Abstracts 2000
Sosiologia Volume 37, Number 1, 2000:
Wanted: ’Nice Guys’: Or, Know-how in traditional industry
Riitta Lavikka, Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Tampere
In the article, I have answered to the following questions: What kind of structuralconditions are there for emerging knowledge work in traditional industry, and what kind ofoperational changes are necessary at the level of work organisations? Whose know-how arewe talking about, what kind of know-how it is, and for whose benefit? The latest empiricalresults form the basis for my discussion of changes that have taken place in the wayknow-how is understood in the various hierarchical tasks in industry and in the work ofmen and women. The research centres around changes connected with the introduction ofinformation technology at the workplace.
In the article, emerging knowledge work is common denominator for a group of changesconnected with the growth of the strategic importance of knowledge in the seven industrialenterprises studied. The phenomenon of emerging knowledge work is not restricted to anyprofessional groups; in one way or another, it touches almost all professional andoccupational groups. The phenomenon of knowledge work is typical of post-Fordian‘information economies’ and it involves both the use of information andcommunication technology systems and the development of multi-skilled employees. Ashierarchies become lean, those working in lower positions need to shoulder moreresponsibility of results and decision-making, and they also need to work moreindependently, often in teams. It seems that knowledge, the ability to use and findnecessary information, and skills in languages and in the use of ICT equipment and systemshave become an important part of everyday work, even in industry. Knowledge work also hasa social dimension: the importance of an organisation’s internal and externalco-operation and networking comes from the personnel’s performance.
Electronic Space as Substitute for Reality: Olkiluoto Virtual Nuclear Plant
Tommi Inkinen, Master of Science & Master of Political Science, University of Turku
Virtual reality has risen into public consciousness mainly through the UnitedStates’ entertainment industry. The entertainment industry tends to depict virtualreality with an emphasis on the speed of data transfer, massive data flows and the variouscultural manifestations of the ’cyberspace.’ Since 1995, there has been a strongincrease in writings about identity construction and the interpreting of differentsociospatial processes. A lot of the discussion and research revolves around theproblematic between virtual worlds and the substance of the real world or, in short, thepossibilities of networks to free people from the constraints set by geography ordistance. The purpose of the article is to assess how well an electronic ’virtualsystem’ can take the place of visits to a plant, thereby saving time and furtheringmodern industrial production. My case study is a plant multimedia system that is in use atthe nuclear power plants of Teollisuuden Voima Oy. My empirical approach was based uponin-depth interviews with three representatives of interest groups and a more extensivestreet survey. The methodological approach involves the interpreting of spoken narratives.The emphasis is on allowing several interpretations, with the aim of assessing thebackgrounds of different statements and the possible reasons behind the interestgroups’ different emphases. Three distinguishable discourses emerge from theanalysis: ’the discourse of material substitution,’ ’the discourse offailure to substitute’ and ’the discourse of mental substitution.’ Thesingle most important result of the study is the finding that, in the case of Olkiluoto, atwo-dimensional representation of the phenomenon cannot unquestionably replace a’genuine’ experience of the real space. It is necessary to bear in mind,however, that this result cannot be generalised to other virtual systems.
Role of Knowledge in Environmental Conflicts. Debate on Fish Farming Industry andEutrophication of the Archipelago Sea
Timo Peuhkuri, Master of Social Sciences, University of Turku
The article deals with the role of knowledge in discursive interpretations of anenvironmental conflict. The research is embellished through a special case study of thedebate on the water eutrophication problem and the fish farming industry in the FinnishArchipelago Sea in South-West Finland. The central questions are: how do the key actorsframe local environmental problems, what kind of cognitive conflicts are there between andwithin the forms of knowledge and how do the competing frames and cognitive views reflectand maintain tensions between different spatial levels?
The case of the Archipelago Sea illustrates the dependence of environmental debate onscientific research, but it also shows that lay persons mistrust science. There are manygaps, uncertainties and controversies in the knowledge base concerning the issue. Thissituation allows interest groups to select the research results that support their view,using the results to challenge scientific definitions of the problem or to opposeenvironmental restrictions by referring to uncertainties of knowledge.
Tensions are revealed between local and translocal views and between several forms ofknowledge that are typical in local environmental disputes. The cognitive disagreements donot arise, however, between pure, separate forms of knowledge. Particularly the fishfarmers' discursive repertoire has ingredients from several forms of knowledge:traditional knowledge, knowledge based on their own experiences, knowledge produced inco-operation with researchers and, finally, knowledge adopted from popularised science.
