channel proceeds to their host societies. Within the last decade, Denmark (2012) and Sweden (2019) have opened substantial parts of their gambling markets to competition, whereas Finland and Norway continue to uphold monopolies. Design: The analysis is based on publicly disclosed income statements and financial reporting concerning Nordic gambling operators for the year 2017. We calculated how much they contribute to societies, what are the costs, and how these figures compare among the companies. Results: We found that Veikkaus raises the highest amounts of surplus to society both in absolute terms and in relative numbers, and that, overall, the companies vary in efficiency. We discuss the reasons for these differences, focusing on their respective product portfolios, institutional frameworks and competitive market positions. Conclusions: The results problematise the measurement of efficiency in gambling companies in monetary terms. Efficiency depends on high total consumption with little regard to the principles of responsible gambling and the prevention of gambling problems. Nordic countries have a strong commitment to the protection of health, but in the case of gambling, protecting the monopoly seems to outweigh harm prevention.

BackgroundStudies that assess the role of physical health conditions on separation risk are scarce and mostly lack health information on both partners. It is unclear how the association between physical illness and separation risk varies by type of illness, gender of the ill spouse and age of the couple.MethodsWe used Finnish register data on 127 313 couples to examine how neurological conditions, heart and lung disease, and cancer are associated with separation risk. The data included information on medication, hospitalisations, separations and sociodemographic characteristics. Marital and non-marital cohabiting couples aged 40–70 years were followed from 1998 to 2003 for the onset of health conditions and subsequent separation, and Cox regression was used to examine the associations.ResultsCompared with healthy couples, the HR of separation was elevated by 43% for couples in which both spouses had a physical health condition, by 22% for couples in which only the male spouse had fallen ill, and by 11% for couples in which only the female had fallen ill. Among older couples, the associations between physical illness and separation risk were even clearer. The association with separation risk was strongest for neurological conditions, and after incidence of these conditions among males, separation risk increased over time. Adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics had little effect.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that poor health may largely strain relationships through disability and associated burden of spousal care, and this should be taken into consideration when planning support services for couples with physical health conditions.

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Background: Due to COVID-19 pandemic, many employees were forced to suddenly shift to working from home (WFH). How this disruption of work affected employees’ work ability is not known. In this study, we investigated the developmental profiles of work ability among Finnish higher education employees in a one-year follow-up during the enforced WFH. Secondly, we investigated demographic, organizational, and ergonomic factors associated with the developmental profiles. Methods: A longitudinal web-survey was conducted with four measurement points (April 2020–February 2021). Employees of a Finnish university who answered the questionnaire at baseline and at least at two follow-up surveys (n = 678) were included (71% women, 45% teachers/research staff, 44% supporting staff, 11% hired students). Perceived work ability was measured on a scale of 1–5 in all timepoints. Latent class growth curve analysis was used to identify profiles of work ability. Multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the associations of demographic factors, perceived stress, musculoskeletal pain, functionality of home for work, and organizational support with the work ability profiles. Results: Six distinct work ability profiles were identified. For most (75%), work ability remained stable during the follow-up. A total of 17% had a favourable trend (very good-stable or increasing) of work ability, and 8% had non-favourable (poor-stable or decreasing). Poor ergonomics at home, low organizational support, high stress, and musculoskeletal pain were associated with non-favourable development of work ability. Conclusions: Heterogeneity in development of work ability during forced WFH was found. Several factors were identified through which work ability can be supported. publishedVersion

Sosiaalisen median alustat ovat länsimaissa keskeisiä poliittisen viestinnän ja julkisuuden areenoita. Vaikka nopeiden mediaympäristössä tapahtuvien muutosten merkityksiä politiikalle on tutkittu paljon, tiedetään yhä vähän siitä, mikä merkitys dataistuneella tietoympäristöllä on poliitikkojen arjelle. Artikkelissa ilmiötä lähestytään kysymyksenä politiikan syvästä medioitumisesta. Syvän medioitumisen ymmärtäminen on tärkeää, jotta uusien media- alustojen asemaa ja valtaa politiikassa voitaisiin paremmin ymmärtää. Tämän tutkimiseksi artikkeli tarkastelee suomalaisten politiikassa toimivien nuorten tuottamia mediapäiväkirjoja ja niitä koskevaa haastattelupuhetta. Aineiston analysoinnissa hyödynnetään datakäytännön käsitettä, joka tekee näkyväksi käyttäjyyden suhteen alustojen rakennepiirteisiin. Artikkelissa esitetään, että dataistuneessa mediassa alustojen rakennepiirteet tuovat poliittiseen arkeen reunaehtoja. Reunaehdot eivät ole pakottavia, vaan käytännöillään poliitikot neuvottelevat niiden roolista.

