Browsing by master's degree program "Nyky-yhteiskunnan tutkimuksen maisteriohjelma"

Research paper delves into the intricate dynamics of problematic pornography use, placing a particular emphasis on the attitudes and perspectives of users within the NoFap Reddit forum. Amidst an ongoing debate on the addictive nature of pornography, a growing body of evidence posits that problematic pornography use signifies a behavioral disorder. Despite extensive research on the NoFap forum, which has predominantly focused on its meritocratic, hypermasculine culture, and the psychological profiles of its users, a discernible gap exists concerning the examination of user attitudes towards the pornography industry. The study employed discourse analysis and thematic analysis to explore NoFap forum users' attitudes towards pornography addiction, revealing opinions and viewpoints. This research aims to bridge the identified gap by undertaking a comprehensive exploration of users' opinions on the pornography industry and its broader societal implications. Findings indicate that users on the forum predominantly express negative attitudes towards the pornography industry, linking it to themes of hypersexualization and objectification of women. The study further uncovers a spectrum of adverse effects and life difficulties experienced by forum users due to excessive pornography consumption, spanning from depression and loneliness to a notable decline in motivation and social skills. Notably, the research highlights a discernible shift towards the consumption of more extreme content. This research contributes significantly to the comprehension of the NoFap forum as a crucial platform where individuals grapple with problematic pornography use. Through the examination of user attitudes towards the industry and the associated harm, the study provides valuable insights for future research endeavors. The use of thematic analysis offers a nuanced understanding of the multifaceted nature of opinions within the forum.

Mental health problems are a major public health concern globally. Many developed countries are facing the challenge of ageing populations and simultaneously an increase in labour market inactivity due to mental health problems among the working-age population. To be able to prolong working careers, it is important to pay attention to the work ability of young adults. As working life has become more psychosocially demanding while the burden of adverse physical working conditions has diminished, it is important to gain a better understanding of the association between working conditions and mental health functioning among younger workers in order to find ways to enhance work ability and alleviate the social and economic burden of mental health problems. The aim of this study was to examine the association between adverse working conditions and poor mental health functioning among under 40-year-old employees of the City of Helsinki. The data (n=4 315) was collected in 2017 through survey questionnaires for the Helsinki Health Study. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyse the association of psychosocial working conditions (job control and job demands) and physical working conditions (physical workload) with mental health functioning. Mental health functioning was measured with the SF-36 measurement and was dichotomised from the lowest quartile. Sociodemographic characteristics and health behaviours were used as covariates in the analysis. The results showed that after full adjustments, respondents with high job demands were nearly twice as likely (OR=1.9; 95% CI=1.6-2.3) and those with low job control 1.5 times as likely (OR=1.5; 95% CI=1.2-1.7) to have poor mental health functioning than others. Adjusting for covariates did not affect the OR for job control, but adjusting for adverse health behaviours decreased the OR for high job demands slightly. High physical workload had a weak association with poor mental health functioning, which slightly decreased after adjusting for adverse health behaviours and was not statistically significant in the full model (OR=0.9; 95% CI=0.8-1.1). The results of this study highlight the significance of adverse psychosocial working conditions for poor employee mental health functioning. Thus, in order to increase individual wellbeing and work productivity, work organizations could consider ways to decrease employees’ job demands and enhance employee job control. As the present study was cross-sectional, further research is needed to investigate the long-term effects of adverse working conditions on mental health functioning among younger employees.

