Yhteiskuntaluokka ja maku

Thee thesis, which consists of four original articles and a summarizing chapter, discusses homology between social class and cultural taste. Cultural taste is defined as the choices made in different areas of culture (television, cinema, reading, music, visual arts, sports, dining out, and leisure pursuits). Taste choices manifest themselves as likes and dislikes but also in what a person does. Social class is observed through occupational status, level of education, income and subjective views on class. The central research question concerns the relationship between social class and consumption of culture. The study aims to clarify what kind of class related differences can be found in cultural consumption, but also how these differences are connected to other factors stratifying the society such as gender, age and mother tongue. The data that is being analyzed consists of the data gathered by the project Cultural Capital and Social Differentiation in Contemporary Finland: An International Comparison. Class identification and the relation of cultural divisions to the socioeconomic ones are being analyzed using a nationally represent-ative survey data (N = 1388). Individual interviews (N = 25) and twenty focus group interviews (N = 20) on cultural consumption are also being analyzed. The theoretical framework is built around Pierre Buourdieu s theory of distinction and its critique but also recent research that expands on bourdieusian theory. In the theory of distinction lifestyle is thought to be defined through the quantity and quality of different capitals (economic, cultural and social). Cultural tastes are therefore linked to class status through different capitals. The study shows that the majority of Finns can place themselves in the class scene. Moreover, class-related differences can be found in cultural consumption in empirical analyses. The main differences between classes can be seen in how different classes relate to cultural products but also in the number of leisure pursuits. Being well-off economically is connected to being well-off culturally. High status manifests as omnivorous cultural consumption. The central differences are built upon occupational class so that the working class is more passive than other class groups. Same difference can be found in relation to education and income level. Other im-portant divisive variable is age. Age group defines what is being consumed: the younger respondents are inclined to choose popular culture whereas the older age groups choices represent more traditional taste choices.

Playing Games on Sets and Models

The most prominent objective of the thesis is the development of the generalized descriptive set theory, as we call it. There, we study the space of all functions from a fixed uncountable cardinal to itself, or to a finite set of size two. These correspond to generalized notions of the universal Baire space (functions from natural numbers to themselves with the product topology) and the Cantor space (functions from natural numbers to the {0,1}-set) respectively. We generalize the notion of Borel sets in three different ways and study the corresponding Borel structures with the aims of generalizing classical theorems of descriptive set theory or providing counter examples. In particular we are interested in equivalence relations on these spaces and their Borel reducibility to each other. The last chapter shows, using game-theoretic techniques, that the order of Borel equivalence relations under Borel reduciblity has very high complexity. The techniques in the above described set theoretical side of the thesis include forcing, general topological notions such as meager sets and combinatorial games of infinite length. By coding uncountable models to functions, we are able to apply the understanding of the generalized descriptive set theory to the model theory of uncountable models. The links between the theorems of model theory (including Shelah's classification theory) and the theorems in pure set theory are provided using game theoretic techniques from Ehrenfeucht-Fraïssé games in model theory to cub-games in set theory. The bottom line of the research declairs that the descriptive (set theoretic) complexity of an isomorphism relation of a first-order definable model class goes in synch with the stability theoretical complexity of the corresponding first-order theory. The first chapter of the thesis has slightly different focus and is purely concerned with a certain modification of the well known Ehrenfeucht-Fraïssé games. There we (me and my supervisor Tapani Hyttinen) answer some natural questions about that game mainly concerning determinacy and its relation to the standard EF-game

Operationalizing Supply Chain vs. Supply Chain Competion

Competition is an immensely important area of study in economic theory, business and strategy. It is known to be vital in meeting consumers’ growing expectations, stimulating increase in the size of the market, pushing innovation, reducing cost and consequently generating better value for end users, among other things. Having said that, it is important to recognize that supply chains, as we know it, has changed the way companies deal with each other both in confrontational or conciliatory terms. As such, with the rise of global markets and outsourcing destinations, increased technological development in transportation, communication and telecommunications has meant that geographical barriers of distance with regards to competition are a thing of the past in an increasingly flat world. Even though the dominant articulation of competition within management and business literature rests mostly within economic competition theory, this thesis draws attention to the implicit shift in the recognition of other forms of competition in today’s business environment, especially those involving supply chain structures. Thus, there is popular agreement within a broad business arena that competition between companies is set to take place along their supply chains. Hence, management’s attention has been focused on how supply chains could become more aggressive making each firm in its supply chain more efficient. However, there is much disagreement on the mechanism through which such competition pitching supply chain against supply chain will take place. The purpose of this thesis therefore, is to develop and conceptualize the notion of supply chain vs. supply chain competition, within the discipline of supply chain management. The thesis proposes that competition between supply chains may be carried forward via the use of competition theories that emphasize interaction and dimensionality, hence, encountering friction from a number of sources in their search for critical resources and services. The thesis demonstrates how supply chain vs. supply chain competition may be carried out theoretically, using generated data for illustration, and practically using logistics centers as a way to provide a link between theory and corresponding practice of this evolving competition mode. The thesis concludes that supply chain vs. supply chain competition, no matter the conceptualization taken, is complex, novel and can be very easily distorted and abused. It therefore calls for the joint development of regulatory measures by practitioners and policymakers alike, to guide this developing mode of competition.

Unraveling the helix of change : An activity-theoretical study of health care change efforts and their consequences

M.A. (Educ.) Anu Kajamaa from the University of Helsinki, Center for Research on Activity, Development and Learning (CRADLE), examines change efforts and their consequences in health care in the public sector. The aim of her academic dissertation is, by providing a new conceptual framework, to widen our understanding of organizational change efforts and their consequences and managerial challenges. Despite the multiple change efforts, the results of health care development projects have not been very promising, and many developmental needs and managerial challenges exist. The study challenges the predominant, well-framed health care change paradigm and calls for an expanded view to explore the underlying issues and multiplicities of change efforts and their consequences. The study asks what kind of expanded conceptual framework is needed to better understand organizational change as transcending currently dominant oppositions in management thinking, specifically in the field of health care. The study includes five explorative case studies of health care change efforts and their consequences in Finland. Theory and practice are tightly interconnected in the study. The methodology of the study integrates the ethnography of organizational change, a narrative approach and cultural-historical activity theory. From the stance of activity theory, historicity, contradictions, locality and employee participation play significant roles in developing health care. The empirical data of the study has mainly been collected in two projects, funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund. The data was collected in public sector health care organizations during the years 2004-2010. By exploring the oppositions between distinct views on organizational change and the multi-site, multi-level and multi-logic of organizational change, the study develops an expanded, multidimensional activity-theoretical framework on organizational change and management thinking. The findings of the study contribute to activity theory and organization studies, and provide information for health care management and practitioners. The study illuminates that continuous development efforts bridged to one another and anchored to collectively created new activity models can lead to significant improvements and organizational learning in health care. The study presents such expansive learning processes. The ways of conducting change efforts in organizations play a critical role in the creation of collective new practices and tools and in establishing ownership over them. Some of the studied change efforts were discontinuous or encapsulated, not benefiting the larger whole. The study shows that the stagnation and unexpected consequences of change efforts relate to the unconnectedness of the different organizational sites, levels and logics. If not dealt with, the unintended consequences such as obstacles, breaks and conflicts may stem promising change and learning processes.