Musiikin ymmärtäminen Gadamerin filosofisen hermeneutiikan valossa

Tutkielma käsittelee musiikin ymmärtämistä Hans-Georg Gadamerin filosofiseen hermeneutiikkaan nojautuen. Tutkielman tavoitteena on selvittää mitä musiikin ymmärtäminen eri konteksteissa voi hermeneutiikan näkökulmasta tarkoittaa, ja mitä Gadamerin hermeneutiikka voi tuoda tämän kysymyksen käsittelyyn. Gadamer on etenkin taiteeseen liittyen 1900-luvun tärkeimpiä filosofeja. Kuitenkin hänen filosofista hermeneutiikkaansa on sovellettu musiikkiin huomattavan vähän. Pyrin tässä tutkimuksessa selvittämään sekä Gadamerin omia että häneltä vaikutteita saaneiden musiikintutkijoiden käsityksiä musiikista ja sen ymmärtämisestä. Erityisesti kiinnitän huomioita Gadamerin ajatukseen ymmärtämisen dialogisuudesta. Pyrin myös rakentamaan teorioista synteesiä ja esittämään omat huomioni ja käsitykseni siitä, mitä musiikin ymmärtäminen hermeneutiikan näkökulmasta voi olla. Hermeneuttisesti tarkasteltuna musiikki on kauttaaltaan vahvasti kiinni sosiaalisissa ja kielellisissä käytännöissä ja traditioissa. Se mitä musiikki ylipäänsä on, riippuu ajasta, paikasta ja kontekstista. Näin ollen myös kysymys siitä, mitä musiikin ymmärtäminen on, saa useita erilaisia, toisiinsa liittyviä vastauksia. Gadamerin hermeneutiikan pohjalta voidaan sanoa, että kaikkeen musiikin havaitsemiseen liittyy tulkintaa ja ymmärtämistä. Musiikin ymmärtäminen on aina sidoksissa ennakko-oletuksiin ja kieleen, ja näin ollen sitä voidaan kuvata hermeneuttisen kehän avulla. Myös musiikista vaikuttuminen esimerkiksi tietynlaisen tunteen tuntemisena tai uudenlaisena kokemisen tapana on sidoksissa kulttuurisiin merkityksiin ja näin ollen sisältää ymmärtämisen elementin. Ennen kaikkea Gadamerin pohjalta voidaan sanoa, että musiikin ymmärtäminen vaatii dialogista osallistumista siihen traditioon, jossa musiikkia tehdään, esitetään ja kuunnellaan.

Interdependence of Emerging Eastern European stock markets

One of the main developments in the global economy during the past decades has been the growth of emerging economies. Projections for their long-term growth, changes in the investment climate, corporate transparency and demography point to an increasing role for these emerging economies in the global economy. Today, emerging economies are usually considered as financial markets offering opportunities for high returns, good risk diversification and improved return-to-risk ratios. However, researchers have noted that these advantages may be in decline because of the increasing market integration. Nevertheless, it is likely that certain financial markets and specific sectors will remain partially segmented and somewhat insulated from the global economy for the year to come. This doctoral dissertation investigates several stock markets in Emerging Eastern Europe (EEE), including the ones in Russia, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Slovenia. The objective is to analyze the returns and financial risks in these emerging markets from international investor’s point of view. This study also examines the segmentation/integration of these financial markets and the possibilities to diversify and hedge financial risk. The dissertation is divided into two parts. The first includes a review of the theoretical background for the articles and a review of the literature on EEE stock markets. It includes an overview of the methodology and research design applied in the analysis and a summary of articles from the second part of this dissertation and their main findings. The second part consists of four research publications. This work contributes to studies on emerging stock markets in four ways. First, it adds to the body of research on the pricing of risk, providing new empirical evidence about partial stock market segmentation in EEE. The results suggest that the aggregate emerging market risk is a relevant driver for stock market returns and that this market risk can be used to price financial instruments and forecast their performance. Second, it contributes to the empirical research on the integration of stock markets, asset prices and exchange rates by identifying the relationships between these markets through volatility and asset pricing. The results show that certain sectors of stock markets in EEE are not as integrated as others. For example, the Polish consumer goods sector, the Hungarian telecommunications sector, and the Czech financial sector are somewhat isolated from their counterparts elsewhere in Europe. Nevertheless, an analysis of the impact of EU accession in 2004 on stock markets suggests that most of the EEE markets are becoming increasingly integrated with the global markets. Third, this thesis complements the scientific literature in the field of shock and volatility spillovers by examining the mechanism of spillover distribution among the EU and EEE countries. The results illustrate that spillovers in emerging markets are mostly from a foreign exchange to the stock markets. Moreover, the results show that the effects of external shocks on stock markets have increased after the enlargement of the EU in 2004. Finally, this study is unique because it analyzes the effects of foreign macroeconomic news on geographically closely related countries. The results suggest that the effects of macroeconomic announcements on volatility are significant and have effect that varies across markets and their sectors. Moreover, the results show that the foreign macroeconomic news releases, somewhat surprisingly, have a greater effect on the EEE markets than the local macroeconomic news. This dissertation has a number of implications for the industry and for practitioners. It analyses financial risk associated with investing in Emerging Eastern Europe. Investors may use this information to construct and optimize investment portfolios. Moreover, this dissertation provides insights for investors and portfolio managers considering asset allocation to protect value or obtain higher returns. The results have also implications for asset pricing and portfolio selection in light of macroeconomic news releases.

