Suchergebnisse

Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastellaan välitystiliasiakkaiden kuvauksia taloudellisen toimijuuden ilmenemisestä ja sen tukemisesta sosiaalityön keinoin välitystiliasiakkuuden aikana. Välitystilipalvelu on sosiaalityön väline, jolla ihmisiä pyritään tukemaan ja vastaamaan heidän taloudellisiin ongelmiinsa. Se on osa taloussosiaalityötä, jossa ihmisen toimeentuloa tutkitaan kokonaisvaltaisesti ja jonka tavoitteena on vahvistaa ihmisen taloudellista toimintakykyä. Välitystilipalvelu on sekä palvelun tuottajalle että asiakkaalle vapaaehtoinen palvelu. Välitystilin tarkoitus on olla lyhytaikainen ratkaisu asiakkaan talouden hallinnan ongelmiin ohjaten asiakasta itsenäiseen selviytymiseen. Tutkielmani teoreettinen viitekehys on Amartya Senin toimintamahdollisuuksien näkökulma. Tutkimus on teoriasidonnainen ja analyysimenetelmänä on abduktiivinen päättely. Aineistosta esiin nousseet taloudellisen toimijuuden kuvaukset on jaoteltu eri ulottuvuuksiin teemoittelun avulla. Aineiston keruu on tapahtunut yksilöhaastatteluilla. Haastattelupyyntö lähetettiin kaikille tutkittavan alueen välitystiliasiakkaille, joiden vastuulle jää yhteydenotto haastatteluajan sopimista varten. Näin varmistuttiin siitä, että haastatteluun tulevat henkilöt ovat vapaaehtoisia ja osallistuvat omasta halustaan. Analyysissa keskitytään etsimään haastateltavien sanoittamia kuvauksia taloudellisen toimijuuden ilmenemisestä ja sen tukemisesta sosiaalityön keinoin välitystiliasiakkuuden aikana. Toimijuus voidaan määritellä monella tavalla, joista tässä työssä hyödynnetään Amartya Senin, Talcott Parsonsin, Anthony Giddensin ja Albert Banduran määritelmiä toimijuudesta. Tutkimuksen tuloksina aineistosta esiin nousevat taloudellisen toimijuuden kuvaukset on jaoteltu taloudellisen toimijuuden ilmenemisen ja taloudellisen toimijuuden tukemisen ulottuvuuksiin. Taloudellinen toimijuus ilmenee asiakkaiden puheessa valinnanvapauden toteuttamisena ja oma-aloitteisuutena. Taloudelliseen toimijuuteen liittyviä haasteita ovat köyhyys ja velkaantuminen sekä vetäytyvä taloudellinen toimijuus. Taloudellista toimijuutta voidaan aineiston perusteella tukea laatimalla asiakkaalle asiakassuunnitelma sekä työskentelemällä asiakkaan kanssa tavoitteellisesti ja säännöllisesti. Johtopäätöksenä esitän, että välitystiliasiakkaiden hyvinvointi syntyy heidän tekemistään valinnoista ja yhteiskunnan rakenteista. He elävät taloudellisessa niukkuudessa, mutta se ei automaattisesti vähennä hyvinvointia. Tulot ja varallisuus toki parantavat ihmisen taloudellista toimintakykyä, mutta ne eivät yksinään riitä takaamaan hyvinvointia. Välitystilitutkimusta ei juurikaan ole tehty, ja sitä olisi hyvä jatkossa tutkia esimerkiksi vaikuttavuuden arvioinnin näkökulmasta. Hyödyllistä olisi myös välitystilipalvelun alueellisen tai valtakunnallisen toimintamallin rakentaminen. ; This study focuses on searching descriptions of the appearance of financial agency and supporting it with the help of social work within mediation account service. The mediation account can be used to assist people in financial distress and address their financial problems. Mediation account service is part of financial social work, which studies a person's income comprehensively and aims at enhancing a person's financial capability. Mediation account is a voluntary service for both the service provider and the customer. It is meant to be a short-term solution to address the customer's financial problems guiding them towards independent survival. The theoretical approach to this study is Amartya Sen's capability approach. My study is theory-connected and the analysis method is abductive deduction. The descriptions of financial agency rising from the research material have been divided into different dimensions with the help of thematization. The research material was gathered via individual interviews. The request to participate was sent to all the mediation account customers in the research area. They were then responsible for contacting me and setting up a date for the interview. This guaranteed that the people participating in this study did so voluntarily and of their own accord. This study focuses on searching descriptions of the appearance and supporting financial agency with the help of social work in the research material. Agency can be defined in many ways. In this study, the definition of agency is based on the definitions of Amartya Sen, Talcott Parsons, Anthony Giddens and Albert Bandura. The descriptions of financial agency rising from the research data will be divided into the dimensions of appearance of financial agency and supporting financial agency. The financial agency appears in customers' speech as executing freedom of choice and initiative-ness. Challenges of financial agency are poverty and indebtedness as well as passive financial agency. Customers' financial agency can be supported with the help of client planning and goal-oriented and regular work with the customer. As a conclusion I state that the well-being of the mediation account customers is formed by the choices they make as well as societal structures. They live in financial austerity, but it does not auto-matically diminish their well-being. Income and wealth improve the financial capability of a person but as such are not enough to guarantee a person's well-being. Mediation account studies are scarce. In the future, it could be studied for example from the aspect of estimating the effectiveness of mediation account service. It could also be useful to create a regional or nationwide mediation account procedure.

