Suchergebnisse

Drawing on empirical work and secondary analysis from the UK and Finnish construction industries, this book contributes a deep-rooted analysis of construction industry harms that originate from corporate-industrialstate processes. The UK context arguably represents a classic neoliberal' system categorised by privatisation of services and minimal regulation, whereas Finland broadly provides a social democratic' alternative with its relatively strong national regulation and public sector oversight of industry. These concepts interlink strongly with the notion of state-corporate crime, since this perspective shifts attention away from individualistic explanations for crime and harm towards symbiosis between states and corporations. This book argues that existing explanations based on organised crime and individual rogues' are insufficient to account for the wider range and subtlety of harms that occur in construction, and therefore offers a unique perspective into organisational, industry, and state dynamics in this sector. An accessible and compelling read, this book will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, organized crime, and those interested in harms in the construction industry.

This article provides an empirically based analysis of the struggle around the use of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making systems in Finnish public governance. After an experimental phase, constitutional boundaries halted the use of automated decision-making in Finnish administration until legal grounds could be settled. The drafting process for a general law regulating the use of automated decision-making in public governance has started. The initial suggestion balances between efficiency and sufficient protection of constitutional rights. This article builds on a critical discourse analysis of the key statements given after the initial regulatory suggestion. Our analysis shows that despite Finland's constitutional tradition combining both social and liberal values, three out of five discourses prevailing in the statements adhere strongly to a liberal logic of efficiency and optimist accounts of artificial intelligence transformation. The article frames the analysis with the theory of social acceleration. We argue that the prevailing optimism about artificial intelligence and concomitant support for limited state regulation of its use reflect the broader challenges of desynchronization in accelerated societies and might shape the future of the Finnish welfare state.

AbstractNumerous corporate and state processes have long underpinned harms related to human trafficking and exploitation. A consequence of these processes has been a growing interest in how public and private sector organisations co-operate to address key challenges, including accountability for alleged exploitation. The purpose of this article is to examine these public-private sector dynamics in the Finnish construction industry, with a particular emphasis on how stakeholders respond to challenges associated with human trafficking, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and the 'grey economy'. The core argument developed is that despite a strong regulatory framework in Finnish construction, significant aspects of corporate compliance rely on companies' voluntary efforts, whereby public sector authorities can have competing views of solutions to address trafficking and exploitation. This paper contributes to existing discussions within white-collar and corporate crime on the dynamics of CSR, and how these apply to the broader context of the grey economy.

Growing evidence suggests that the affordances of algorithms can reproduce socially embedded bias and discrimination, increase the information asymmetry and power imbalances in socio‑economic relations. We conceptualise these affordances in the context of socially mediated mass harms. We argue that algorithmic technologies may not alter what harms arise but, instead, affect harms qualitatively—that is, how and to what extent they emerge and on whom they fall. Using the example of three well-documented cases of algorithmic failures, we integrate the concerns identified in critical algorithm studies with the literature on social harm and zemiology. Reorienting the focus from socio‑economic to socio-econo-technological structures, we illustrate how algorithmic technologies transform the dynamics of social harm production on macro and meso levels by: (1) systematising bias and inequality; (2) accelerating harm propagation on an unprecedented scale; and (3) blurring the perception of harms.