Valtion taiteilijatuki taiteilijan määrittelijänä : Määrittelyvallan ehtoja ja ulottuvuuksia pohjoismaisen tukimallin suomalaisessa muunnelmassa

The dissertation studies state support for artists in the context of the societal process of producing definitions of the artist. It examines the dimensions of and conditions for the power of definition inherent in the Nordic model of artists' support. The dissertation consists of a summary in Finnish and five articles published in English. The theoretical framework is based on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of the fields of cultural production and the concept of artistic classification systems introduced by Paul DiMaggio. The framework also makes use of the analyses by Per Mangset and Dag Solhjell of the relationship between Norwegian artistic fields and the state policy of supporting art. The study assumes that an examination of the formulation and content of the policy of support is insufficient, and extends the analysis to the implementation of the policy both at the level of the structures of decision making and at the level of actual decisions and their impacts. The analysis of the economic dimension of the definition power of artists' support uses register-based data on artists' financial situation. Survey data is used in studying the attitudes of Finnish artists toward state support for artists. The analysis of the Nordic policy of supporting artists uses data based on documents and interviews concerning the formulation and implementation of the policy in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The cross-country comparison contributes to identifying the specific features of the Finnish policy of supporting artists from the point of view of its potential power of definition. The study concludes that the legitimating arguments, goals and means of the policy of supporting artists, as well as the structures and actions of the bodies implementing the policy, have an impact on the formulation of definitions of the artist. For example, a relevant factor in this context seems to be the way in which the relationship between various fields of art and the system of support is organized. According to the comparative analysis, the greater the correspondence between the administrative structures of decision making and the organizational structure of artistic fields, the greater the resistance to change regarding the artistic categories produced. By contrast, those structures of decision making which require negotiations and compromises between various interests have produced artistic categories that have been more inclined to change. The development of the Finnish system of artists' support over the past few decades can be described as a slow expansion towards new areas of art. However, the demarcations and hierarchies between various fields of art have not lost their significance, and state support for artists still concentrates on the same areas as it did when the policy of supporting artists was established. State support always contains an element of power. According to the study, the Nordic policy of supporting artists has both the material and symbolic power to participate in the production of societal definitions of the artist. The legitimating arguments, goals and means of the Finnish artists' support, as well as the criteria for granting it, strengthen the symbolic dimension of this power also in terms of the symbolic capital valued by the artistic fields. In this sense, it can be said that the state is one of the actors in the Finnish fields of art. The symbolic dimension of the definition power of artists' support is, however, in the last instance derived from the artistic fields, and reinforces on its part the definition power of these fields.

Lapset ja nuoret ympäristökansalaisina : Ympäristökasvatuksen näkökulma osallistumiseen

Children and young people as environmental citizens the environmental education perspective to participation This doctoral thesis examines the participation of children and young people in developing their own environment at school, as a part of environmental education. The aim of the research is to assess and consider children and young people s environmentally responsible participation and its effectiveness in relation to the participants own learning and the end results of the participation. The research combines the perspectives of environmental education and citizenship education through the concept of environmental citizenship. Environmental education, which enhances environmental citizenship, offers children and young people the possibility to be active citizens and learn about citizenship in their own lives by taking action themselves. The research is made up of two parts which complement each other. The first part consists of an action research carried out in the Joensuu Lyseo Upper Secondary School, where an environmental education course with a traffic-related theme was planned, developed and evaluated. The second part is made up of an interview survey carried out in Helsinki. In the survey actors from schools and various city offices, who were involved in development projects of school environments, were interviewed. According to the research results, all-round cooperation and more open relations with those outside of the school environment are important ways to support environmental citizenship in schools. Thus, environmentally responsible participation offers a chance to learn competence that an environmental citizen needs the knowledge, skills and willingness to act that have not been successfully taught through traditional school education. The research introduces a model of environmentally responsible participation as a learning process, in which learning is studied through the development of competence, self-empowerment and social empowerment. The model makes the context of environmental education visible and puts emphasis on reflection in the learning process. A central factor in children and young people s self-empowerment is the sense of being heard and taken into consideration. At the moment children and young people s rights to participate are strong, due to legislation, school curricula, and several national and international agreements. Despite this, involving them in developing their own immediate surroundings has not become a part of schools and planning organisations daily life and established methods. Reasons for this situation can be found in the lack of regard and resources for these matters, in the complex nature of planning and a long time frame, and the problems of ownership and of reaching each other. Central to overcoming these obstacles are a gradual change in conduct and mentalities and the strengthening of teachers and officials competence. Children and young people need different ways and methods of varying levels of involvement, structures and arenas which enable participation and in which environmental citizenship can be realized. Key words: environmental citizenship, environmental education, citizenship education, children and young people s participation, social learning, self-empowerment, social empowerment, school, community planning