Tutkimuksen kohteena on kokonaisturvallisuus julkisena toimintapolitiikkana, ja sitä tarkastellaan sekä monimutkaisena ja yhteenkietoutuneena ilmiönä että turvallisuuspoliittisena strategiana. Kokonaisturvallisuus on laajaan turvallisuuskäsitteeseen perustuva, aiemmasta kokonaismaanpuolustuksen käsitteistöstä ja strategiasta kehitetty toimintapolitiikka, jolla tavoitellaan kokonaisvaltaista yhteiskunnallisen turvallisuuden hallinnan mallia. Tutkimuksen päämääränä on analysoida kokonaisturvallisuutta systeeminä, arvioida sen kelpoisuutta, toteutettavuutta ja edellytyksiä vastata turvallisuusympäristön muutoksiin. Tutkimus on metodologisesti laadullinen. Aineistona ovat suomalaiset kokonaisturvallisuuden alaan liittyvät erilaiset ja eritasoiset strategiat, ohjelmat ja muut dokumentit, ja toimintaympäristöön ja sen muutokseen liittyvät Euroopan unionin strategiat ja ohjelmat. Teoriaviitekehys perustuu Niklas Luhmannin systeemiajatteluun, jossa systeemin perusrakenteita ovat kommunikaatio, tieto ja merkitykset, ja joka korostaa valintoja kompleksisuuden hallinnan välineinä. Ajattelussa korostuu myös huiputon ja keskukseton yhteiskunta. Prosessimaisen otteensa vuoksi tutkimus kiinnittää huomiota yksittäisten osatekijöiden tai toimijoiden sijaan prosessiin ja kokonaisuuden systeemisyyteen, mikä korreloi sekä kokonaisturvallisuuden tavoitteiden että kompleksisuuden vaatimusten suhteen. Kokonaisturvallisuuden analyysi sekä tunnistaa tutkimuksessa sen kehittämiseen liittyneen merkityskamppailun, että tuo esiin käsitteen epäselvyyden, epäanalyyttisyyden ja "jaetun merkityksen" puuttumisen, mikä heijastuu strategian ohjaavaan vaikutukseen sekä siihen, miten politiikkaideaa on kehitetty. Kokonaisturvallisuuden politiikkaidea on sinällään laajasti hyväksyttävä ja sillä on positiivista valenssia. Yhteistyön ja koordinoinnin korostamisella uskotaan olevan kokonaisuuden hallintaa kehittävä vaikutus. Turvallisuuden kokonaisuuden koordinointitarve onkin jo pelkästään uhkien keskinäisriippuvuuden vuoksi ilmeinen. Poliittista kelpoisuutta haittaavat kokonaisuuden strategisen ohjauksen ohuus ja hajanaisuus, mikä näkyy erityisesti yhteensovittavan tehtävän vaikeutena. Monet systeemin rakenteellisista peruselementeistä ovat jääneet kokonaisturvallisuuden kehittämisessä vähälle huomiolle. Tutkimuksen mukaan tämä vaikeuttaa sen toteutettavuutta. Kokonaisturvallisuuden hallinnassa olennaista on keskinäisriippuvuuksien ja systeemisyyden tunnistaminen ja hallinta. Tutkimuksen tulosten avulla kokonaisturvallisuutta systeemisenä turvallisuuden hallinnan mallina voidaan kehittää ja edistää. Tutkimus päätyy suositukseen kokonaisturvallisuuden kehittämisen ratkaisumallista (ns. älykkään adaptiivisen kompleksisen turvallisuussysteemin idean avulla). Tutkimus tarjoaa eväitä myös uusien kokonaisturvallisuutta koskevien poliittisten linjausten ja politiikkatoimien muotoilulle. ; The main objectives of this study are to clarify and deepen the understanding of the phenomena of comprehensive security and to analyze and evaluate the political viability and administrative operability. Furthermore, the study aims to analyze comprehensive security as a political process and a complex system. In addition, the research deals with changing security environment, emerging security threats. Originally, the concept of comprehensive security derived from the previous concept of comprehensive defense and preparedness in Finland, but it also