This book provides an original approach to the connections of race, racism and neoliberalisation through a focus on ‘postethnic activism,’ in which mobilisation is based on racialisation as non-white or ‘other’ instead of ethnic group membership. Developing the theoretical understanding of political activism under the neoliberal turn in racial capitalism and the increasingly hostile political environment towards migrants and racialised minorities, the book investigates the conditions, forms and visions of postethnic activism in three Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden and Finland). It connects the historical legacies of European colonialism to the current configurations of racial politics and global capitalism. The book compellingly argues that contrary to the tendencies of neoliberal postracialism to de-politicise social inequalities the activists are re-politicising questions of race, class and gender in new ways. The book is of interest to scholars and students in sociology, ethnic and racial studies, cultural studies, feminist studies and urban studies.

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In the 2010s, fertility has declined in the Nordic countries, most strikingly in Finland, and first births drive the decline. It remains unclear whether this decline results from decreased fertility within unions, changing union dynamics, or both. Thus, we investigated changes in the union-first birth dynamics from 2000 through 2018 in Finland using full-coverage population register data and an incidence-based multistate model. To do so, we calculated the yearly age-specific transition probabilities across states of single, cohabitation, marriage, and first births among 15- to 45-year-old childless men and women. We found lower fertility rates in unions after 2010, increasing dissolution rates amongst cohabiting couples, and long-term declines in the transition to marriage. Counterfactual simulations showed that, for the decline in first births since 2010, fertility within unions matters more (three-quarters) than union dynamics (one-quarter): that is, lower fertility in cohabitating and married individuals explained 42% and 13% of the decline, respectively, and decreasing fertility rates among couples entering cohabitation explained a further 17%. Decreasing marriage (19%) and cohabitation rates (2-4%) as well as higher union dissolution rates (6%) explained a smaller share of the first birth decline. The decline in first births was somewhat sharper among the lower social strata, but across strata the decreasing first birth transitions in unions explained most of the decline. To conclude, while changing union dynamics provide a partial explanation, postponing or foregoing fertility within unions represents the primary reason for the fertility decline.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10680-022-09605-8.

Consumers’ increasing fascination with recreational eating out has contributed to numerous transformations in the upmarket restaurant practice. This paper explores such changes in regard to the “social” aspects of eating out, focusing particularly on the “cultural phenomenon” and practice of eating publicly alone (solo dining). Specifically, the paper extends previous portrayals of solo dining as a bundle of aloneness and togetherness by exploring such interplay in the context of the aestheticization of eating and/or the aesthetic food(ie) movement. Based on the interviews of Finnish food/restaurant enthusiasts and exponents of solo dining, the paper firstly depicts solo dining as a practice in which eating publicly alone is celebrated for the sake of enhanced aesthetic immersion. Secondly, the paper argues that solo dining can indeed be interpreted as a form of eating together and depicts the myriad ways, both concrete and “anonymous”, through which solo restaurant meals are shared between like-minded enthusiasts. Thus, the aesthetically oriented slice of solo dining becomes not understood as a complete departure from the ideal of shared public meals but as an alternative manifestation of commensality within an enthusiasm-based consumer group characteristic of late modern consumer culture.

In a longitudinal conversation analytical (CA) case study, we examined patient engagement in a psychiatric assessment process (nine clinical interviews) with a young woman who eventually received the diagnosis of personality disorder. Based on Goffman, we consider engagement in interaction as consisting of three facets: engagement in the action at hand, bodily engagement with the co-participant, and engagement with the local moral order of the encounter. The patient begins the assessment process with high engagement and ends it up in low engagement. Yet, during this process, the patient oscillates between moments of high and low engagement. We show how the Goffmanian idea of engagement can be elaborated by CA. On the other hand, the Goffmanian view enriches CA by bringing to the foreground the interconnectedness of the different facets of engagement. A video abstract is available at .