The results show how the lay persons' mistrust in scientific knowledge is linked withtheir critical attitudes to the motives, interests and values of outside actors. Actorsrepresenting fundamental environmentalist interests or urban recreational values are seenas a threat: a threat to a way of life that involves living in close connection withnature, to the local ownership of natural resources and to local rights of decision.
Impact of Income and Cohort on Consumption of Tourism during Recession
Timo Toivonen, Doctor of Political Science, University of Joensuu
After World War II, private consumption in Finland grew almost consistently until thebeginning of the 1990s. Between 1990 and 1995, the real value of consumption decreased andtourism fell by over 30 %. The purpose of the study was to compare the tourism consumptionof different income groups and cohorts during this period. Several hypotheses were putout. One of them was based on the ideas of the winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize ineconomics, Robert Lucas. His theory of ‘rational expectations’ is veryinteresting from a sociological point of view: Lucas suggests, for example, that peopletend to behave according to the general economic atmosphere, rather than according totheir own economic situation as the theory of economics has traditionally assumed.However, his argumentation overlooks the hypothesis that, very often, people do not reactto economic fluctuations at all, even when the commodity in question is, in principle, a‘flexible’ one, such as tourism. For instance, younger cohorts are used totravelling and we can expect them to want to continue to travel even during a recession.For the younger cohorts, tourism is a solid part of life. A number of similar hypotheseswere tested using data from a longitudinal Finnish household survey on tourismexpenditure. Data were analysed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). TheMANOVA models indicated that the Lucas hypothesis was supported better than any of theother hypotheses. The results give evidence that the drop was most dramatic in thehouseholds with the highest incomes, even though the households’ own incomes had notdecreased. Low-income families simply maintained their (low) level of tourism expenditure.Cohort and age effects were less important in comparison with economic effects.
Sosiologia Volume 37, Number 2, 2000:
Sociology of the Body - Emergence of a New Sociology Subdiscipline
Elina Oinas, Licenciate of Social Science, Åbo Akademi University
The article illustrates the process of constructing a new sociology subdiscipline, using sociology of the body as an example. Key texts in the sociology of the body are analysed using discourse analysis to discover their strategies of development and legitimation. The fast and intensive development of sociology of the body over the past few decades makes it a good example of an emerging new perspective. The first texts with the clear aim of bringing the body into sociological discussion came out in the beginning of the 1980s.
The article identifies the three stages in the legitimation process of sociology of the body. During the first stage, from the early 1980s to the 1990s, it was established as a subdiscipline; this era was marked by broad theoretical outlines and discussions on a metasociological level. The first half of the 1990s was a period of institutionalisation, with a major increase in publications in the field. The main source of inspiration was Michel Foucault's thinking which represented continuity and provided a solution for transcending the theoretical deadlock regarding the concept of power. The third stage, from the mid-1990s onwards, has been marked by a need to emphasize diversity within the field, expressed through a celebration of differences in existing theoretical perspectives and a call for empirical research.
Inside the Fourth Wave of Environmental Protest
Esa Konttinen, Doctor of Social Sciences & Jukka Peltokoski, Master of Social Sciences, University of Jyväskylä
Our article looks at the 1990s wave of environmental protest in Finland. The media commonly see this wave as analogous to the animal rights movement, but historically speaking, this is actually the fourth wave of the Finnish environmentalist movement. We analyse two dimensions of the new environmental activist's world view: we examine the values and issues that most concern our subjects, and the image of new environmental radicalism, seen against the structures and functioning of modern society. The data were collected by a survey of environmental activists (N=167) in the winter of 1998-1999 and by observing the discourse of the movement through referring to data produced by the activists themselves.
Through our interest in the activities of environmental activists, we discovered that the subjects were also active in several other social movements. In addition to environmental issues, the activists showed particular interest in human rights, peace and anarchist activities. Environmental activists value environmental and human rights movements as well as movements interested in Third World issues. Furthermore, they are wary of hierarchical projects, party politics, religious organizations and so called "hard values".
Through the environmental activists, we gain insight into the present wave of social protest. The environmental activists are criticizing the destruction of nature condemning the logic according to which modern society functions. Our subjects generally adopted a defensive position: they defend themselves against the threats brought about by the modern social system. The theme of rights becomes central in this context. The protesters' general sense of alarm is linked to a moral message: the rights are based on the most basic principle of all, the right to life and existence. The activists forward the cause of animals, nature and the people of the third world. They also believe in the right to define one's own concept of existence and identity under the pressures of the modern social system.
