Finland became richer and harder in the last two decades

Experts compile books on change from planning society to competitiveness society

print this

By Anna-Riitta Sippola
     
      After the upheaval of the last decade, Finland has become a more prosperous, more open, more efficient, less equal, and more brutal society than in the 1980s, says Professor Risto Heiskala of the University of Jyväskylä.
      The shift took place quite suddenly, and met little resistance. The changes were knocking at the door in the 1980s, but the severe recession finally opened the gates.
      Two books have been written by a number of researchers, compiling views of how Finland turned from a society of planning into a society of competitiveness.
     
After the recession, resources were redistributed, and inequality increased. The cards have been redealt in such a way that even though some hands are better than they were, those of many others will not even get them to the card table, writes Heiskala in the book that he co-authorised with researcher Eeva Luhtakallio.
      The proportion of income of the ten percent of the population with the highest incomes was close to a quarter of total income - that is, it was about the same proportion as it was in 1966, which was the start of a 20-year period of a balancing out of income differentials.
      In a competitiveness society, companies change from being institutions of production into targets of investment, public administration is managed like a business, and competition is emphasised both in ways of thinking and in oral expression, write the researchers.
     
On the other hand, current trends are being questioned - not among the elite, but among ordinary people. According to Heiskala, those who challenge the views of those in power ask why, in one of the most affluent societies in the history of the planet, a policy should be implemented that increases inequality among population groups, and adds to stress at work and in other aspects of life.
      According to the professor, the question has not yet managed to rock the dominant mind-set, which emphasises competitiveness.
      On the contrary, the concepts of the competitiveness state have been taken into use by politics, and have been included in government programmes.
     
The change has grown to be a fundamental assumption about the nature of the world, and the challenges it imposes.
      According to Researcher Anu Kantola, the change in the 1990s became an abstract concept, which has no clear beginning or end, and which encompasses everything, and justifies extensive demands.
      "Talk about constant change in both politics and in companies is backed up by demands of constant vigilance, alertness, and tireless efforts", Kantola writes.
      Changes have also affected families, work, and the whole civic society. According to Professor Kaj Ilmonen, work has lost its foothold in people's thinking.
      "The increasing uncertainty of work and the Finnish style of management encourage people to maintain a distance to work, and to avoid identifying with it."
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 14.2.2006

More on this subject:
 Safe idyll ended in 1980s

ANNA-RIITTA SIPPOLA / Helsingin Sanomat
anna-riitta.sippola@hs.fi