Is mainstream economics only about growth, efficiency, and sustainability? Many critics contend so, but the recent state of the art in economics suggests not. Respectively drawing on reformist neoclassical economics, neoclassical microeconomics "proper," and behavioral economics, major studies show that mainstream economics provides theories of inequality and unsustainability. However, the theories of causation utilized remain largely neoclassical. Similarly, the bases for repairing the harms are grounded in neoclassical reasoning, while the mechanisms for restoration-ranging from minimalist interventions and income and substitution effects to behavioral nudges-are still mainstream. Fundamentally, they say little or nothing substantial about ecological imperialism, at the heart of which are rent theft and ecological debt, two critical cornerstones of world ecological crises. Therefore, mainstream economists certainly have, use, and apply theories of inequality and unsustainability, but mainstream economists neither have, use, nor apply transformative theories of social stratification, nor ecological imperialism generally. The overall effect of this disconnect from real-world ecological crises is not simply that conventional environmental policies are incomplete, but that mainstream economics and conventional policies deflect attention from ecological imperialism behind veils of rhetoric, prices, and behaviors.

Smartphones are often spontaneously used for personal purposes and during face-to-face gatherings. New terms like “phubbing” and “technoference” describe negative consequences of this behavior, but analysis of the actual everyday social situations where smartphones feature has largely been neglected. This article shows how simultaneous smartphone and conversational engagements are shaped by participants’ embodied conduct. A naturally occurring three-party conversation in a Finnish café is analyzed in detail to show how changes in embodied user–smartphone configuration impact ongoing conversation. User–smartphone configuration consists of the smartphone’s location, its physical relation to its user’s hands, and its screen direction in relation to the user’s head. User-smartphone configuration can manifest a change in an interactive footing in conversation, function as a turn-holding device, and organize a change in the conversational state. New methods and concepts for studying smartphone use in social situations are introduced. “Smartphone positions” refers to the embodied user–smartphone configurations that are oriented as manifestations of degrees of user–device engagement. “Smartphone moves” are the changes in smartphone positions, and they carry sequential relevance. Increased smartphone engagement is seen as decreased conversational engagement and vice versa. Making interactive resources available for one engagement manifests as an accountable event of disengagement from another. Engagement and disengagement are argued to be a continuum rather than a contrast pair.

Book review. Reviewed work: Populism in the Civil Sphere / Jeffrey C. Alexander, Peter Kivisto & Giuseppe Sciortino (eds.). - Cambridge: Polity, 2021. ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4474-5 (pbk), 316 pp. Non

Funding Information: This research was supported by the Health Foundation Improvement Science Award (grant number: GIFTS ID 7223 awarded to Sebastian Potthoff). Tracy Finch, Tim Rapley, Sebastian Potthoff, Tom Saunders and Luke Vale are members of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria ( NIHR200173 ). Luke Vale is also a member of the NIHR Newcastle In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative, NIHR School for Public Health Research, and Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health . The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care . Jeremy M. Grimshaw holds a Canada Research Chair in Health Knowledge Transfer and Uptake. Dominika Kwasnicka’s work is carried out within the HOMING program of the Foundation for Polish Science co-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund ; grant number POIR.04.04.00-00-5CF3/18-00 ; HOMING 5/2018. We would also like to thank Lauren Basey for optimising the design of our included figure. Funding Information: This research was supported by the Health Foundation Improvement Science Award (grant number: GIFTS ID 7223 awarded to Sebastian Potthoff). Tracy Finch, Tim Rapley, Sebastian Potthoff, Tom Saunders and Luke Vale are members of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria (NIHR200173). Luke Vale is also a member of the NIHR Newcastle In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative, NIHR School for Public Health Research, and Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. Jeremy M. Grimshaw holds a Canada Research Chair in Health Knowledge Transfer and Uptake. Dominika Kwasnicka's work is carried out within the HOMING program of the Foundation for Polish Science co-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund; grant number POIR.04.04.00-00-5CF3/18-00; HOMING 5/2018. We would also like to thank Lauren Basey for optimising the design of our included figure. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Rationale: Translating research evidence into clinical practice to improve care involves healthcare professionals adopting new behaviours and changing or stopping their existing behaviours. However, changing healthcare professional behaviour can be difficult, particularly when it involves changing repetitive, ingrained ways of providing care. There is an increasing focus on understanding healthcare professional behaviour in terms of non-reflective processes, such as habits and routines, in addition to the more often studied deliberative processes. Theories of habit and routine provide two complementary lenses for understanding healthcare professional behaviour, although to date, each perspective has only been applied in isolation. Objectives: To combine theories of habit and routine to generate a broader understanding of healthcare professional behaviour and how it might be changed. Methods: Sixteen experts met for a two-day multidisciplinary workshop on how to advance implementation science by developing greater understanding of non-reflective processes. Results: From a psychological perspective ‘habit’ is understood as a process that maintains ingrained behaviour through a learned link between contextual cues and behaviours that have become associated with those cues. Theories of habit are useful for understanding the individual's role in developing and maintaining specific ways of working. Theories of routine add to this perspective by describing how clinical practices are formed, adapted, reinforced and discontinued in and through interactions with colleagues, systems and organisational procedures. We suggest a selection of theory-based strategies to advance understanding of healthcare professionals' habits and routines and how to change them. Conclusion: Combining theories of habit and routines has the potential to advance implementation science by providing a fuller understanding of the range of factors, operating at multiple levels of analysis, which can impact on the behaviours of healthcare professionals, and so quality of care provision. publishersversion published