has roots in the Nordic states' cooperation processes of civil security since 2009. At policy and doctrinal levels, the 2000s saw a converging trend in Nordic states to-wards the definition of societal or comprehensive security concepts that might co-exist with military-led planning for war-time, but within which the softer aspects of security were paramount. The "societal" approach defines the protection of society as a whole – with its own complex mechanisms, values and culture – as its goal, rather than physical boundaries or the isolated and abstract individual. It also rec-ognizes the capacity of non-state actors within society, from businesses to social organizations and individuals, to play a large role themselves in warding against, coping with, and recovering from disasters. The research questions are: 1. What is comprehensive security like as a policy or meta-strategy, political process and complex system? 2. Is the comprehensive security policy or meta-strategy politically viable and administratively feasible? What kind of conditions the strategies (policies) provide for the administrative operability and the development of capabilities? The theory framework is based on Niklas Luhmann's systems and complexity thinking. Luhmann perceives society as centerless and topless system in which communication, information and meanings are considered as the basic elements. The aim of communication is to cause action in systems and formulate new system levels by creating new chains of communication. The empirical part of the research is established on the methodology of concept analysis, content analysis and policy-analysis. The policy-analysis was conducted by the method of political reading. Political reading can be characterized as 'de-mapping', which refers to opening up new aspects of contingency and thus ex-panding of the presence of the political therein (Palonen 1993: 13-15). Through the analysis of the political process the struggle of meanings was iden-tified. As a concept, comprehensive security is ambiguous, unanalytical and unclear. There is a lack of shared meanings, which reflects on how difficult it is to steer the comprehensive security. By emphasizing its cooperative and coordinative nature, is believed to promote better governance of security. However, the lack of steering hampers the political viability which the difficulties of the coordination clearly indi-cate. Many of the basic elements of a system (information/knowledge, communica-tion and meanings) have been ignored in the development of comprehensive secu-rity. This hampers its administrative operability. The study emphasizes that systemic instruments, systems intelligence, identified interdependence and systemic nature of threats and security environment are essential components of comprehensive security governance. The research produced also 10 normative conclusions, by which the compre-hensive security can be developed further with. In addition, it gives the recommen-dation for the development of a model, according to the idea of intelligent adaptive complex system. It also offers information for new political aligning and policy formulations. Due to the process approach of the research, it pays attention to societal security system as a whole, not to single functions or actors. This fits to-gether with the goals set for comprehensive security and the requirements the se-curity environment and complexity imposes.