Studiokettuja ja laboratoriorottia

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Kaupallisen radion vuosikymmenet

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Monitoimimiehen elämäkerta

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Musik till skådespelet "Luftombyte" av Solveig von Schoultz

Soitinnus: piano, pasuunat (3), patarummut.

Elektronisen musiikin instrumenteista

Julkaistu alun perin: Musiikki 1 (1971) : 1, s. 37-41.

Opportunities, constraints and constrained opportunities – A study on mothers’ working time patterns in 22 European countries

The aim of this study was to analyse mothers’ working time patterns across 22 European countries. The focus was on three questions: how much mothers prefer to work, how much they actually work, and to what degree their preferred and actual working times are (in)consistent with each other. The focus was on cross-national differences in mothers’ working time patterns, comparison of mothers’ working times to that of childless women and fathers, as well as on individual- and country-level factors that explain the variation between them. In the theoretical background, the departure point was an integrative theoretical approach where the assumption is that there are various kinds of explanations for the differences in mothers’ working time patterns – namely structural, cultural and institutional – , and that these factors are laid in two levels: individual- and country-levels. Data were extracted from the European Social Survey (ESS) 2010 / 2011. The results showed that mothers’ working time patterns, both preferred and actual working times, varied across European countries. Four clusters were formed to illustrate the differences. In the full-time pattern, full-time work was the most important form of work, leaving all other working time forms marginal. The full-time pattern was perceived in terms of preferred working times in Bulgaria and Portugal. In polarised pattern countries, fulltime work was also important, but it was accompanied by a large share of mothers not working at all. In the case of preferred working times, many Eastern and Southern European countries followed it whereas in terms of actual working times it included all Eastern and Southern European countries as well as Finland. The combination pattern was characterised by the importance of long part-time hours and full-time work. It was the preferred working time pattern in the Nordic countries, France, Slovenia, and Spain, but Belgium, Denmark, France, Norway, and Sweden followed it in terms of actual working times. The fourth cluster that described mothers’ working times was called the part-time pattern, and it was illustrated by the prevalence of short and long part-time work. In the case of preferred working times, it was followed in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Besides Belgium, the part-time pattern was followed in the same countries in terms of actual working times. The consistency between preferred and actual working times was rather strong in a majority of countries. However, six countries fell under different working time patterns when preferred and actual working times were compared. Comparison of working mothers’, childless women’s, and fathers’ working times showed that differences between these groups were surprisingly small. It was only in part-time pattern countries that working mothers worked significantly shorter hours than working childless women and fathers. Results therefore revealed that when mothers’ working times are under study, an important question regarding the population examined is whether it consists of all mothers or only working mothers. Results moreover supported the use of the integrative theoretical approach when studying mothers’ working time patterns. Results indicate that mothers’ working time patterns in all countries are shaped by various opportunities and constraints, which are comprised of structural, cultural, institutional, and individual-level factors.