This thesis examines water grabbing for the avocado agribusiness in the Petorca River located in Central Chile. I argue that avocado agribusiness has turned into what I will call avocado extractivism. Avocado agribusiness functions within an extractive export-development model that perpetuates coloniality under the current economic and political world system. Avocado extractivism alters the bodies, minds, and eco-social spaces of humans and other-than-humans. Furthermore, avocado extractivism prolongs gender, race, and indigeneity inequalities ingrained in Chilean society since colonial times. The research questions that allowed me to unravel the eco-social vulnerabilities and barrenness created by avocado production are the following: • What has the avocado agribusiness done in Petorca? • Why has the expansion of avocado plantations been promoted as development? • How has avocado extractivism impacted communities in the Petorca Province? Through ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews, I carried out a thematic analysis that led to the following global themes: Mentality of inquilinaje; imaginary of development; accumulation by dispossession; encounters and contentions between water ontologies; barrenness; resistances; alternatives to avocado extractivism, and the political agency of water. These themes explain how avocado extractivism exists thanks to a water governance system that privatizes water and separates water and land rights stated in Pinochet’s 1980 constitution. Under this legal structure, avocado producers maneuver the current water code to accumulate water and land to grow avocado plantations. Unfortunately, this process has exacerbated vulnerabilities among humans and other- than-humans in the area. I conclude that avocado extractivism is, in essence, maldevelopment supported by the Chilean state and immersed in the global development apparatus that serves the global capitalist system. Avocado extractivism works within a neoliberal framework reinforced by the coloniality of power and unequal power relations between the Global South and the Global North. Furthermore, this thesis examined resistance and alternatives to avocado extractivism articulated by grassroots and eco-feminist movements. These alternatives contest the dominant ontology of water as a natural resource by proving that a more harmonious future is possible if a multiverse of onto- epistemic perspectives participates in the design of water governance. Ultimately, the resistances and alternatives to avocado extractivism aim at introducing relationality in the existences of humans and other-than-humans in Petorca.

Female migration has been widely studied in Europe. Previous studies had found that migration is gendered, thus, the experience of migrants differs depending on issues such as gender, class and ethnicity along with career and familial relations. The position of the migrants in the post-migration time period is influenced by the recognition of their skills and the assessment of human capital they possess in the host society, which has a considerable effect on the position of immigrant women. Thus, I employ a feminist extension of Bourdieu’s forms of capital in migration studies as a theoretical framework to examine the position of immigrant women and to better understand their experience in a host society. In addition, I utilize the ideas of emotional capital to discuss the importance of studying caring practice, including everyday activities and the caring work done for other family members, and its interactions with the outside of the household, the local community and, possibly, with integration. My focus is on the position of immigrant woman in Finland, a country where the Nordic welfare regime, which is built on egalitarian practices, creates a paradox for immigrant integration, as national belonging is built on labour market participation and the idea of gender equality. I pay specific attention to the Cash for Care scheme in relation to high female labour participation and the choices of childcare provision. Thus, my intention is to explore immigrant women’s decision making on childcare, what kind of activities the women engage in while taking care of their child, and their progress in integration. My research questions are: 1) do immigrant women utilize caring practice in capital accumulation; and if so, how? and 2) how do they generate various forms of capital and transform them into other types of capital and, ultimately, into economic capital? The sub-questions include: how does the notion of national belonging related to labour market participation and gender equality in Finnish society intertwine with individuals’ decision making with regards to the process of capital accumulation and transformation? I employed a feminist standpoint to conduct 6 in-depth interviews using a narrative approach. The interviewees are all from outside of the European Union, are highly skilled, have at least one child whose age is under three years old, have experienced staying at home with a child and currently live in the Helsinki metropolitan area. I utilized thematic analysis to explore the experiences of the immigrant women. The results show the potential for immigrant women to be subjects of capital accumulation, as well as objects where their capital is utilized in supporting and enhancing the lives of other family members. First, the results establish the importance of a local and neighbouring context in capital accumulation in relation to how caring for a child goes beyond the household, and is linked to the generation of social and cultural capital. The choice on the length of stay with one’s child at home intertwines with the social and economic statuses of the interviewees, but remains primarily a matter of individual preference. Second, two of the cases demonstrate the transformation of accumulated capital into economic capital through caring for other members of the family, which works as a resource of emotional capital. At the same time, the position of these women is constrained by social and cultural barriers, as they lack appreciated capital, the most important of them being a sufficient knowledge of Finnish language and culture along with relevant social networks. The position of immigrant mothers can also be observed from an objective viewpoint: there are limitations on the women’s ability to accumulate capital for themselves due to them taking care of the child. However, at the same time, the women can engage in transmission of capital and enhancing their children’s capital development. This thesis shows that the caring work of mothers goes beyond the household, contributing to the generation of capital in their integration process as well as for their children. Caring practice in research demands further investigation to better understand the paths of immigrant women and, possibly, the involvement of their spouses in this practice, in order to improve the women’s social and economic positioning in Finnish society.