Discursive study of religion (DSR) has become an increasingly recognised and applied approach to the study of religion. It asks: What passes for 'religion' in society? How do different constructions of 'religion' affect other social spheres such as politics, law, and everyday life, and vice versa? In this collection, Finnish scholars—many of them internationally recognized authorities on the subject—discuss DSR's theoretical underpinnings, map the variety of discursive approaches, and apply the approach to case studies of politics, spirituality, and history. The book can be used as a textbook for religion and method courses in various disciplines.

"The dependency on social security: Social bums in disengaged society? In Finland, most discussion on the welfare state's condition has focused on stabilizing the public-sector's finances. However, more essential for the future of the welfare state is its' social foundation, meaning people's experiences of fairness, equality and reliability of the society as well as the welfare state's capability of taking care of the most vulnerable groups of people.

A functional welfare state combines economic stability with the social foundation. However in the mid 2010s there are cracks in the social foundation of the welfare state .

In this book the cracks of welfare state's social foundation are analysed from the perspective of dependency on social security. Especially the Finns' attitudes and political divisions, policies, the length of customership of last-resort social security, the functionality of service and income transfer systems, social segmentation created by breadlines and coping on the last-resort social security are observed.

The book is meant for all interested in the condition and future of the welfare state. It is suitable as a textbook in universities and universities of applied sciences.

The editor of the book, Juho Saari, is Professor in social and health policy at the University of Tampere and part-time Professor in welfare sociology at the University of Eastern Finland. He has also a docent at the University of Helsinki, at the University of Turku and at the University of Jyväskylä. " - "Suurin osa hyvinvointivaltion tilasta käydystä yhteiskuntapoliittisesta keskustelusta on kohdentunut julkisen talouden vakauttamiseen. Kuitenkin keskeisempää hyvinvointivaltion tulevaisuudelle on sen sosiaalinen perusta, eli ihmisten kokemukset yhteiskunnan reiluudesta, tasa-arvoisuudesta ja luotettavuudesta sekä hyvinvointivaltion kyky kantaa vastuu kaikkein haavoittuvimmassa asemassa olevista ryhmistä. Toimiva hyvinvointivaltio sovittaa yhteen taloudellisen kestävyyden ja sosiaalisen perustan. Kuitenkin 2010-luvun puolivälin hyvinvointivaltion sosiaalisessa perustassa on halkeamia.

Tässä teoksessa analysoidaan hyvinvointivaltion sosiaalisen perustan halkeamia ja murroksia sosiaaliturvariippuvuuden näkökulmasta. Erityisesti tarkastelemme siihen liittyviä suomalaisten asenteita ja poliittisia jakolinjoja, politiikkalinjauksia, viimesijaisen turvan asiakkuuksien kestoa, palvelu- ja tulonsiirtojärjestelmien toimivuutta, leipäjonojen luomia yhteiskunnallisia jakolinjoja ja ihmisten selviytymistä viimesijaisella turvalla.

Teos on tarkoitettu kaikille hyvinvointivaltion tilasta ja tulevaisuudesta kiinnostuneille. Se soveltuu oppikirjaksi yliopistoihin ja ammattikorkeakouluihin.

Teoksen toimittaja Juho Saari on Tampereen yliopiston sosiaali- ja terveyspolitiikan professori ja Itä-Suomen yliopiston hyvinvointisosiologian osa-aikainen professori sekä Helsingin, Turun ja Jyväskylän yliopistojen dosentti.
"

This collection of articles sheds light on the role of human language in interspecies interaction. The book shows that language is not necessarily what separates us from other creatures. It can also be seen as yet another dimension of human existence that is deeply rooted in our shared history and everyday life with other living beings. This volume contains six individual research articles, two short reviews, an opening introduction to the themes of the book, and an extensive, theoretical closing chapter. The studies draw on methodologies and theoretical approaches including conversation analysis and a cognitive, usage-based approach to grammatical constructions. The book further explores the interfaces of linguistics, biosemiotics, and posthumanism. The studies show how linguistic and interactional approaches can contribute to our understanding of how human and non-human animals communicate with each other during embodied activities, how human language users make sense of interspecies encounters in speaking to or about animals, and how human language is thereby impregnated by the presence of other species. The individual research articles study, e.g., interaction with co-present animals, dialectal cow calls, parliamentary speeches, narratives of nature observation, and historical laws.