The activists defend a world view based on ecocentrism and solidarity thinking. They transform their concern into criticism towards social structures. In the data, this can be seen in the way the subjects advocate leftist values and prefer smaller communities to the state-centred model. The fourth wave of environmental activism could be characterised as radical ecology.
In spite of its focus on structures, the new wave has a special emphasis on the responsibility and choices of the individual. The activists seem to have abandoned Parliamentary politics; they certainly challenge it quite radically. Instead of representation, the activists stress direct personal participation and activity. This could be interpreted to mean that the activists believe they can take power back into their own hands by participating. According to the activists, the logic of the social system can only be changed through individual choices at the grass roots level. Another motivation and starting point for activities at the grass roots level is the defending of animal rights. The activists have a preference for small groups that favour direct interaction and informality.
Can there be a change of the Finnish welfare state model?
Heikki Lehtonen, Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Tampere
The recession of the 1990s meant an end to the development era of the Finnish welfare state. The article studies the consequences of the cuts in social security for the Finnish welfare state and for the Finnish welfare state model. Welfare state models are not very sensitive to changes in systems of social protection, and it is not easy to find criteria for qualitative changes. When are the changes extensive enough for us to speak of "the change of the welfare state model?"
In the article, the change in the Finnish welfare state is assessed by examining the distribution principles of social policy and the welfare state models of Wilensky and Lebeaux, Titmuss, Palme and Korpi, and Esping-Andersen. As far as structural differences are concerned, the models stress slightly different aspects of change. According to the model classifications, it is evident that there have been several changes in the Finnish welfare state model in the 1990s.
It seems that the 1990s changes in the Finnish welfare state do not indicate a logical shift away from the Scandinavian welfare state model towards any other specific welfare state model. The changes are controversial and conflicting, each taking the Finnish welfare state into a different direction. We are at once shifting away from all models and towards all models - including the Scandinavian one. Before the recession, the Finnish welfare state model was a mixed model, and it continues to be one after the recession. Still, its ideals are now further from those of the Scandinavian welfare state than they were before the recession.
Sosiologia Volume 37, Number 3, 2000:
Smoking, the Risks of Technology and the Legitimation of Science
Jukka Gronow, Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
When people are judging for themselves and coming to the conclusion that something, tobacco smoke for instance, smells bad, no-one can say that they are wrong; they are only expressing their subjective dislike which should not be generalised. On the other hand, when they are saying that cigarette smoke is harmful or dangerous to one's health they are then expressing an objective scientific truth which they have no way of confirming by themselves. They cannot possibly see, taste or smell the danger but simply have to trust in scientific expertise. This rather trivial case of the dangers of smoking could be extended to other challenges facing the institution of science in a modern society. In handling risks of various kinds, from food to nuclear power plants, people have to increasingly rely on the word of the scientific experts or the scientific community in general. In the last instance, this could threaten the legitimacy of science, as a specific social institution, following its own formal rules of conduct.
Do Forms of Social Exclusion Accumulate in the EU Countries?
Pasi Moisio, Master of Social Sciences, University of Turku
Instead of unemployment or poverty the European Commission has focused on "social exclusion". It has been made the biggest challenge for the social and employment policies of the EU that are still in the process of being developed. Through the European Union this rhetoric has diffused to the national political programmes of the EU countries. Difficulties in integrating with the labour market are seen as the main cause for social exclusion. It is also assumed that one form of social exclusion increases the risk of other forms developing. This widely dispersed but poorly studied assumption influences e.g. the discussion on how the unemployed can be activated.
The article studies this assumption empirically. The European Commission Household Panel (ECHP) data is utilised to analyse whether a weak labour market integration, and the poverty that often follows, affect a household's level of activity in associations and networks. The study shows that weak integration with the labour market is related to poverty in all the studied countries. But poverty combined with weak labour market integration does not predict that a household has weak social networks or that no member of the household participates in official associations. Thereby the results of this study do not support the assumption that forms of social exclusion accumulate in any of the EU countries.
In its fight against social exclusion, European employment and social policy has started to emphasise activation instead of social insurance and means-tested benefits. This change in the emphasis of policies is, however, based on assumptions and claims that have not been verified in empirical research. The danger with these activation programmes is however, that in the event of failure the reasons might be searched for among the targets of the activation. In that case, problems that are clearly economic and social in character, such as unemployment, are easily conceptualised as a psychosocial and cultural problem of social exclusion.
The Postmodern Features and Structural Conditions of Consumers' Choices
Pekka Räsänen, Master of Social Science, University of Turku
The article looks at the problems of consumption on both theoretical and empirical levels. The aim is to estimate to what extent the claims that have been made in the discussion on postmodernity contain observations that are sensible for the analysis of contemporary societal development and everyday life.
