Social Policy

The key areas of research in social policy include issues of inequality and well-being, social and health services, income transfers and livelihood, and the systems, policies and ideologies governing these processes. Social policy research takes a critical look at such issues as the labour market, social policy-related decision-making, service provision, income distribution, poverty and equality, and seeks solutions to social problems.

At Tampere University, social policy is distinguished for research on, among other things, working life, families and citizenship, and inclusion as well as international comparative social policy. Research in the subject addresses important societal aspects such as globalisation, inequality, opportunities for sustainable development, citizens’ inclusion, working life trends, conflicts, abuse, social problems, and the distribution and production of well-being.

Research is conducted in many national and international projects, groups and networks whose operation is enabled by both the University’s core funding and external funding (eg from the Academy of Finland, European Union and numerous foundations).

CITIZENSHIP, INCLUSION AND GOVERNANCE

We examine people’s daily lives, participation, welfare services and governance especially in cities. For example, we examine sustainable development policies, the mobility of older people and their daily gatherings, the inclusion of young people in employment and education, the service structures of suburbs, participatory budgeting and other participatory practices, and urban planning processes. We are interested in how political decisions affect people’s lives and, vice versa, how their daily actions change broader political structures, and how societal services and practices support or undermine people’s inclusion and agency. We are developing creative ways to study people’s daily actions and the way those actions relate to social policy. In addition to scientific outputs, we work with social actors to create new practices to enable inclusion, participation and sustainable development. The OMA research group brings together researchers in our field.

Research projects:

• NuoriSO - Towards research-based inclusion in social work for young adults (Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriö, 2022-2024)
• Coexistence and conflict in the age of complexity (EmergentCommunity) (European Research Council ERC 2021-2025)
• The Right to Suburban Space (The Ministry of Environment, 2020–2023)
• Towards eco-welfare state. Orchestrating social impact (ORSI) (Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland 2019–2025) 
• Independent living and out-of-home mobility of older people facing mobility restrictions (Tampere University, 2020–2022) 
• A Key to Success? Scrutinising the Communication of Knowledge in the Interpretation of Participatory Budgeting in Finland, Poland and the UK (Academy of Finland, 2017–2021) 
• Kuntoutus, palvelut ja työllistyminen – Nuorten kuntoutusrahaa saavien yhteiskunnallista osallisuutta vahvistavat käytännöt (Kela, 2018–2021) (Rehabilitation, services and employment – Practices to strengthen the social inclusion of young people receiving rehabilitation allowance)

WORKING LIFE

On the one hand, we have studied macro-level phenomena such as labour market trends and how they are governed i.e. labour policy, labour market policy and the management of unemployment. On the other, our micro-level research has focused on working conditions, occupational well-being and everyday experiences of work and professional identities. New openings include research on social media, the role of robots at work, and bullying at the workplace. Our studies have been conducted in collaboration with various public, private and third sector professionals. We cooperate with Tampere University’s Work Research Centre (WRC) as well as with education on working life themes in social sciences, the Master’s Degree Programme in Work, Welfare and Well-being, and the Master’s Programme in Comparative Social Policy. In our projects, we collaborate with various national research institutes, employer organisations and trade unions, and actors at different levels of government.

Research projects:

• Työtä vailla olevien työ- ja sosiaaliturvapolut ja työttömyysturvan poiskäännyttävät vaikutukset [Employment and Social Security Careers of the Population out of Labour Force]. Kone Foundation (2021–2025)

• Three projects funded by the Government’s analysis, assessment and research activities:

  • Palvelujärjestelmän toiminta: osa-aikatyö ja tilapäinen työ sekä siirtymät kokoaikatyöhön [Part-time jobs and transitions to full-time employment, from the perspective of employment services]. Jointly with the Labour Institute for Economic Research, Work Research Centre / Tampere University and VATT Institute for Economic Research (3/2021–1/2022)

  • Työllisyyden kuntakokeilujen työllisyys-, kustannus- ja hyvinvointivaikutusten arviointi [Evaluation of the governmental experiment on re-organising employment services, launched 2021]. Jointly with VATT Institute for Economic Research and Work Research Centre / Tampere University (2/2021–6/2023)

  • The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on gender equality in Finland. Jointly with THL Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Tampere University, Statistics Finland and Kela Social Insurance Institution Finland (12/2020–5/2022)

• Fragmented work careers? Research project funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund (2018–2020)
• The future of work: Opportunities and challenges for the Nordic models. Pillar III on non-standard work. Nordic Council of Ministers (2017–2021)
• Working hours, health, well-being and participation in working life – WOW (NordForsk, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health 2015–2020) 
• ROSE – Robots and the Future of Welfare Services (Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland)  
• Labour market participation through networks? Self-employed workers in Finland and the Netherlands (Academy of Finland)  
• Work Engagement through Social Media (The Finnish Work Environment Fund 2018–2020)

CARE

Care has been studied in social policy since the introduction of care as a concept in Finland. We study care policy, services for old people, family care, and the marketing and financialisation of care. The focus of our research is on the connection of care to the welfare state and its history and present day. In recent decades, as part of the restructuring of the public sector, care has also become an increasingly market-driven activity. We are interested in the institutional background, conditions and implications of this change for both social policy practices and the daily lives of citizens. 