What is a state? This volume approaches the question from an anthropological perspective, which means that the starting point of the analysis is not the concept of the state, but instead, what kinds of structures the state consists of, what kinds of effects these structures have, and how states are experienced by the people who inhabit, make, enact, and resist them. The volume introduces a contemporary anthropological approach to the study of the state for a Finnish-speaking audience. This new approach examines the state as a diverse, socially and culturally constructed phenomenon that varies in time and place. Additional aims of the volume are to introduce and translate concepts from political anthropology to the Finnish language, and to make anthropological analyses of the state known to other disciplines that study the state and to the general Finnish-speaking public. Covering a wide variety of ethnographic contexts examining both the effects of the state and the state-like effects of other institutions, the volume contains case studies from Brazil, Uganda, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Finland, Bolivia, Cuba, Egypt, Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Ghana. A theoretical introduction presents the development of anthropological thinking with regard to the state and state-like institutions. An afterword reflects on the contribution of the volume in light of the ethnographic context of Indonesia.

This book deals with approaches, sources, and methods in health history from the middle ages to the twentieth century. Individual chapters demonstrate how historians of medicine and health choose their methodological approaches and form interpretations from primary sources. They discuss the practices of writing and show how obstacles in the research process can be overcome. Practical examples of source materials, used methods and research challenges give tools to students for carrying out projects independently and help them to understand different possibilities in the field of health history. In this book, history of health includes but is not limited to medical science. Emphasising medical pluralism, it places (public) health in a cultural and social field encompassing official and unofficial practitioners, medical institutions, and patients. Individual case studies highlight themes in Finnish, European, and African history.

It is generally recognized that in early modern society, the position of the church and clergy was very central. As many historians have stated over the decades, the church and state were closely connected and their power structures and ideologies supported each other. However, when studying the social and public role of the church and clergy, it soon becomes quite clear how pervasive this phenomenon was. The church not only created but also maintained and acted as a part of international, national, and local communities, structures, and cultures that connected people regardless of their social status and gender. The church was a spiritual, administrative, and social institution and experience environment, whose tasks, scope, and meanings changed and intertwined with the development, needs, and requirements of society. In this book, we investigate from different perspectives the motives and different means by which the church and clergy came to play a significant part in early modern society. In this volume, the church is considered both as an administrative institution and as a social space and cultural structure. Hence, we do not focus on the history of theology or doctrinal questions. Instead, we consider the social and public roles and meanings of the church. The church as such is understood in this book as transnational, a strong national and local institution, and also a space and structure. The church had its own institutionalized place in society and its activities and rights were defined by law (Church law 1696, the Law of the Swedish kingdom 1734) and by the decrees given by the Royal Majesty. The church had its own archbishop-led administrative organization under the Royal Majesty and it worked in close cooperation with the Crown administration and county governors. In this volume, we understand the clergy as church servants, a trained and appointed professional group, a separate estate (social class), and also as a wide social network constructed by their families. The approach of this book is social science history. In other words, the book examines the church and the clergy as an integral part of society and the individual communities who lived in the current Finnish territory during the early modern era. The topic is examined on the basis of three conceptual themes reflecting important new areas of research in the study of the social significance of the church and clergy: (1) the clergy and family as part of the community, (2) the church as a jointly built space, and (3) the church as an arena for interaction, knowledge, and politics. We approach this multidimensionality using different research questions, sources, methods, and theoretical approaches. The volume focuses on the 17th to 19th centuries, but many of the church and clergy-related phenomena are much older, and some of them extend to the present, so the articles also move beyond this time frame.