Interpretations that have been made regarding the growing importance of consumption choices and the decreasing influence of social structures are discussed at the beginning of the article. After this comes an empirical analysis of to what extent identification with a social class can explain individual consumption practices. The empirical analysis focuses on how recreational traveling and exercise are connected to identification with a social class. The survey (n = 2417) was made among Finnish-speakers. The analysis showed that identification with a social class explains relatively well how much people travel and also, to a lesser extent, how much they exercise. On the other hand, both can also be explained with different kinds of social-demographic factors such as age, gender and place of residence.
The article claims that the structure of society in the Western countries might be developing towards a situation where class and other social categories are increasingly becoming structures that have the individual as their starting point. However, this development will not necessarily lead to increasing individualisation; instead, genuinely new forms of socialness might develop.
The Concept of Subject Position in Empirical Social Science
Jukka Törrönen, Doctor of Social Sciences, The Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies (STAKES)
In modern social scientific research, individuals were usually seen as representatives of their social class or generation. Individual actions in different spheres of life were seen to be influenced by work, class culture or one's experiences as a youth. The subject of late-modern social science has dispersed into a collage of subject positions. An individual can choose several identities whose situational usability is defined by facial and textual communication. Thereby identifications that shape one's identity do not necessarily form a coherent "class image" or course of life.
In this article I deal with the empirical applicability of the concept of subject position to research that utilises the methods of discourse or text analysis. On the basis of an overview of literature I recognise two main strategies for analysing how subject positions are constructed in communication: the first one is based upon empirical data and the second upon macro context. In analysis that is based upon empirical data, for example, conversation analysis and relativistic discourse analysis, the use of subject positions is approached from the point of view of communication in the here-and-now by anchoring the relevance of the interpretation in the micro features, contexts and rhetorical relations of the interaction itself. In postmodern and poststructuralist approaches, as well as in critical cultural studies, realistic discourse analysis and contextual constructionism, the "interpretation anchor" is cast in bigger waters outside the empirical data. This method of analysis can be characterised as macro contextual; the construction and use of subject positions is examined as a part of the social, cultural, political and economic past and present of the society.
In my view both analytical approaches are problematic in their extreme forms. In macro contextual approaches the empirical analysis of subject positions is often rather impressionistic and based on theoretical abstractions. In micro analysis that is based upon empirical data, subject positions are examined in a way that often leaves the reader with the impression that the positions are exteriors without content or suits, that people can borrow and exchange, one after another, in order to give their actions the impression they want.
It is suggested in the article, with influence from positioning theory and Stuart Hall's identity theory, that subject position can be defined as a positioning in relation to categories and story lines. This definition opens up fruitful perspectives for the analysis of the intersubjective construction of subject positions. Firstly, it takes into account that subject positions are not constructed solely by assuming interactive positions in relation to counter positions, but rather they gain their situational meaning also through becoming, in a specific way, a part of the categories (values) and orientations of action that shape reality and experiences. Secondly, the definition draws attention to the continuity of subject positions; looking at how a participant's interactive positions change in different contexts of conversation is not the only interesting approach. It is actually more interesting to ask what kind of continuity the changes in perspective create in respect to Our values (as boundary lines between Us and Them) and our capabilities for action (as story lines about a hero and antihero) and whether this happens from the perspective of a consumer, local community, nation, global world and so on. A Subject position's positioning in relation to categories and story lines exceeds the boundaries of interaction taking place in the here-and-now and the social order that is constructed in it. Assuming positions connects the narrator and the audience to the imaginary community that exceeds the actual conversation. The categorisations show how "situational communication" comments on the norms and values of that cultural context, and story lines give guidelines to how one should act in the future - outside the here-and-now situation.
Sosiologia Volume 37, Number 4, 2000:
The attitudes of wage earning adolescents towards work
Anne Kouvonen, Master of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
This article examines how 13 to 16 year old adolescents relate to their experiences of working life. The data, which consists of a small-scale survey and semi-structured interviews, suggests that there are at least two main logics that organise the pupils' attitudes towards work: work as a source of income and work as self-realisation. Work as a source income is divided into paying for personal free time consumption and complementing the family's basic income. However, these two components cannot always be separated because the schoolchildren, while paying for their free time consumption, also decrease their family's overall costs.