This article discusses ethnographic fieldwork among nine- and ten-year-old children in an international school in Finland. It elaborates on the myth of going native and on the researcher’s performance and negotiation of various roles, along with the improvisation this requires. Ethnographers cannot escape certain roles that are given to them but they can strategically use these and other roles to establish rapport and gain rich knowledge. When adults study children in an institutional setting, such as a school, they have to take into account the views and expectations of not only the children themselves but also the adults who work there. The article argues that reciprocity is an essential part of a successful ethnographic endeavour and analyses the significance of the researcher’s reciprocal involvement when conducting fieldwork among children in a school. publishedVersion

Food studies is an interdisciplinary research that addresses phenomena related to food. It is necessary to give an overview of this new research area and develop teaching programs to learn food studies. This article introduces textbooks and anthologies on food studies and Japanese food. This paper takes four food studies textbooks Food: The Key Concepts, Food Studies: An Introduction to Research Methods, Food: A Very Short Introduction, Food Studies: A Hands-On Guide, three food studies anthologies (Food and Culture: A Reader, Routledge Handbook of Food Studies, The Handbook of Food Research), and three academic books on Japanese food culture and history (Devouring Japan: Global Perspectives on Japanese Culinary Identity, Japan's Cuisines: Food, place and identity, Branding Japanese Food: from Meitbutsu to Washoku), which are used in higher education in Europe and the United States. This paper reviews the outline, the authors and editors, and how to utilize each books and essays. Non

Objectives: We examine how parental criminality is associated with offspring education at different educational stages from primary to tertiary education and conduct separate analyses for non-violent and violent crimes and incarceration, and for paternal and maternal criminality.Methods: We use Swedish total population register data of 513,886 children and their parents and estimate both population-level linear probability models and cousin fixed-effects models.Results: Parental criminality was negatively associated with all stages of offspring education. In population-level models accounting for parental education, the strongest associations were observed for parental violent crimes and incarceration with offspring secondary education completion (beta: -0.16 to -0.18). Cousin fixed-effects models suggested that family-level unobserved heterogeneity played a role in the associations as they were reduced when analyzing cousins differently exposed to parental criminality.Conclusions: Parental criminality is negatively associated with offspring educational attainment, and the associations are in part due to shared familial factors. The association is different at different educational stages and for parental violent vs. non-violent crime.

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This article addresses the debate on pre-evaluative choices of impact depictions and the forms of responses between applicants and funders. By adopting a reflexive perspective on the social impact of social sciences, this article explores researchers’ vocabularies in the research proposals and mid-term reports of consortiums during the Strategic Research Council (SRC) calls in the period 2015–18. This article develops a logical–contextual approach to identify the rationale and structure of the correspondence between the researchers’ depictions and the funders’ guidance. Moreover, the article shows that the logic of social impact and interaction is disconnected from the epistemic contextualization of social problematics. I argue that productional style vocabularies used by funders call for mechanistic depictions of impact, the logical gaps of which researchers attempt to fill through research design and stylistic embellishments for stakeholder interaction. Impact assessment could benefit greatly from relying on the integrity of the epistemic contextualization of public policy problems rather than on the summative forms of social outcomes or interactions. This article provides reflexive means of designing evaluation of usefulness and utilization of research.