Participatory approaches and co-research are increasingly employed in the current moment for exploring barriers to equality. Co-research treats research participants as experts in their own lives and as equal research partners. Research conducted with this orientation is based on research problems drafted by the research participants themselves from their aspirations regarding the research process and an active partnership that considers the interests of all parties involved. Participatory methods are used in co-research, particularly for the purpose of deepening the contextualisation of research knowledge about structurally vulnerable or subordinated groups and to challenge the power positions associated with traditional research designs. In co-research, the role of the people involved in the research is more central than in more traditional research. One of the key principles of co-research is that co-investigators (a) can participate in various roles, (b) have the opportunity to participate in different phases of the research according to their own interests and resources, and (c) co-investigators' participation can take many forms, including differences in intensity. The idea is to provide more people with opportunities to contribute to the knowledge production about themselves and their communities from their respective perspectives and interests. Co-research is also seen as an opportunity to improve the relevance and usefulness of scientific knowledge. It aims to genuinely increase interaction and openness and extend science's societal responsibility. In this book, we approach co-research as a means to promote social justice, as an action with a societal impact contributor to social impact and as a means to promote the societal responsibility of science. We discuss and evaluate the ideals of the co-research process concerning the everyday challenges and practices in research. Above all, we offer the knowledge and experience generated by our own projects to support those planning or already implementing co-research projects.

