Pia Vuolanto

Gender Equality in Interface Organizations between Science, Technology and Innovation

The article addresses the question of gender equality in the context of interface organizations between science, technology and innovation, focusing on gendered work practices in science parks. Drawing upon the notions of gendered work practices, feminization of work and feminist science and technology studies, the article explores: 1. Key aspects of work practices in science parks; 2. Gender segregation embedded in these practices; and 3. Practices which help to promote gender equality in intermediary work. The study is empirically based on interviews with top managers and female experts of four Finnish science parks, complemented by one focus group interview with representatives of funding agencies, ministries and intermediary organizations. The study demonstrates that work in science parks is simultaneously future-oriented knowledge work and service work characterized by features of feminization and care (i.e. sensitivity to the needs of clients). Gender segregation commonly seen in the science, technology and innovation sector is reproduced in novel ways in the work practices of the science parks, especially due to the gendered patterns of professional recognition and male networking. This implies that - in spite of the feminised work practices - women do not find easy careers in science parks. The data show, however, that there are also several practices which are used to counteract segregation and promote gender equality, including a number of positive actions developed by women themselves in order to promote recognition and networking in science parks.

Use of complementary and alternative medicine in Europe: Health-related and sociodemographic determinants:

Aims: The aim of this research was to study health-related and sociodemographic determinants of the use of different complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments in Europe and differences in CAM use in various European countries. Methods: The study was based on a design-based logistic regression analysis of the European Social Survey (ESS), Round 7. We distinguished four CAM modalities: manual therapies, alternative medicinal systems, traditional Asian medical systems and mind-body therapies. Results: In total, 25.9% of the general population had used CAM during the last 12 months. Typically, only one CAM treatment had been used, and it was used more often as complementary rather than alternative treatment. The use of CAM varied greatly by country, from 10% in Hungary to almost 40% in Germany. Compared to those in good health, the use of CAM was two to fourfold greater among those with health problems. The health profiles of users of different CAM modalities varied. For example, back or neck pain was associated with all types of CAM, whereas depression was associated only with the use of mind-body therapies. Individuals with difficult to diagnose health conditions were more inclined to utilize CAM, and CAM use was more common among women and those with a higher education. Lower income was associated with the use of mind-body therapies, whereas the other three CAM modalities were associated with higher income. Conclusions: Help-seeking differed according to the health problem, something that should be acknowledged by clinical professionals to ensure safe care. The findings also point towards possible socioeconomic inequalities in health service use.

Academic Nursing: An Epitome of a Conflict-Prone Domain

Since the 1960s, many profession-oriented domains such as nursing, social work and education have entered universities. The article focuses on a controversy in one profession-oriented discipline, nursing science during the 1990s. The aim is to understand the discipline and to highlight its characteristics in a controversy situation. The article is rooted in science and technology studies which have focused on controversies in science. The article first discusses what nursing science was like as an arena of controversy and what made it controversy-prone in the 1990s. It then analyses which actors took part in the controversy in this profession-oriented discipline, and what the different actors’ goals were for nursing science. The aim is to understand the discipline and to highlight its characteristics in a controversy situation. In this way, the article produces understanding of this and other profession-oriented disciplines in the academic setting.

