ETHNICIZING BODIES IN THE NORDIC WELFARE STATE: CONSTRUCTING NOTIONS OF CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN FINNISH SOCIAL WORK
Kris Clarke, Ph.D .
Department of Social Work Education
California State University, Fresno
When Finland joined the European Union in 1995, a conscious effort was made by the political elite to meld Finnish identity with an emerging social memory of a common European identity. Long considered a nation on the fringes of Europe, between East and West, Finnish identity tended to be constructed as insular, unique and peripheral. Until very recently, there was a far higher amount of emigration than immigration in Finland. However, immigration into Finland expanded exponentially in the 1990s as an increasing number of asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants came to Finland. Though the actual numbers of migrants remain small compared to other European Union countries (less than 2% of the population in Finland was born in another country), the amount of migrants in Finland has quintupled since 1987. Although the majority of migrants come from neighboring countries (e.g. Russia and Estonia), there is an enormous diversity of nationalities represented in the migrant community. Demographic trends in Finland also show a rise in the number of marriages between Finns and the foreign born as well as an accelerating number of second generation migrant children born in Finland. These relatively dramatic population changes raise new implications and challenges to the normative practices of the Finnish social welfare state.
Fierce political debates which reflect both the desire for a migrant labor force and fears of the loss of national identity have flared throughout the EU, taking on features specific to each locality. These debates have often linked notions of belonging and citizenship to social rights, reflecting an ambivalent view towards an inclusive social Europe. In social policy research, the universal Nordic welfare state has been long considered one of the most egalitarian models of social welfare developed in modern industrial societies. However, even Nordic practices of equality in service provision have come under increased scrutiny as welfare state retrenchment has reconfigured the policy, practice and identity of social work expertise amidst the impact of growing diversity and neoliberal globalizing trends that have produced greater income disparities.
This paper examines how equality practices are conceived in the human services in 21st century Finland with regard to culturally diverse populations. It focuses on how Finnish social work education has developed notions of cultural competence and multiculturalism. Using policy statements, practice reports and social work research, the paper explores Finnish concepts of diversity and the ways clients are ethnicized within discourse on normative policy and practice.
How social memory is constructed in the form of an ethnicized collective European identity is the primary theoretical point of departure. EU conceptions and policies of social cohesion are used as a context to consider how transforming Finnish social memory and cultural identity are operationalized through social work practices.