This study investigates how schoolchildren organise their spatial and epistemic ‘territories’ among peer groups to constitute local social and moral orders in open learning environments. Open learning environments, the result of recent school reforms in Finland, challenge the conventional organisation of traditional classrooms. We use a microanalysis of naturally occurring video-recorded interactions to show the interactional dynamics of how children produce epistemic and spatial territories by creating moment-by-moment unfolding participation frameworks and emotional alliances. We suggest that the lack of institutional structures in open learning environments withholds children from the territorial shelters that exist in more traditional classrooms. Therefore, open learning environments make students and their peer groups more vulnerable in terms of their social face (Goffman, 1955), including their competence and skills, as they are constantly exposed to other people's observations and criticisms of and interventions in their peer groups. Our results shed light on the tendency of human beings to produce spatial and epistemic structures and moral orders where none exist. publishedVersion

We argue that ‘topics’ of topic models can be used as a useful proxy for frames if (1) frames are operationalized as connections between concepts; (2) theme-specific data are used; and (3) topics are validated in terms of frame analysis. Demonstrating this, we analyse 12 climate change frames used by NGOs, governments and experts in Indian and US media, gathered by topic modeling. We contribute methodologically to topic modeling in the social sciences and frame analysis of public debates, and empirically to research on climate change media debates.

This article continues the conceptual work of developing a process-oriented perspective on belonging by taking up the active engagement of affiliation (and disaffiliation) as an undertheorised yet necessary aspect of accomplishing belonging. In developing the concept we draw on Marx’s notion of work as material activity in forms of life and the sociological concepts of face-work and emotion work. We conceptualise belonging work as relational work concerned with shaping situational interactions; webs of relationships; social boundaries; and materials and rhythms as dimensions of belonging. This work is conditioned by social categorisations and patterns of inclusion and exclusion through which it takes place in relation to specific forms of life. The concept of belonging work offers a theoretically integrative and sensitising concept that highlights the relational dynamics of belonging, providing insight and inspiration to social researchers inquiring into the work of belonging and its associated social consequences throughout the research process.

Unlimited paid time off policies are currently fashionable and widely discussed by HR professionals around the globe. While on the one hand, paid time off is considered a key benefit by employees and unlimited paid time off policies (UPTO) are seen as a major perk which may help in recruiting and retaining talented employees, on the other hand, early adopters reported that employees took less time off than previously, presumably leading to higher burnout rates. In this conceptual review, we discuss the theoretical and empirical evidence regarding the potential effects of UPTO on leave utilization, well-being and performance outcomes. We start out by defining UPTO and placing it in a historical and international perspective. Next, we discuss the key role of leave utilization in translating UPTO into concrete actions. The core of our article constitutes the description of the effects of UPTO and the two pathways through which these effects are assumed to unfold: autonomy need satisfaction and detrimental social processes. We moreover discuss the boundary conditions which facilitate or inhibit the successful utilization of UPTO on individual, team, and organizational level. In reviewing the literature from different fields and integrating existing theories, we arrive at a conceptual model and five propositions, which can guide future research on UPTO. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and societal implications of UPTO. publishedVersion

All effective communication is based on the participants trusting that they share their basic orientations to the world – that is, they have a common ground. In this paper, however, we examine situations in which such trust is lacking. Drawing on conversation–analytic methodology and on 30 hours of video data featuring persons with dementia and their caregivers in a Swedish-language daycare center in Finland, we consider some of the social consequences resulting from a lack of trust. Our analysis focused on three different interactional contexts, highlighting the relevance of different facets of the participants’ common ground. These facets are anchored in the deontic, epistemic, and emotional orders, respectively. We show that, with regard to each order, a lack of trust in the existence of common ground has drastic consequences, leading to (1) problems related to getting one’s will acknowledged, (2) a scarcity of conversational partners, and (3) a lack of resources to maintain affection.

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Background: Gambling is an important source of public revenue in many countries. Little is known about how this revenue is generated, and how it depends on product portfolios, operating costs, turnover, and the institutional contexts of the industry. Methods: A comparative analysis of income statements from 30 European gambling companies is reported. Scatter diagrams are used to describe how the surplus depends on volume, operating costs, monopoly status, and the game portfolio measured by aggregate return-to-players (RTP). Company profiles are used to interpret the results. Hypotheses: Commercialization increases aggregate return to players. This is likely to lower the surplus. Low operating costs of automated and fast games compensate for this loss. Commercial companies produce less surplus than monopolies. Results: The surplus is a linear function of the total revenue. Excluding three big companies, total volume is positively associated with the average return percentages but not proportionately with operating costs. The difference between monopolistic and market-based companies does not appear to be significant. Detailed descriptive analysis shows that the European gambling market may be facing a situation of supply saturation where further growth of gambling proceeds for good causes can no longer be accomplished.

