Harri Melin

Social contradictions in informational capitalism: The case of Finnish wage earners and their labor market situation

Along with the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs), work processes are becoming ever more knowledge intensive. In keeping with this trend, the number of informational (or knowledge) workers in Finland has more than tripled from 12% in 1988 to 39% in 2000. What makes the Finnish case unique and interesting is the exceptional speed with which the information sector of the economy has grown. A few years after facing the most severe economic recession in its history in the early 1990s, Finland is now considered to have an advanced information economy. However, our empirical analysis--based on survey data from 1988, 1994, and 2000--yields a somewhat more critical picture of the Finnish information society than what usually comes across in the mainstream media. The opportunities for social equality offered by the growth of informational work are far more limited than was the case with the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Information Society and the Transformation of Organizations in Finland.

In this article, the authors analyze and evaluate the nature of organizational change in Finland. This is against the backdrop of social theories that emphasize the transformation of work based on new technology and increasing knowledge intensity. Our empirical data are drawn from three case studies: Metso Automation, the global market leader in paper and pulp machine automation; Telenor, which produces and sells internet-based business catalogs; and the city of Ylöjärvi, which is responsible for social services. Our study shows that there are large differences between organizational types in terms of team formation, pay systems, recruitment, and forms of control. We argue that organizational differences reflect more general differences between traditional and proactive, flexible workplaces that coexist in the emerging information based society.

Precarity in Different Worlds of Social Classes

This chapter addresses social classes in contemporary Europe, with the specific goal of analysing what has been and what can be meant by the precariat and precarity in terms of class and how class analysis can contribute to actually understanding precariousness and precarization. This is done by analysing class positions from the point of view of reproduction of classes. By comparing different European class regimes, we examine whether reproduction of classes, and thereby reproduction of precariousness, follows similar or different patterns in selected European countries, including Russia. In particular, we compare Russia with the Nordic countries. In many ways, Russia is a critical case, which helps us to evaluate the relevance and range of the concept of precariat in class analysis.

The Nordic Model and Social Inequalities

In my article I discuss the changing nature of social inequality in the Nordic countries. All Nordic societies are richer than ever. However the distribution of wealth is becoming more and more uneven. In spite of a lot of talk and many policy programmes against poverty, poverty seems to increase. Everywhere in Europe the inheritance of inequalities is increasing too. In the following I shall argue that there are several economic, political and social processes that cause these changes. Neo-liberal economic policy has meant that market-based activities and market competition are replacing public services in many countries. The position of vulnerable social groups is at stake. Social polarization is shaping the continent. In European societies there are parallel processes of a growing middle class and growing social exclusion.

THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM AND THE WORK SITUATION: A COMPARISON OF FINLAND AND ESTONIA

The article compares the work situations of five occupational groups in Finland and Estonia: industrial workers, clerical employees, technicians, teachers and managers. The main concern is with the structuration of the work situation, of which four aspects are given central attention: 1) objective characteristics, 2) the reproduction situation, 3) the nature of work, and 4) developmental aspects of work and the subjective experiences of qualification requirements. The main differences between the two countries are summarised as follows: 1) Wage differentials between occupational groups are greater in Finland than in Estonia. The differences between genders are greater in Estonia. In Estonia relative incomes are highest among industrial workers, in Finland among managers. 2) In all occupational groups Estonian workers have a higher educational level than colleagues in Finland. 3) All occupational groups experience more mental and physical stress in Finland than in Estonia. 4) Finnish managers have more decision-making authority than their Estonian colleagues, but Estonian workers have supervisory and task authority more often than do Finnish workers.

Managerial threats and prospects in Russian firms: the case of St. Petersburg 1999–2005

If management in firms of the concrete region focuses on innovation development, the economy of this region will have chances to become the innovation economy. What are the chances in this respect of St. Petersburg in the North-West Russia? In order to answer this question we have investigated managerial practices in local enterprises during two time periods 1999–2000 (N = 982) and 2004–2005 (N = 633). Our research has revealed: strategies employed by industrial firms is already under an insuperable influence of the modern global information society. The innovation economy has already started to form in the region.

Social environment and management: direct and return inter-influences – the case of St. Petersburg's firms in 2004

The study reviews both the influence of social environment on management and the reciprocal readiness of managers to promote the decision of problems of their social environment. The empirical part of the research was carried out from 2003 to 2004. One hundred twenty-nine managers have been surveyed and 15 deep interviews have been carried out.

Book Reviews : Tommy Nilsson: Från kamratföreningar till facklig rörelse - De svenska tjänste mannens organisationsutveckling 1900-1980. Arkiv 1985, 225 pages

of the Marxist approach was neglected and the relevance of the approach remains undecided. It may be that if a more detailed class variable had been used the impact of class would have been stronger. To this conclusion hints the fact that when TC adds the variable ’socioeconomic status’ (which more or less consciously always has the same elements as the Marxist class variable) to the equation consisting of all the 24 other explaining variables the unique contribution of this variable is still 1.8%. There are also other questionable operationalizations. Secondly, TC focuses his interests on changes of regression coefficients of single variables when variables were added or reduced and on how many percentages more or less one earns due to a certain position in a certain single variable. Many of the coefficients are statistically significant because the sample is large, although the explanation percentages of equations remain surprismgly low. For example, 29.3% of the variance of wages is explained by the background variables. When three variables describing the first job are added, the percentage is only 30.6%, and when six variables describing resources developed after labour market entry