The two main parts of the work discuss the normative justifications and rationales for differentiated rights within liberalism (Part I) and the more practical problems of applying these rights in practice (Part II).

The first three chapters (Part I) analyse the so-called autonomy-, toleration- and equality-based approaches to cultural diversity as presented by Will Kymlicka, Chandran Kukathas and Brian Barry. This part argues that the autonomy-, toleration- and equality-based approaches provide frameworks within which the liberal responses to cultural diversity should reside, but fail to give any definitive guidance into how the liberal state should react to cultural diversity in particular circumstances. These approaches leave a substantive scope of variation to the cultural policies of the liberal state, including the possibility, albeit not a requirement, to grant differentiated rights.

The three latter chapters (Part II) develop a more individuated, yet culturally sensitive, approach to cultural diversity by concentrating on the further issues of allocating differentiated rights. The first chapter (Ch. 4) highlights the difficulties of defining one’s membership in a cultural group and argues that, in order to track their targets, the individually exercised differentiated rights should be allocated in accordance with need or self-identification. Chapter 5 develops the individual-centred approach further by concentrating on the issues of the right of exit, and the liberal state’s responses to those who have decided to leave the contours of their group without rejecting their identity as a member. The final chapter (Ch. 6) focuses on the legal-theoretical debate on allowing cultural defence in criminal courts and gives an application of the individuated approach in the criminal justice system.

The main claims of the work are that the liberal multiculturalists have been successful in clarifying the grounds upon which the liberal responses to cultural diversity should reside and in showing that the culturally differentiated rights (variously construed) are not necessarily incompatible with liberalism. The liberal multicultural theories do not, however, give any definitive guidance on how the liberal state should respond to cultural diversity, nor do they always take sufficiently into account the variations within (and without) cultural groups. The work rejects the common assumption of differentiated rights as specifically group-differentiated rights, and argues for a more individuated approach that, nevertheless, takes people’s cultural commitments and their group identities seriously.

The study considers deontic rights from two different angles. First, it describes how participants in interaction may claim—or mitigate their claims of—deontic rights by virtue of their overt interactional conduct: Article 1 discusses the participants’ ways of dealing with those claims of deontic rights that arise from their participation in an encounter, and Articles 2 4 consider how participants in joint decision making may establish and maintain the symmetrical distribution of deontic rights at different sequential loci. Second, the study describes the ways in which participants may deploy their deontic rights as interactional resources, as they design their communicative actions so as to be recognizable as such. The central argument presented in Articles 5 and 6 is that, instead of always needing to claim their deontic rights (deontic stance), participants may also trust in their co-participants being aware of, and taking into account, these rights (deontic status). It is thus the complementarity and relative weight of deontic stances and deontic statuses that constitutes a fundamental mechanism by which people may engage in tough power negotiations without yet causing any overt face threats to their mutual solidarity.

The study highlights the significance of face-to-face interaction as a locus of social order and seeks to enhance our understanding of the linkages between the local and wider aspects of social organization that pertain to people’s interactional conduct.

The study sets out to scan the over-a-decade-long efforts to develop ways to apply arts-based methods in child welfare with a specific emphasis on cases where it has paid off to the take the risk of experimenting with a new approach. Most of the data used in the study were collected in arts-oriented projects in Finnish state reform schools.

The key objectives of the study are to formulate theoretical reasons for the suitability of arts-based methods in child welfare as well as to find out what kind of information about existing practices can be retrieved through the application of arts-based methods and through observation of activities. First, arts-based research practices are utilised to find out what can be achieved by arranging meetings between different professionals and by introducing a dialogue-based approach in child welfare. Secondly, the study seeks to identify the importance of arts as a means of communication, expression and analysis in child welfare services. A specific focus is on examining how dialogues, reciprocity and giving space can influence interaction between children and adults. Thirdly, the study examines arts-based practices from the perspective of three groups of adults: those who work with children and young people, professionals in education and care as well as artists. The study investigates links between the professional roles and personal lives of child welfare employees and tries to find out what kinds of individual and communal experiences employees gain from arts-based methods.