Laadunarviointi on keskeinen osa koulutuspolitiikkaa, jonka kansallisena tavoitteena on nostaa suomalaiset Euroopan osaavimmaksi kansaksi koulutuksen mittareilla mitattuna. Sillä on paitsi tekninen, myös hallinnollinen funktionsa. Arviointikäytänteet osana koulutuksen hajautettua hallintaa ja arviointikulttuurin lanseerausta ovat leviämässä kansalliselta tasolta kuntien ja koulujen toimintakäytänteisiin. Tässä tarkoituksessa hallinto tukee yhtenäisten itsearviointimenetelmien ja laadunhallintamallien käyttöönottoa paikallisen tason laaduntarkkailussa. Tämän tutkimuksen keskiössä on kysymys koulutuksen 'laadun' konstruktiivisesta muotoutumisesta perusopetusta koskevassa koulutuspoliittisessa diskurssissa ja arviontikäytänteissä. Foucault'n hallinnan analyyttisen näkökulman kautta tutkimus jäsentää laadun muotoutumisen diskursiivisia reunaehtoja suhteessa laadunarvioinnin totuuksiin ja oikeuttamiseen (rationaliteetti), laadun tuottamisen tapoihin ja käytäntöihin (teknologia) sekä subjektin rooliin laatudiskurssissa. Tutkimuksen aineistona on Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön julkaisema koulutuspoliittinen teksti "Perusopetuksen laatutyö. Erilaisia tapoja ottaa laatukriteerit hallintaan", joka on kunnille ja kouluille suunnattu laadunarviointia koskeva ohjeistus ja arvioinnin käytännön apuväline. Tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella koulutuksen 'laatu' näyttäytyy ristiriitaisena koulutuspoliittisena empty signifier-terminä, jolla laadun rationaliteetti ja teknologia on sidottu yhteen, palvelemaan samoja yhteiskunnallisia päämääriä. Lähtökohtaiset oletukset 'laadun' yhteiskunnallisen oikeuttamisen ja varsinaisten arviointikäytäntöjen taustalla eroavat kuitenkin toisistaan merkittävästi. 'Laatu' on toisaalta yhteiskunnalliseen muutokseen reagoivaa loputonta liikettä ja kehittymistä laadun idean tasolla ja toisaalta arviointijärjestelmän sisällä tuotettua kuntien ja koulujen systemaattista seurantaa sekä tosiasiana todettua kyvykkyyden mittaamista suhteessa tavoitteisiin. Laadunarvioinnin diskurssi tarjoaa analyysin perusteella laadun muotoutumiselle jatkuvan kehittymisen ideologian ja metodologiset kehykset, muttei välineitä laadun parantamiseen subjektin näkökulmasta esimerkiksi pyrkimällä tukemaan oppilaan oppimisen edellytyksiä. 'Laatu' irrotetaan koulutuksen arjesta, arvoista ja pedagogisista periaatteista neutraalisti tuotetuksi arviointitiedoksi. Laadun subjektit (opettajat ja opiskelijat) esitetään laatutyöhön osallistettavina laadun tuottamisen välineinä. Governed quality? About the nature and definitioning terms of quality in the education policy discourse Abstract Quality assurance is understood as an important part of education policy in which the main goal is to raise Finnish to the most capable people in Europe measured by the indicators of education quality. It has both technical and governmental functions. Quality assurance methods as a part of diffused regime of governing are expanding from the national level into the practices of the municipal corporations and the schools. In this meaning the current regime of governance supports the commissioning of the uniform assurance technigues and models as the forms of local quality control. In the center of this research is the question of 'quality' and the way it is formed in the discourse of education policy and through the modes of quality assurance. The research analyzes the preconditions of this discoursive consept through Foucaults analytic perspective. It pays attension to the truths and legitimation of quality (rationality of government), the quality practices (technique of government) and the role of the subject in the discourse of quality. The data of the research consist of the education policy text "Perusopetuksen laatutyö. Erilaisia tapoja ottaa laatukriteerit hallintaan" (Quality work in Basic education. Ways to take over the quality criteria), published by Ministry of Education and Culture. The text is an instructioning publication for the municipal corporations and schools, amed to support their self evaluation. As a results of the research 'quality' appears as a contradictional 'empty signifier'-concept used as a tool of education policy. By using the consep it is possible to combine the rationalities and the techniques of quality, both serving the societal ambitions. Even so, the main principals behind the legislations of society level and the ideas connected to assurance practices differ from each other significally. On one hand 'quality' is seen as an idea and reaction to the endless movement of the development of society, but on another it is about verifying the 'true' capability of the local actors reaching goals and results; systematic measurement inside the regime of assurance. Thus the education discourse gives for the forming quality two attributes: the ideology of continuing development and the frames of measument, but says nothing about how the subjects/actors could reach those goals in practice by improving the conditions of learning. Governed 'quality' is separated from the ordinary reality of schooling, from the values of teaching and the principals of pedagogy and translated into neutrally produced assurance knowledge. The real subjects of quality (teachers and pupils) are performed as committed instruments of the production of it.

This edited volume is a handbook of research methodologies for the history of childhood. The history of childhood is a vibrant, multidisciplinary field that incorporates a rich variety of methodological approaches developed in disciplines across the social sciences and humanities, including archaeology, education, ethnology, literature, and history. The volume presents a collection of chapters that engage a range of different research traditions and employ different research material, conceptual tools, and methods of analysis for the historical study of childhood. In doing so, the volume attends to issues specific to the study of children and childhood, such as those related to research ethics and the theoretical complexities of defining 'the child' and 'childhood'. While the central focus is on the history of childhood in Finland, the volume also includes international and transnational cases, contexts, and perspectives.

Human lives are crucially shaped by encounters of otherness – or, rather, various othernesses. This book explores the ethical challenge of developing an appropriate and respectful relation to other human beings by analyzing a number of historical and cultural cases of relating to the other. The topics range from barbarism, racist stereotypes, female rhetoric, and vampires to philosophical analyses of Finnish writers like Eino Leino and Väinö Linna, and from lyrical depictions of pain to an "antitheodicist" reflection on Primo Levi's Holocaust writing. A chapter on what it means to take a critical distance to other human beings in the context of the covid-19 pandemic concludes the volume. The authors approach these diverse issues (which are all aspects of the same basic problem of understanding and acknowledging otherness) from the perspective of an interdisciplinary humanistic reflection integrating literary analysis and philosophical argumentation.