Hanna-Mari Ikonen

Precarious work, entrepreneurial mindset and sense of place: female strategies in insecure labour markets

This article discusses the uncertainty of working life by providing a viewpoint of one individual’s experience of it. The article argues that entrepreneurship and employment are forms of income that are not separate from each other; instead, in precarious labour markets, individuals can alternate between the two. An entrepreneurial mindset and practices are required from the self-employed and employees alike, but neither form of livelihood ensures a permanent income. Though in different ways, the process of precariatisation touches many groups of people, and the varying alternatives for navigating this situation are deconstructed here. The analysis discusses how surviving precarious labour markets and uncertain income requires a lot of endurance and self-governance as illustrated by an in-depth interview with a woman who lives in a remote area. The analysis also proves that the opportunity to remain in a place of residence and establish a sense of belonging has a significant impact on an individual’s abil...

Too good to be a sport? Why dog agility struggles in gaining recognition as a sport

Over the last two decades, the Finnish community of dog agility practitioners has worked diligently towards gaining recognition for agility as a sport. The process reached an important milestone in 2016 when the National Sports Council listed the Finnish Agility Association as eligible for financial support from the state. As one of the pioneer countries in this regard, Finland is of great interest, as the agility sport continues to become more popular and professionalised worldwide. Using the findings from a qualitative study of media coverage and expert interviews about attempts to gain recognition for agility as a sport, this article explores the strategies that practitioners and the Finnish Agility Association have utilised in their work. This article shows that recognition comes with the need to find a balance between elite sports, on the one hand, and sport for all on the other. Although agility may risk losing some of its particular character as a human–animal teamwork dynamic, it has the potential to contribute to the culture of sports more widely.

‘I <3 my high-performance dog’: love for the sport in agility coach representations in social media

Abstract In contrast to its inception as intermission entertainment at the Crufts Dog Show in the UK in the late 1970s, dog agility has become a worldwide steadily professionalized and entrepreneurialized sport with reputable coaches and training programs over the last decade. This change raises concerns about the pressures placed on dogs. We look at the potential incommensurability of ‘loving’ a dog as a companion animal and making the dog engage in competitive sports. We evaluate texts, photographs and videos from successful agility coaches and identify four types of loving relationships through which the coaches express their commitment to the sport. While an affinity for dogs appears important for building the coaches’ reputation and provides the justification for engaging the dog in physically and mentally demanding sports, the question remains whether this dogmanship can be straightforwardly turned into action.

Letting Them Get Close: Entrepreneurial Work and the New Normal

‘Lifestyle-based entrepreneurs’ are self-employed people who work from home and have moved into entrepreneurship to live a certain lifestyle and escape insecure wage work. This chapter looks at the example of home-based businesses in Sweden and Finland hosting the ‘dog hobbyists’ who participate in dog training in rural settings. In this new entrepreneurial work, production, reproduction, and consumption blur together as the entire lifestyle becomes commercialised. Despite individualised risk, the entrepreneurs remain optimistic that they have the resources to make real their fantasies of living the ‘good life’.