Capital is viewed as an essential instrument for highly skilled migrants (HSMs) to gain employment in a host country. Although scholars analyse the impact of capital on the labour market integration, the difference between capital and resources is rarely made. Treating resources such as a degree or networks as capital is too unspecific and disguises what is truly counted as capital that affects the occupational attainment of HSMs. This study addresses this issue by analysing what resources are used by HSMs to gain employment in a host country and what makes resources capital in HSMs' occupational attainment. To do so, the study conducts semi-structured interviews with Japanese from the Finnish university who seek employment in Finland. An analysis of these interviews yields cultural and social resources used during their job search. It also identifies the Finnish job market and the job-seeking intention of highly skilled Japanese as key elements to create capital out of resources. Eventually, this study contributes to the debate on the concept of capital and its role in the labour market integration of HSMs. Furthermore, it offers an extensive viewpoint on the topic of HSMs and integration in the Finnish context through the empirical data.

Book review. Reviewed work: Borders across Healthcare : Moral Economies of Healthcare and Migration in Europe / N. Sahraoui (ed.). - New York and Oxford : Berghahn, 2020. 233 pp. The notion that "even health systems that are considered 'universal' restrict the access" of migrants (Chapter 1, p. 24) is the main takeaway from Borders across Healthcare, an important, well thought-out collection of nine essays Paris, CNRS, France). Published in 2020, the collection was arguably written and compiled before the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, far from diminishing its relevance, the timing makes the book prescient and even more insightful. Non

Riding a bicycle is increasingly encouraged as a sustainable transport solution, especially in urban areas. However, safety concerns, both perceived and actual, can significantly lower the willingness to ride among the population. To support cycling planning and policy in the double task of increasing the levels of cycling while mitigating crash risk, there is a need to better understand the behaviours and attitudes of bicycle riders. In this manuscript, we study a cohort of Finnish bicycle riders through four questionnaires, the Cycling Behaviour Questionnaire (CBQ), Cyclist Risk Perception and Regulation Scale (RPRS), Cyclist Anger Scale (CAS), and Cyclist Aggression Expression Inventory (CAX). Our findings show low self-reported errors and violations, and high levels of knowledge regarding traffic rules among Finnish bicycle riders. Most participants report low levels of aggression, which is generally dealt with in constructive ways, while anger was most commonly a result of interactions with motor vehicles and less with other road users such as pedestrians. To further reduce the crash risk in cycling, our results point to the need for further separation between bicycle riders and motorised vehicles, and for the development of risk perception and positive behaviours among riders, particularly those engaging in risky behaviours. publishedVersion

Cet article revient sur une expérience de collaboration entre des chercheur·se·s et une association malienne spécialisée dans la collecte et la numérisation de savoirs locaux, Donkosira. Cette expérience menée depuis 2017 dans des villages excentrés du Mali, du Sénégal et de la Guinée a donné lieu à des reportages réalisés par les communautés grâce à des téléphones portables fournis par le projet, et postés sur internet et les réseaux sociaux. Cet article questionne notamment la valorisation des savoirs locaux et l’écueil de leur essentialisa- tion ; les difficultés de la pratique de la co-production des données ; l’asymétrie de la relation enquêteur·se·s/ enquêté·e·s et ses impensés (post)coloniaux. La valorisation numérique des savoirs locaux contribue à créer des « communautés numériques par le bas », aux contours souples, que cet article s’attache à décrire.

Discussions of the relations between the social sciences and the cognitive sciences have proliferated in recent years. Our article contributes to the philosophical and methodological foundations of the cognitive social sciences by proposing a framework based on contemporary mechanistic approaches to the philosophy of science to analyze the epistemological, ontological and methodological aspects of research programs at the intersection of the social sciences and the cognitive sciences. We apply this framework to three case studies which address the phenomena of social coordination, transactive memory, and ethnicity. We also assess how successful these research programs have been in providing mechanistic explanations for these phenomena, and where more work remains to be done.