The data used in the study come from three sources. Data were collected in projects carried out as part of two research programmes of the Academy of Finland: SYREENI 2000 - 2003 and SKIDI-KIDS 2010 - 2013. The first set of data was collected in a 2000 - 2003 project focusing on autobiography chains and the role of expressive skills in preventing social exclusion. The second set of data was collected in two projects in 2010 - 2011; the one using theatre-based methods and the other rap music. The third data source was the researcher’s experiences and observations during other training processes carried out in state reform schools where employees utilised arts-based methods to create new kinds of practices and new ways of meeting young people.

The conceptualisation of the methodological strategy for the study and the formation of the sculpting technique drew inspiration from Patricia Leavy’s (2009) views on the application of arts-based research practices in qualitative research. By creating, testing, developing and, where necessary, amending functions, i.e. by sculpting, we have, together with a number of actors, retrieved the data for the study, which we then have formulated into observations and conclusions, taking into account any coincidences and surprises.

The study is based on a hybrid hands-on methodology which aims to observe and gain knowledge through the language of arts and through arts-based practices. Sculpting refers to individual working methods that aim at better self-knowledge and self-expression. Arts-based research practices are used to sculpt out new work practices as well as new, better tuned ways of interacting and working together with children and young people.

The close link with practical work is the core and foundation of the study. Data derived from practical work is used to seek relationships with different kinds of concepts and theories. The training interventions and group activities included in the study were carried out in workshops utilising different kinds of methods ranging from autobiographies, rap music and theatre to interviews and participatory observations. These methods were used to collect qualitative research data and acted as filters for the whole research process providing the grounds for conclusions and key concepts. The concepts include the sculpting technique applied in the study as well as the progressive method where arts are used to help children to find their own space and experiences that help them to take charge of their life and their stories.

The study also examines arts-based practices where employees are working together with children and young people in order to find both interesting and appealing ways of interaction. By experimenting and developing methods together, employees and children and young people found new ways of approaching and analysing familiar issues and discovered unexpected and fruitful new elements. The study shows that control-free spaces are necessary in child welfare services, where the structures often are very institutionalised. A control-free space is a space where children and young people are not restricted by how adults define the self and the world. Child welfare services are in need of different kinds of ways to communicate with children and young people. A symbolic distance, the metaphoric shelter of arts, could be useful in achieving this. The metaphoric shelter that liberates self-expression can be found in costumes, masks or shadow theatre, for example. For some children and young people, practices that draw on activities or artistic self-expression may even be the only approach or means to self-expression which then wakes up their emotional memories.

Key words: child welfare, arts-based practices, arts-based research, state reform schools, control-free space, metaphoric shelter of arts, inclusion, autobiographical approach

Inspired by the model proposed by Abrams, Eveland and Giles (2003), and Reid, Giles and Abrams (2004), the study integrated ethnolinguistic identity theory (Giles and Johnson, 1981, 1987), uses and gratifications approach (Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch, 1974; Katz, Gurevitch and Haas, 1973) and cultivation theory (Gerbner and Gross, 1976). More precisely, a novel model was proposed, that consisted of two parts reflecting the idea of ethnolinguistic identity gratifications and ethnolinguistic cultivation. From the point of view of ethnolinguistic identity gratifications, it was examined how ethnolinguistic identity influences media needs and media use; whereas, from the perspective of ethnolinguistic cultivation, the research inspected the relationship between television viewing, the perception about ethnolinguistic social context (like perceived vitality, permeability and status stability) and ethnolinguistic identity management strategies (mobility, creativity and competition).

The hypotheses were tested empirically among young media users in the German minority in South-Tyrol, Italy (N = 415); the Hungarian minority in Transylvania, Romania (N = 401); and the Swedish minority in Southern Finland (N = 363). The data was analysed with variance analyses, correlational analyses, OLS-regressions and multiple mediations.

The results yielded considerable support for the proposed model across the three regions. In particular, hypotheses based on the assumptions of ethnolinguistic identity gratifications and ethnolinguistic cultivation were substantiated for the most part in each setting; however regarding the predictions derived from ethnolinguistic identity theory, the findings were inconsistent.