Luonnonsuojelu arjessa : Maanomistajien näkemyksiä ja kokemuksia yksityismaiden tilapäisestä luonnonsuojelusta ja sen uudistumisen prosessista

Nature conservation in everyday life: Private landowners perceptions of and experiences on temporary nature conservation and its renewing process This study explores the legitimacy of official nature conservation of private lands. It describes how temporary nature conservation became a part of Finnish nature conservation policy and how forest owners perceived this tool and its usage. In addition, the study analyses forest owners' attitudes on official nature conservation. The study combines individual and official perspectives, and presents a nature conservation politics of everyday life. The theoretical background of the study is learning processes of environmentally responsible participation, and especially empowerment. Main methods in gathering the material for the study have been interviews and a survey. In the 1990 s, Finnish landowners opposed the implementation of nature conservation, especially conservation of shores and the establishment of the European-wide network of conservation areas (Natura 2000). After negative experiences on these conservation efforts, some private landowners were disempowered and some even rejected conservation completely. The Nature Conservation Act of 1996 launched an option to conserve nature officially for fixed time-periods. Use of such a policy tool did not immediately become a widely-used and appreciated conservation practice. During the following decade, however, it attracted remarkable attention within Finnish nature conservation policy discussions. The perspective of landowners began to be emphasised when local and regional organisations for nature conservation and forestry together defined the ideas of natural values trading. Later, the national governance process of the committee defining the Forest Biodiversity Programme for Southern Finland (METSO) institutionalised these ideas in one of its pilot projects. Landowners participated in the project of natural values trading by offering their forests for conservation, which reflects the increased acceptance and legitimacy of nature conservation on private forests. The central elements producing the legitimacy of natural values trading have been voluntariness, temporariness, and dialogue between nature conservation and forestry. Natural values trading analysed in the study is an example of new environmental policy instruments and its creation process represents governance in the implementation of nature conservation. It has increased the legitimacy of nature conservation policy of private forests in Finland. The results reveal the importance of participation and learning processes in the implementation of nature conservation policy, and the need to also pay attention to these processes in the future.

Samanaikaisen alkoholiriippuvuuden ja vakavan masennuksen hoito memantiinilla ja essitalopraamilla - tulos ja ennustetekijät