This thesis examines how Russian migrant women construct their national identities through the mothering practices they perform in Finland. This research is based on an intersectional approach as it studies how migration and motherhood relate to the complex negotiations of the national identities of Russian women in Finland. Theoretically, this study aims to contribute to the feminist perspective by exploring the complexity and intersectionality of Russian women’s national, gender, and parental identities in migration. Methodologically, this study relies on a biographical approach in the analysis of migration experiences. The primary material of this research consists of in-depth focused interviews based on biographical narratives. A total of 17 interviews were conducted with Russian migrant mothers both through face-to-face and online interviewing during August and September 2022. This research revealed various ways in which Russian migrant mothers construct their national identities through their mothering practices in Finland. The key findings focus on the experiences and strategies of Russian migrant mothers in maintaining translocal family connections, constructing national identities, and navigating motherhood in Finland. Thus, the research situated Russian women’s everyday mothering practices into a complex translocal context where they navigate their multiple identities while living in Finland. Moreover, the study provided data on the challenges and emotional responses of Russian migrant mothers to the war in Ukraine, including the ways in which mothers seek to hide their Russianness and highlight their children’s dominant non-Russian identity.

This research investigates the influence of economic and sociocultural factors on voting behaviour for the True Finns (PS), a populist radical right-wing party in Finland. Regression models analyse data from the European Social Survey’s Round 10, to explore associations between economic and sociocultural variables and support for the True Finns. Findings indicate subjective economic insecurity has no direct impact on voting when combined with sociocultural factors. Lower economic satisfaction and being welfare dependence are associated with reduced support for the party. Moreover, negative perceptions of economic immigration impact positively relate to voting for the True Finns. Cultural immigration impact shows a weaker, although similar association. Lastly, no significant moderation was found regarding Economic Insecurity and Anti-Immigration Attitudes predicting voting behaviour. The study contributes to explore these relationships through the lenses of Social Identity Theory and the Integrated Threat Theory, emphasizing the complexity of the relationship between economic insecurity, sociocultural grievances, and populism.

Participatory budgeting is a democracy innovation that has become popular around the world during the past decades. The capital of Finland is one of the many actors running participatory budgeting. The Helsinki participatory budgeting initiative – called MyCity – defines equal opportunities for participation as one of the main principles and improving parity as one of the key goals for the initiative. This MA Thesis focuses on themes of parity in Helsinki participatory budgeting. The attention is on different parity goals set for the initiative as well as the realization of these principles. According to the literature, inclusion is vital for all democracy innovations, and can be approached in two ways: from equality and equity perspectives. The first emphasizes everyone’s right to be treated similarly in society. The latter one acknowledges that fairness in access and contributions can be achieved only when tuning into each individual’s background differences. The data for the study is twofold, it consists of public documents and interviews. Through document analysis of key policy documents, different equality and equity goals and actions are identified. Further analysis on how these goals complement and contradict is taken. In addition, five qualitative interviews of MyCity cooperation organization representatives were conducted. The methods used are qualitative. Both the policy documents and interviews are analyzed with content analysis. The analysis of the study demonstrates a harmony of equality and equity actions in the recruitment, ideation and co-creation phases of MyCity. In the latter two phases of the process, voting and implementation, equality and equity actions are contradictory. Equality holds the main emphasis in the cost of equity. The study discusses two scenarios for the result: firstly, dismissal of equity goals and the downsides of it: risking tokenism and increasing inequalities. And secondly, an alternative explanation is discussed: unintended lack of clarity in parity priorities. The cooperation organization interviews present the reality of participation for the least privileged citizens: participatory budgeting is largely inaccessible. Main themes identified from the interviews are: employee supported participation was possible for the least privileged, fears on majority citizen’s preferences surpassing the less privileged voices and superficial equality projects as hindrance. In the end, three recommendations to improve equity in MyCity are made: renewal of equity guidelines for the initiative; forming stronger cooperation alliances with the minority organizations; and adjusting the rules and scope of MyCity.

Gender in the military is a critical yet controversial topic both socially and scholastically. However, in review of the literature regarding servicemembers’ transitions out of the military organization, the experience of women is often excluded or generalized from the experience of their male peers. This thesis applies a gender constructivist lens to military sociology and explores the narratives of women officers who have served in the Finnish Defence Forces. It adapted the Critical Incident Technique, as well as graphic elicitation, to conduct qualitative interviews with five respondents. Subsequent analysis revealed four types of critical events that illustrate entry into and exit from the Finnish Defence Forces during a career: prompting, retaining, bridging, and affirming events. These events, as well as participants’ descriptions of identity work, cannot be understood merely through factors relating to the Institutional/Occupational Thesis, but necessitate an understanding of the negotiation of gender throughout a career in the Finnish Defence Forces. The conclusions of this work refute the simplified perspective of gender equality in Finland and demand a gender-nuanced approach to future theoretical conceptualizations of military organizations, as well as the identities of individual servicemembers.