Katsaus suomalaiseen CAM-tutkimukseen

Tama katsausartikkeli kasittelee suomalaista taydentavan ja vaihtoehtoisen laakinnan tutkimusta. Kaytamme siita lyhennetta CAM-tutkimus (CAM eli Complementary and Alternative Medicine, taydentava ja vaihtoehtoinen laakinta). Artikkelin tavoitteena on selvittaa, millaista CAM-tutkimusta Suomessa on tehty ja mihin tutkimus on kohdistunut. Tutkimusaineisto koostui CAM-hoitoja kasittelevista 53 tutkimusartikkelista ja 12 vaitoskirjasta ajanjaksolta 1980–2014. Aineisto haettiin kotimaisista ja ulkomaisista tietokannoista. Tutkimusmenetelma oli sisallonanalyysi. CAM-tutkimusta tehtiin erityisesti 1990-luvulla ja 2000-luvun alussa. Useimmiten tutkimukset tehtiin yliopistossa tai yhteistyossa yliopistojen kanssa. Valtaosa aineistomme julkaisuista kasitteli CAM-hoitoja kokonaisuutena erittelematta eri hoitomuotoja toisistaan. CAM-hoidoiksi tutkimuksissa luettiin erilaisia terveyden yllapitoon tai sairauden hoitoon tarkoitettuja yrtteja, rohdoksia, homeopaattisia ja antroposofisia laakkeita, ruokavaliohoitoja seka kehomielihoitoja, joista useimmin mainittiin henkiparannus, akupunktio ja vyohyketerapia. Erittelemme artikkelissa suomalaisen CAM-tutkimuksen luokittelun kansainvalista luokittelua mukaillen seuraavasti: 1) CAM-hoitojen vaikuttavuuden ja kaytettavyyden tutkimus, 2) CAM-hoitojen historian ja kansanperinteen tutkimus, 3) CAM-hoitojen kayton yleisyyden ja kayttajaryhmien tutkimus, 4) hoitohenkilokunnan asenteiden ja suhtautumisen tutkimus. Lisaksi hahmottelimme viidennen – tosin Suomen kontekstissa hyvin vahaisen – luokan: CAM-ammattien tutkimus, tieteentutkimus ja hoitonakemysten tutkimus. Suurin osa tutkimuksista kohdistui CAM-hoitojen kayttoon ja kayttajatyyppeihin. Tulosten mukaan vahintaan kolmannes aikuisista oli kayttanyt tai kokeillut jotakin CAM-hoitoa. Muita tutkimuskohteita olivat CAM-hoitojenvaikutukset, terveydenhuoltohenkilokunnan asenteet ja hoitojen historia. Vaikutustutkimuksista suurin osa kohdistui jasenkorjaukseen, jolla todettiin olevan myonteisia vaikutuksia. Laakarien ja sairaanhoitajien CAM-asenteet osoittautuivat jakautuneiksi.

Introduction: Reconceptualising Complementary and Alternative Medicine as Knowledge Production and Social Transformation

This introduction proposes new directions for the social science of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It firstly reviews trends and gaps in the sociology of CAM, which has largely focussed on issues related to motivations for use, professionalisation struggles, and CAM’s relationship to biomedicine. CAM is more often treated as a signifier of social change than as a set of practices shaped by, and implicated in, epistemic and social transformations. By drawing on approaches from Science and Technology Studies (STS)—including actor-network theory and theories of boundary work, social worlds, co-production, and epistemic cultures—the chapter calls attention to CAM’s contingency, situatedness, materiality, and co-production within various spheres of governance and knowledge production. Such perspectives, it is argued, offer fruitful ways of comprehending what CAM is and how and why it is evolving.

The Incompatibility Between Social Worlds in Complementary and Alternative Medicine: The Case of Therapeutic Touch

The focus of this chapter is on how, in the context of a controversy over therapeutic touch (TT) research in a Finnish university nursing department, different actors from different social worlds understood therapeutic touch and other complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities, and what these different understandings made of knowledge, science and technology. The documentary material, discussions in newspapers and in popular, professional and scientific journals revealed five social worlds: scepticism, medicine, nursing research, nursing and TT—with patients as silent implicated actors. The analysis demonstrates that to see CAM only in juxtaposition with medicine is to oversimplify the situation by neglecting the variety of actors involved in defining CAM and disregarding the multiple meanings of CAM controversies and their impact on various stakeholders.

The Relationship between Gender Research and Society in the Norwegian Brainwash Controversy of 2010–2011

The author investigates the relationship between gender research and society in the current context of neo-liberal and managerial universities. In this context of the new governance of science, research is expected to actively interact with society and to be involved in transdisciplinary problem-solving in close collaboration with various social actors (Slaughter and Leslie 1997; Gibbons et al. 1994; Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff 1998). The article provides an in-depth empirical study of the relationship between gender research and society by analysing a recent public controversy in Norway that unveiled different social actors’ definitions and expectations of gender research. The study focuses on the different views and perceptions that different actors had of the relationship between gender research and society during this unusually large public controversy. The analysis is conducted through a close reading of newspaper articles, articles in scholarly journals and blog posts. The article highlights the diverse understandings of the relationship between gender research and society, and hence strengthens claims that a transformation is taking place in universities from detached research systems to more interactive ones. The academic community as a whole, including gender researchers, can benefit from learning about the rhetorical strategies of the social world of gender research in this debate to maintain and change the public image of the interaction between science and society.