Populism is everywhere in Europe today: in politics and in research. Most research on populism has neglected the relationship between gender equality and populism. The aim of this symposium is precisely to scrutinize the relationship between feminist politics and right-wing and left-wing populist parties in Europe. The contribution of the symposium is twofold: to empirically investigate the relationship between feminist politics and both left and right populism, so as to provide a more holistic picture of their impact on feminist politics; and to study populist political parties both at the national level and at the level of the European Parliament. The symposium demonstrates the centrality of gender issues in the politics of populist parties and documents the effects populism has on gender relations, gender equality policies, and feminist politics. acceptedVersion

The administrative systems of universities attest to a shift towards more managerial forms of leadership. This article outlines how strategic management was introduced in Finland in the 2000s and how this led to a significant de-democratisation of the university organisations, despite academic communities’ resistance and explicit preference for democratic self-governance. The article illustrates how strategic management informed the reconceptualization of Finnish higher education in legislation (nationally), to de-democratise and to structurally reform the HE field, and in practice (locally), to drive through desired administrative reconfigurations. This anti-democratic transformation is embodied in a new institutional model: foundation universities, which have been presented as the flagships of Finnish higher education policy, are also vehicles of de-democratisation. publishedVersion

Based on employer responses to 6000 job applications, this article tests whether greater work experience lowers discrimination against job applicants of immigrant origin in the Finnish labour market. It does so by comparing the callbacks received in response to two sets of job applications: applications in which applicants of immigrant background had identical work experience as the majority applicant and those in which they had two years’ more experience than the majority candidate. The article further investigates if additional experience elicits more callbacks in jobs in which higher work experience and a vocational diploma are required and when the vacancies are high-skilled. The findings of this empirical investigation suggest the presence of deep-seated ethnic hierarchies in the Finnish labour market. They clearly demonstrate that immigrants’ chances of securing a job interview offer do not significantly change even when they possess substantially greater work experience than their majority counterparts.

Over the last 10–15 years, Western societies have faced two interrelated social changes: the digitalization of media and the increase in socio-political polarization. While their relationship is causally reciprocal, population-level empirical studies focusing on over-time change remain scarce. We adopt the temporal perspective on the socio-political stratification of media usage in the context of Finland, one of the so-called Nordic media welfare states. We ask whether the ways in which media usage is socially stratified has changed from 2007 to 2018 and whether there is political polarization of media consumption. We draw on two nationally representative comparative surveys, collected in 2007 ( N = 1388) and 2018 ( N = 1425), and show that the main media usage patterns—the wide, the narrow, and the Internet-focused media repertoires—differ both in terms of their sociodemographic and political profiles and that the opposition between the wide and the narrow repertoires becomes increasingly polarized. publishedVersion

An increasingly polarized European Parliament (EP) has become an important site of radical right populist opposition to gender equality. Through a qualitative analysis of populist interventions in EP plenary debates on gender equality in the 8th legislature (2014–2019), this article identifies the discursive strategies adopted by right populists to oppose gender equality. It contributes to scholarly debates on populisms and on gender and politics by respectively suggesting to the former the need to dedicate attention to gender equality as a central aspect in populist ideologies, and to the latter the importance of considering a variety of strategies of radical right opposition to gender equality. Radical right populist strategies include not only indirect but also direct opposition to gender equality and draw on old and traditional gender imaginaries packaged in novel populist ways.