Research projects: 

• Social Inequalities in Ageing (SIA) (Nordforsk 2018–2020)
• Varjoja paratiisissa: hoivan vaikeat tunteet ja tilanteet omaishoitajan kertomana (Alli Paasikivi Foundation 2019–2020) (Shadows in paradise: difficult affects and situations as told by family carers)

CONFLICTS, ABUSE AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Inequality, social problems and changes in the environment create tensions and conflicts at the local and global levels posing significant challenges to responsible and ethically sustainable actions and social policy. We are studying social problems, inequality, and vulnerability as both social phenomena and structural issues, and human experiences. We are interested in conflicts in everyday life and institutions, the exercise of power, and abuse as theoretical and structural issues, and as challenges to everyday life and well-being. For example, we examine conflicts, abuse and the practices of encountering violence in families, intimate relationships, the media, working life, social and health care systems, legislation, attitudes, and ideologies. In addition to research, we are also developing socially sustainable operating models and practices with actors in the field.    

Research projects:

• Education and Raising Awareness in Schools to Prevent and Encounter Gender-Based Violence (ERASE GBV, Funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union (2014–2020, 2019–2021).
• Impacts of the coronavirus epidemic on experiences of domestic violence and the use of services (KOVÄ, Additional appropriation granted by Parliament for investigating the social impacts of the coronavirus epidemic, 2020-2021)
• Home, Covid and Conflicts - Home and family relationships as space of conflicts in the Covid-19 quarantine ((HoCC), TAU, 2020)
• Varjoja paratiisissa: hoivan vaikeat tunteet ja tilanteet omaishoitajan kertomana (Alli Paasikivi Foundation 2019–2020) (Shadows in paradise: difficult affects and situations as told by family carers)
• Teknologia parisuhdeväkivallan, pakottavan kontrollin ja eron jälkeisen vainon välineenä (Alli Paasikivi Foundation 2020–2021) (Digital violence as a tool of coercive control and  and persecution after divorce)

FAMILY, FAMILY POLICY AND CHILDHOOD

The subject of social policy has a long-standing tradition in researching family policy, the daily lives of families and the well-being of children. Our studies particularly highlight the examination of motherhood and parenthood as part of the development and practices of the welfare state, issues of reconciling family and work, the role of media in the daily lives of families with children as well as the choice families make when they decide about care and early childhood education. Research on families and children has been multidisciplinary and it has been carried out in close collaboration with the Tampere Centre for Childhood, Youth and Family Research PERLA.

Research projects:

• Poverty and Wellbeing in Families with Children: Daily life and Societal Sustainability (DailyLife) (Itsenäisyyden juhlavuoden lastensäätiö (Itla), 2022-2027)
• MAMANET – Mothers intra- and interethnic contacts in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods a multi-methodological approach (Kone Foundation, Finnish Cultural Foundation, City of Helsinki (2018−2022)
• Tasa-arvon kysymykset lasten päivähoidon, esiopetuksen ja hoidon tukien järjestelmässä (CHILDCARE consortium), Strategic Research Council (Academy of Finland 2015–2021) (Equality issues in the system of childcare, pre-school and care support)

 Recently concluded projects

• Spaces of confinement in the institutions of care and control in Finland (Academy of Finland, 2017–2022)
• Dwellers in agile cities/social diversity (Academy of Finland, 2016–2019)
• Institutional and affective practices of violence interventions. (EPRAS, EU (JUST/2016/RGEN/AG/VAWA/4000009936, 2017–2019).

Research groups and networks

• Child maltreatment, violence and interventions – research network 
• Encountering violence in social and health care organisations
• Enhancing Professional Skills and Raising Awareness on Domestic Violence, Violence against Women and Shelter Services, EPRAS research group
• Life-course criminology – research network (LICRI)
• Multi-Sectoral Responses to Child Abuse and Neglect in Europe: Incidence and Trends (COST Action Programme, European Union, 2020–2023
• Perhetutkimusverkosto (Family research network)
• Poliisityön tutkimusverkosto (Research network on police work)
• Research Network for Justice, Space and Society (JUSTSPACES)
• Research network of the Tampere Centre for Childhood, Youth and Family Research PERLA
• Research Collective Vaiva
• Sociodemographic determinants of criminal careers in Finland 1987–2015 (Academy of Finland 2019–2022)
• Work Engagement through Social Media (The Finnish Work Environment Fund 2018–2020)