Turning experience into expertise: technologies of the self in Finnish participatory social policy​

Abstract

This article investigates the micro-level practices of subject-construction in Finnish participatory social policy. Through a governmental ethnography on projects that invite former beneficiaries to become 'experts-by-experience' in social welfare organizations, I discern the possibilities for freedom in the participants' self-construction. By making use of Michel Foucault's conceptual tools of care of the self and confession, I illustrate how, contrary to the projects' emancipatory promise of providing the service users the freedom to reconstruct themselves, the projects entail practices that curb the participants' way of 'knowing themselves'. They require the service users to reframe their raw experiences as neutral and objective knowledge, making alternative ways of knowing appear 'irrational', and hence easily discountable. I conclude that despite the user involvement initiatives' promise of incorporating different forms of knowledge, the participants are in practice required to realign their way of knowing with the dominant knowledge paradigm in order to be accepted as participants.

Personal perspectives on patient and public involvement – stories about becoming and being an expert by experience

“…). Involvement opportunities have enabled a group titled experts by experience (Meriluoto , Noorani ) or lived experience workers (Byrne et al . ) to participate in health service development and delivery.…”

“…Toikko () has suggested that becoming an expert by experience consists of individual and collective processes that include sharing experiences and creating distance from them, combining experiences with existing competencies and developing an orientation towards the future. However, as Meriluoto () has highlighted, this process may also curb the participants’ freedom by creating standards and expectations on their narrations and making alternative ways of knowing appear ‘irrational’. Additionally, experts by experience are expected to be in charge of their experiences and associated emotions.…”

‘The will to not be empowered (according to your rules)’: Resistance in Finnish participatory social policy

“…These practices operate through the participants' self-government, making their ways of being both a central target of governing and a tool of resistance (e.g. Randall and Munro, 2010;Dawney, 2011;Meriluoto, 2017). Subsequently, I draw on Foucault's analytical toolkit to shed light on power and resistance in the everyday practices and negotiations of the appropriate ways of being that take place within participatory arrangements.…”

“…The trainings are organised with the aim to 'reorganise the participants' life story', and the practice lectures teach participants 'the best' way of telling about their experiences to different publics (see Meriluoto, 2017). Subsequently, in these projects the practices steering the participants' self-construction are exceptionally tangible.…”

“…Furthermore, based on recent research indicating how many participatory initiatives have failed in their promise to amplify the service users' voice in the service system (Matthies et al, 2018;Meriluoto, 2017), Finnish researchers have also come to interpret welfare users' participation as a tool of governance, aimed primarily at producing more selfsustained citizens and building legitimation for decisions already made (Matthies, 2017;Meriluoto, 2016). Leemann and Hämäläinen (2016) even propose that a particularity of Finnish participatory schemes is their strong emphasis on the experiential aspect of participation.…”