In this article, organisers of the annual conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), held during March and April 2020, share their story of moving the planned on-site conference to a virtual space, as necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their analysis of the vCIES (the name given to the virtual conference) process not only provides an example of a disruption to the status quo of the institution of conferencing as a result of a global pandemic, but also extends it by addressing the multiplying concerns, urgent considerations and actions needed within academic communities for more equal and accessible conferencing in the unfolding climate catastrophe. The authors begin by discussing the challenge of academic conferencing in the age of COVID-19 and climate crisis. They highlight how their decolonial political stance (which critiques accepting Western knowledge and Western culture as the norm) and their climate-conscious approach informed their preparation of a virtual conference pilot already intended as an experimental extension to this year's on-site event. They suggest the development of this pilot provided the necessary platform for transforming the vCIES into an effective and engaging virtual experience for participants. The vCIES process, including considerations concerning its structure and format and the necessary technology, is detailed in the subsequent sections. In the final part of their article, the authors briefly identify and discuss some of the opportunities, challenges and implications emerging from their vCIES experiences. Ultimately, they suggest that in a time of instability, insecurity and uncertainty, there need to be alternatives to large on-site conferences which require excessive and extensive academic mobility. The vCIES was a step in that direction as an accessible, environmentally responsive, more equal, and intergenerational and multispecies event that welcomed families, children and pets, while opening the space for new interdisciplinary encounters.Les congrès scientifiques à l’ère de la COVID-19 et de la crise climatique : le cas de la Comparative and International Education Society (Société d’éducation comparée et internationale/CIES) – Dans cet article, les organisatrices de la conférence annuelle de la CIES, qui s’est tenue en mars-avril 2020, nous racontent comment, contraintes par la pandémie de COVID-19, elles ont transplanté une conférence prévue en présentiel dans un espace virtuel. Leur analyse de la vCIES (comme elles ont baptisé la conférence virtuelle) illustre l’effet disruptif de la pandémie mondiale dans le contexte des congrès. Elle aborde toutefois aussi cette question dans l’optique des préoccupations qui se multiplient, des questions pressantes qui se posent et des actions devenues nécessaires au sein des communautés scientifiques pour instaurer davantage d’égalité et d’accessibilité en ce qui concerne les conférences, et ce sur le fond de la catastrophe climatique qui se joue actuellement. Les auteures se penchent d’abord sur le défi posé par les congrès scientifiques à l’ère de la COVID-19 et de la crise climatique. Elles soulignent la mesure dans laquelle leur position politique décoloniale (critiquant le fait que la culture et le savoir occidentaux sont acceptés comme la norme) et leur approche qui intègre les questions climatiques ont étayé la préparation de cette conférence pilote virtuelle initialement prévue pour s’inscrire dans le prolongement de la conférence en présentiel de cette année. Elles indiquent que le développement de cette formule pilote leur a fourni l’espace nécessaire pour que la vCIES offre à ses participants une expérience virtuelle efficace et attrayante. Dans les chapitres suivants, elles présentent en détail le déroulement de la vCIES, en abordant notamment des questions liées à sa structure, à son format et à la technique nécessaire à sa mise en œuvre. Dans la dernière partie de l’article, les auteures identifient et abordent un certain nombre de possibilités, de défis et d’implications découlant de leur expérience de la vCIES. À la fin, elles indiquent que dans une période marquée par l’instabilité, l’insécurité et l’incertitude, il faut proposer des solutions de rechange aux grands congrès en présentiel qui exigent des scientifiques des déplacements massifs. Manifestation accessible, écoresponsable, plus équitable, intergénérationnelle et plurispécifique, puisqu’elle a accueilli des familles, des enfants et des animaux de compagnie, tout en offrant un espace à de nouvelles rencontres interdisciplinaires, la vCIES a fait un pas dans cette direction.

In connection with today’s competition between cities to portray an alluring image of economic and cultural success, the City of Helsinki and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation put forward a plan to establish a Guggenheim museum in Helsinki, Finland. Following the plan’s release, a heated public debate emerged in the media. The present article analyzes this debate as a mediatized conflict and aims to show in what ways the debate on the Guggenheim report affected the decision-making process concerning the Helsinki Guggenheim museum. This debate is analyz ed within the framework of current discussions on the culture-led development of cities, by applying a methodological tool inspired by Luc Boltanski’s and Laurent Thevenot’s theory of critical judgement to analyze the various justifications that the different actors used during the debate. Further, the article interprets why the museum plan was rejected in the first deliberation. It was found that t he distance between different actors grew so wide th at it could not be reconciled, especially with the effect of social media. Because the City did not encourage a discussion and communication with the art world was neglected at first , during the debate it proved impossible to convince the art world of the benefits a Guggenheim might bring to other art institutions or artists. Guggenheim Helsinki was planned for a small capital in northern Europe, and yet it is linked to current European politics affected by nationalistic ideology and the question of preserving local cultures in the face of a globally shared culture. T he article ends with a discussion on what can be learned from the fai lure of the Guggenheim Helsinki.

This article presents the findings of a field experiment on ethnic discrimination against second-generation immigrants in the Finnish labour market. Five job applicants of Finnish, English, Iraqi, Russian and Somali origin sent equivalent job applications to each of 1000 publicly advertised vacancies. They all had identical qualifications, but differed in one respect, that is, their name. The findings strongly suggest the existence of ethnic hierarchical orderings in the labour market. They reflect that locally gained human capital not only does not equalise employment opportunities for immigrants as such but also rewards them differentially based on their origin, with non-European applicants being the least preferred choices. The findings also reveal that discrimination did not only manifest itself in low callback rates for immigrants but also the order in which employers contacted the different applicants. In a further set of 200 job openings tested in which applicants of immigrant origin had two years more experience than the Finnish candidate, the systematic differences in patterns of callback rates remained the same. Drawing on empirical observations, the article suggests that ethnic hierarches prevailing in society can also extend to the realm of labour markets resulting in unequal employment chances for otherwise equal job applicants.