Samanaikainen alkoholiriippuvuus ja vakava masennustila on haasteellista sekä lääketieteelliselle hoidolle että tutkimukselle. Tämä oireyhtymä on yksi yleisimmistä psykiatrisista häiriöistä niin Yhdysvalloissa kuin Suomessakin. Potilaiden ja heidän omaistensa inhimillisen kärsimyksen lisäksi myös kokonaistaloudelliset terveydenhoidolliset kustannukset ovat suuret tämän oireyhtymän hoidossa: niiden arvioidaan olevan yli neljäkymmentä prosenttia korkeammat kuin pelkän depression kohdalla. Tässä tutkimuksessa pyrittiin löytämään uusia hoidollisia vaihtoehtoja alkoholiriippuvuudesta ja vakavasta masennuksesta yhtäaikaisesti kärsivien potilaiden hoidossa. Tutkimukseen osallistui 80 potilasta Helsingin kaupungin kolmelta A-klinikalta. Kyseessä oli kaksoissokko, randomisoitu, kahden eri tavalla vaikuttavan lääkkeen, essitalopraamin (selektiivinen serotoniinin takaisinoton estäjä) ja memantiinin (glutamaatin NMDA reseptorin ei-kilpaileva estäjä) vertaileva tutkimus. Potilaiden oireiden kulkua seurattiin 26 viikkoa depressioon, ahdistuneisuuteen, kogniitioihin, elämänlaatuun ja alkoholin käyttöön liittyvillä mittareilla. Tämän jälkeen tarkasteltiin hoitovastetta alkutilanne- ja taustamuuttujien valossa. Pyrkimyksenä oli löytää joitakin ennustekijöitä, joiden pohjalta kliinikko voisi tehdä hoitoratkaisunsa näiden potilaiden hoidossa. Molemmat lääkkeet vähensivät merkittävästi sekä masennusta että ahdistuneisuutta, eikä essitalopraami- ja memantiiniryhmien välillä ollut tilastollisesti merkitsevää eroa. Kognitiiviset toiminnot olivat lähtövaiheessa normatiivisella tasolla. Elämän laatu parani molemmissa hoitoryhmissä. Alkoholimittareilla AUDIT (alkoholihäiriöiden tunnistusmittari) ja OCDS (pakkomielteisen ja pakkotoimintoisen alkoholinkäytön mittari) paranivat molemmissa hoitoryhmissä. Varhainen ensimmäisen vakavan masennuksen episodin alku näytti ennakoivan huonoa vastetta essitalopraamille, mutta ei memantiinille, mitattuna Montgomery-Åsberg depression rating scale -asteikolla. Toisaalta myöhäinen ensimmäisen masennuksen episodi näytti ennakoivan hyvää hoitovastetta essitalopraamille. Niinpä ensimmäisen masennuksen alkamisikä saattaisi olla käyttökelpoinen ennustekijä näille lääkkeille. Varhainen humalahakuisen juomisen alkamisikä näytti ennustavan huonoa hoitovastetta molemmille lääkkeille, erityisesti essitalopraamille, mitattuna AUDIT-mittarilla. Aktiivinen alkoholinkäyttö tutkimuksen alkaessa ennakoi tutkimuksen keskeyttämistä. HTTLPR-geenin L-alleeli näytti ennustavan parempaa hoitovastetta essitalopraamille masennukseen kuin S-alleeli.

Monimuotoisuus ja esteettömyys : Näkövammaisten asiantuntijoiden työelämäkokemuksia

The purpose of this study is to analyse education, employment, and work-life experiences of visually impaired persons in expert jobs. The empirical data consists of 30 thematic interviews (24 visually impaired persons, 1 family-member of a visually impaired person, 5 persons working with diversity issues), of supplementary articles, and of statistics on the socio-economic status of the visually impaired. The interviewees experiences of education and employment have been analysed by a qualitative method. The analysis has been deepened by reflecting it against the recent discussion on the concept of diversity. The author s methodological choice as a disability researcher has been to treat the interviewees as co-researchers rather than objects of research. Accessibility in its different forms is a prerequisite of diversity in the workplace, and this study examines what kind of accessibility is required by visually impaired professionals. Access to working life depends on the attitudes prejudices and expectations that society has towards a minority group. Social accessibility is connected with internal relationships in the workplace, and achieving social accessibility is a bilateral process. Information technology has revolutionised the visually impaired people s possibilities of accessing information and performing expert tasks. Accessible environment, good mobility skills, and transportation services enable visually impaired employees to get to their workplaces and to navigate there with ease. Integration has raised the level of education and widened the selection of career options for the visually impaired. However, even visually impaired people with academic degrees often need employment support services. Visually impaired professionals are mainly employed in the public and third sector. Achieving diversity in the labour market is a multiactor process. Social support services are needed, as well as courage and readiness from employers to hire people with disabilities. The organisations of the visually impaired play an important role in affecting the attitudes and providing peer support. Visually impaired employees need good professional skills, blindness skills, and social courage, and they need to be comfortable with their disability. In the workplace, diversity may actualise as diverse ways of working: the work is done by using technical aids or other means of compensating for the lack of eyesight. When an employee must find compensatory solutions for disability-related limitations at work, this will also develop his/her problem-solving abilities. Key words: visually impaired, diversity, accessibility, working life