The number of older migrants has been increasing in the world. Immigration to Finland has also been growing with Russia as one of the biggest nationalities. Older migrants are one of the most vulnerable groups since they might receive less attention than younger migrants, feel more insecure in a new environment, and deal with age-related processes, such as retirement, loss of a spouse, and declining health. Additionally, migration leads to relocation to a new society and adjustment to it, a language barrier, separation from family and friends, and other difficulties. A sense of belonging is crucial for migrants since it provides a feeling of comfort and affects their well-being, and negotiating cultural identity and belonging remains relevant even for those who lived in the country of settlement for decades. Creating a sense of belonging in the receiving society may be challenging for older people due to difficulties in learning a language, declining health, and socialization into origin ethnic culture long before migrating. That is why older migrants’ sense of belonging is a primary interest of this study. This thesis focuses on belonging through identity, which is defined as identification with a certain community, and on individual-level factors of belonging. In addition, the association between cultural orientations and types of belonging is examined. The thesis uses a quantitative approach and data from CHARM research. CATPCA is used to identify types of belonging and cultural orientations, and regression analysis is employed to examine the association between factors and types of belonging. Three types of belonging were found among older Russian-speaking migrants (50 years and above) in Finland : national belonging to Russians and Russian-speaking people in Finland, emotional belonging to communities of colleges, friends, neighbours in Finland, and belonging to Ingrian Finns. Worth noting that a core element of belonging to Ingrian Finns is a religion since it is one of the indicators of Ingrian Finns' identity. Similar to previous studies, local language may be one of the barriers to emotional belonging. However, “poor” Finnish or Swedish skills contribute to national belonging to Russians. Other significant predictors for all types of belonging health, religion, and economic situation. Additionally, orientations to Russian and Finnish culture are moderately and positively correlated, which indicates that migrants may orientate to both Finnish and Russian cultures simultaneously, and their cultural identities may be compatible. Orientation to Russian culture contributes to national belonging and belonging to Ingrian Finns. On the other hand, orientation to Finnish culture and belonging to Ingrian Finns are negatively associated. This thesis shows that older Russian-speaking migrants in Finland may have multiple types of belonging, and some of the most significant factors of national and emotional belonging as well as belonging to Ingrian Finns include language, health, and religion. Furthermore, the concept of cultural orientations is significant for migrants' sense of belonging, and the association between cultural orientations and a sense of belonging should be investigated in more detail

The legacies of WWI often have central position in shaping national memory and in many occasions create national myth that shapes historical understanding in certain ways. The issues often trigger heated debate on how to interpret history in national and transnational context. Such is true for Finland. The history of the historiography of Finnish participation in WWII is a process of national interpretations being challenged from outside, notably researchers from Anglophone regions. The debate surrounding such challenges made from external perspectives are still topic of debate in the current context and calls for deconstructing the national myth to incorporate national history into European context are made. While the details of the Anglophone challenges are found in previous literature, how other researchers outside of Finland explained Finnish history of WWII are not well documented. To expand the landscape of the Finnish history research in other regions, this research will focus on the history writing of Japanese historians on Finnish WWII history. The literature that will be analysed are those published in Japan between 1951 and 2017, which includes works aimed at academic and public audience. Analysis will be made using conceptual history approach to understand the text “as they were written” through comparing them with the context within which it was written. The context includes both historiography of the Finnish WWII in available literature in English by Finnish and Anglophone authors, as well as Japanese sociopolitical and historiographical context of seiyōshi (Western History). Through the analysis, several findings were identified. Key findings include the shift in the nomenclature of the wars from wartime names, Soviet Finnish War, to translation of Finnish names, shift in the “problem space” of the Finnish history in Japanese literature, both of which originates to the clarification of the niche by the contributions from early historians. Another feature was relatively quick presentation and acceptance of Anglophone interpretations regarding the origins of the wars, though with variations between historians. This is most likely due to external perspective they share with those from Anglophone regions. The central finding of this research was the very strong emphasis on the small state in virtually all Japanese literature. While the notions appear in Finnish and Anglophone literature, the genre trope of the Western History research resonates strongly in the literature, especially the notions to “learn from the Occident”.