The Palgrave Handbook of the Sociology of Work in Europe

Abstract

This chapter looks into the development of the sociology of work in Finland. In the process of the development, two phases are considered: 1) the development of the welfare state (1945-1980s) marked by the consolidation of the sociology of work as a sub-discipline, and 2) the rise of the competition state (late 1980s-present) when the scope of the studies in the sociology of work was widened. Although the Finnish sociology of work has been equally influenced by positivist, reformist and critical approaches, it has maintained its fundamentally consensual nature through both periods, and critical paradigms challenging the social order have never assumed a central role. There appears to be a considerable "reformistic" tendency in the Finnish sociology of work, aiming at producing solutions to societal problems, and in many cases in the form of action-oriented research and developmental projects. This reflects the overall pragmatic nature of Finnish policy-making and close social distance between the government, labour market organizations and the academia. market or unemployment, identify themselves equally as "working life researchers" as sociologists.So do a fair number of management scholars, social scientists (other than sociologists) and psychologists. However, there is a special link between the topic of working life research and sociology. Many sociologists of work in Finland are members of both the Finnish Sociological Association and the Finnish Association of Work Life Research and they publish their papers in scientific journals and participate in annual conferences of both associations. The inter-disciplinary approach to the subject has led to a situation in which the boundaries of sociological research of work in relation to, for example, organization studies, management studies, work psychological studies or work-related studies that have been conducted in Finnish universities under social policy have become flexible and blurring.In the 1950s and 1960s, modern American sociology was the most important single source of influence for Finnish academic sociology. This applied also the rising Finnish sociology of work, which at that time still constituted only a small stream of sociology in the country. In the 1970s and 1980s, a diversification of sociological research occurred in Finland, which led to a deepening division and occasional tensions between positivist, reformist and critical studies on work. External influences were now sought, besides the USA, also increasingly from Europe, including the UK, Germany, France and the other Nordic countries.The sociology of work has managed to strengthen its legitimacy in Finland in recent years among academic scholars, policy-makers and representatives of labour market organizations. This development owes to an increasing overall public interest in research on working life since the 1980s. This interest has manifested itself in the proliferation of institutional funding for working-life studies and action research inspired approaches, as well as thematic and...