ISA World Congress of Sociology, Yokohama 2014

1. Populism as Politics of
Personal Experience
THE CASE OF SUVIVIRSI
TuukkaYlä-Anttila

2. 1 FINLAND
2 THEORY
3APPLICATION

3. SUVIVIRSI
“The precious summertime is now here and beautiful
flowers bloom everywhere. The warm sun gives its
blessings, awakening nature to life.
The meadows are again green, the fields filled with
plentiful crops, and the forests with leaves. Every year
this reminds us of your mercy and miracles, God.
Like the birds singing beautiful songs, wouldn’t we,
God’s people, thank our Creator. My soul, join this
choir and thank our Lord of His Mercy.”

4. STATE & CHURCH
76.3 % of Finns are members of the
Lutheran Church (90.3 % in 1990!)
Freedom of religion but Lutheran Church
gets special treatment, incl. tax funds
Basically a state church

5. APATHY
“Parties have drifted further and further away from
ordinary people’s issues”
“I have no say whatsoever over what the
government or parliament decides”

6. 10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Finland Norway Denmark
Populist voters
Other voters
“Sometimes politics and government seem so
complicated that a person like me cannot really
understand what is going on” (ESS 2008)

7. TURNOUT %
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
1962 1966 1970 1972 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007

8. PRACTICES
“efficiency, rationality and expertise
were emphasized [...] disputes were often
handled as neutral technical facts”
(Luhtakallio & Ylä-Anttila 2011)

9. PARTICIPATION
If politics is merely about experts
choosing the most rational/effective
option, why should citizens participate?
Example: Citizens’ initiative

10. “Is the purpose here to create
some sort of fast lane for
legislation? … It is a peculiar
situation if already congested
ministries have to spend
their time dealing with
citizens’ initiatives, that
might, moreover, be in
conflict with the government
platform.”
(Anne Holmlund, chair of the Legal
Affairs Committee of the Finnish
Parliament) (AL 21 March 2013)

11. “People have too
much time on their
hands. Of course
people are allowed to
discuss what they
want, but it’s just so
time-consuming.”
(Jari Koskinen, Minister of Agriculture
and Forestry) (HS 8 April 2013)

12. CONSENSUS
Soviet Union
“Finlandization”
Kekkonen 1958–1982
Korpilampi 1977

13. STABILITY/PROTEST
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011
Conservatives
Soc. Dem.
Rural/Finns
Centre
Left
Greens
Swedish
Christian D.
Others
Seats in parliament, 1987–2011

14. THE (TRUE) FINNS PARTY

15. 1 FINLAND
2 THEORY
3APPLICATION

16. POPULISM
“[A]n ideology that considers society to be
ultimately separated into two homogeneous and
antagonistic groups, ‘the pure people’ versus
‘the corrupt elite’, and which argues that
politics should be an expression of the volonté
generale (general will) of the people.”
(Mudde 2004)

17. LAURENT
THÉVENOT
public justification vs. familiarity

18. PUBLIC JUSTIFICATION
Efficiency (“industrial”)
Tradition (“domestic”)
Inspiration
Market
Civic
Fame
(Boltanski & Thévenot: On Justification, [1991] 2006)

19. FAMILIARITY
Habitual action
Feeling at ease
Predictability
Home
(Thévenot 2007, 2011a, 2011b, 2014)

20. PRACTICES
“efficiency, rationality and expertise
were emphasized [...] disputes were often
handled as neutral technical facts”
(Luhtakallio & Ylä-Anttila 2011)

21. 1 FINLAND
2 THEORY
3APPLICATION

22. FINNISH POLITICS
=
Based on certain agreed principles?
=
public justification

23. DISTANCE
“to appear credible the citizens’ movement had
to distance themselves from particular
interests and frame their argument as public
justification for the common good”
(Lonkila 2011)

24. “[Suvivirsi] is an essential part of
Finnish cultural heritage.”
”You don’t have to sing the hymn if
you don’t want to, or you feel like it
doesn’t fit with your culture.”

25. “If Finns have to look at the religious
dress of muslims and subordination
of women under the pretense of
religion, we can sing suvivirsi once a
year without worries! IS THIS
QUESTION SOME SORT OF
JOKE???”

26. COMMONPLACE
Shared material and/or symbolic
artefact that can be used to build
commonality via familiarity and
personal closeness
(Thévenot 2007, 2011a, 2011b, 2014)

27. “Suvivirsi draws thoughts to summer even if
school days were a long time ago.”
“It fills hearts with emotion
when nature blooms.”
“I’m not particularly religious myself and still I
always wait for Suvivirsi to brings tears to eyes.”
“It still brings tears to my eyes when I sing it.
This I want to be continued and this feeling I hope
will be passed on to our children.”

28. SHARED
EXPERIENCE
Embedded in a particular time and place!

29. INCLUSION FOR
EXCLUSION?
Broadening the range of acceptable
politics but excluding immigrants

30. DISCUSSION
Understanding familiarity and justification...
...to understand lack of interest in politics
...to understand why populism gains popularity
...to understand the significance of the material for symbols
...to help debate between populists and establishment?
...to support progressive politics?

31. AL = Aamulehti 21 March 2013: Holmlund nihkeänä kansalaisaloitteesta: ”Onko tarkoitus luoda lainsäädännön
ohituskaista?” Online: http://www.aamulehti.fi/Kotimaa/1194802824885/artikkeli/holmlund+nihkeana
+kansalaisaloitteesta+onko+tarkoitus+luoda+lainsaadannon+ohituskaista+.html [Viewed 18.4.2013]
Boltanski, Luc & Thévenot, Laurent [1991] 2006: On Justification: Economies of Worth. Princeton University
Press.
HS 8 April 2013: Maatalousministeri torjuu kalastuskritiikin – ”Ihmisillä on liikaa aikaa”. Online: http://www.hs.fi/
kotimaa/Maatalousministeri+torjuu+kalastuskritiikin++Ihmisill%C3%A4+on+liikaa+aikaa/a1365386092083
[Viewed 18.4.2013]
Lonkila, Markku 2011: Yhteisyyden kieliopit helsinkiläisessä ja pietarilaisessa kaupunkiaktivismissa. Sosiologia
48(1), 22–33.
Luhtakallio, Eeva & Ylä-Anttila, Tuomas 2011: Julkisen oikeuttamisen analyysi sosiologisena
tutkimusmenetelmänä. Sosiologia 48(1), 34–51.
Mudde, Cas 2004: The Populist Zeitgeist. Government and Opposition, 39(4), 541–563.
Thévenot, Laurent 2007: The Plurality of Cognitive Formats and Engagements: Moving Between the Familiar
and the Public. European Journal of Social Theory 10(3), 409–423.
Thévenot, Laurent 2011a: Power and oppression from the perspective of the sociology of engagements: a
comparison with Bourdieu’s and Dewey’s critical approaches to practical activities. Irish Journal of Sociology
19(1), 35–67.
Thévenot, Laurent 2011b: Oikeutettavuuden rajat. Yhteiselämää koossapitävät sidokset ja niiden väärinkäyttö.
Sosiologia 48(1), 7–21.
Thévenot, Laurent 2014: Voicing Concern and Difference. From Public Spaces to Common-Places. European
Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology 1(1), 7–34.