Working schoolchildren can be divided, albeit in a somewhat simplified manner, into those who emphasise the financial benefit and those who find their work genuinely interesting. These two groups are not, however, mutually exclusive, as the emphasis on either money or self-realisation is usually combined with other secondary logics, such as gaining work experience or passing time. Furthermore, earning a wage is a symbol of adulthood for young people; it gives them an opportunity to function with adults in relatively equal terms, dismantles age-segregation, gives them experiences of carrying responsibility and being adult, teaches them to function outside school and home, brings respect from the peer group and enables one to break away from family ties through money that is not controlled by the parents. The different aspects of relating to work are inter-connected in diverse ways.
It seems that, in comparison to adults, the logics of relating to work can occur in more "pure" forms in young people. For example, young people with monotonous and marginal "children's jobs" can have one sole motivation for working, namely earning money, whereas in "proper jobs" several aspects (e.g., wage, social relations, esteem, challenges) are practically always combined. Young people with unpleasant jobs gain their selfrealisation through free time activities and an increased power to consume; work disturbs free time but makes consumption possi-ble in leisure time spent with other young people.
Similarly, schoolchildren can have a completely non-instrumental attitude towards meaningful jobs because, unlike adults, they do not have to support themselves financially. They are willing to work for a very small wage or no wage at all when the job inte-rests them enough. In these cases, the border bet-ween a hobby and a job ceases to be.
Continuation of War through Politics - The "brothers-in-arms axis" in Tampere and the generational dimension in the mode of local governance
Markus Laine, Licenciate of Administrative Sciences, University of Tampere & Lasse Peltonen, Licenciate of Administrative Sciences, University of Tampere
The article studies the historical formation of the mode of local governance in Tampere. Bourdieu's concept of habitus and Mannheim's generation are used in the analysis of the local po-wer coa-lition, brothers-in-arms axis, and the formation of local governance. The analysis focuses on the generational dimension of the habitus of the brothers-in-arms axis and also on the formation of local governance through interaction between different fields of activity. The article claims that Mannheim's conception of generation could be useful for the ana-lysis of the con-tinui-ty, trans-forma-tion and legitimacy of other political phenomena as well.
The foundation for the co-operation of the brothers-in-arms axis was laid during interwar peacetime in 1940 when a brot-hers-in-arms association was founded in Tampere. Its responsibilities included social relief measures along with ideological activism in the fight against communism to ensure Finland's independence. This situ-ation was transferred from wartime to the field of local politics in the first peacetime municipal elections of 1945. After the elections, there were three equally strong groups in the local council, the Conservatives, Social Democrats and Com-munists, the majority of each group consisting of the gene-ra-tion that had fought in the war. Co-operation between the Conservati-ves and the So-cial Democrats in the local council, ideologically unthinkable to the older genera-tion, -seemed natural to the war-generation because of their col-laboration in the brothers-of-arms asso-ciation during the war. A new model developed where the Conservatives and Social Democrats aimed for shared goals through negotiation, thereby excluding the communists from the municipal decision-making. In the 1950's this collaboration was established and it was called the-brothers-of-arms axis.
From the point of view of the brothers-of-arms axis, local politics were structured by the juxtaposition of the "responsi-ble and constructive" politics of the brothers-of-arms fraction and the "destructive" actions of the communists. The brothers-in-arms-axis was kept together by close personal relations produced by wartime experiences and a common project, namely post-war reconstruction and the subsequent strong development of the city. The hegemonic project of developing the city and its welfare was further strengthened by the fact that fellow members of the brothers-of-arms generation also held mana-gerial po-sitions in the indust-rial and finan-cial institutions, the trade unions and local news-papers.
The generation-based habitus of the brothers-in-arms axis and the homology of the other fields of local governance with the political field explain the strong position and legi-timacy of the brothers-in-arms axis in Tampere. This was especially clear during the golden age of the brothers-in-arms axis between the years of 1957 and 1969 when the mayor was Erkki Lindfors, the former secretary of the brothers-in-arms association. However, the longstanding power held by the brothers-in-arms axis led gradually to a closed mode of governance which was based on the political co-operation of the brothers-in-arms axis on the one hand and mana-ge-ment practices aiming for efficiency on the ot-her.
Local politics seemed very static until the beginning of the 1970's. The mode of governance of the brothers-in-arms axis started losing its grip when the original brothers-in-arms with-drew from politics and when the political importance of the So-cialist Party decreased. The optimism about the continuing growth and development of the city that had formed the core of the local mode of governance was curbed in the mid-1970' when Tampere ceased to grow. The withdrawal of the brothers-in-arms generation from politics also meant that politics and civil so-ciety started mo-ving further apart, which could be seen in the birth of the envi-ronmental mo-ve-ment in the 1970's and the deve-lop-ment of local environ-mental con-flicts in the 80's. The effect of all this was a new situation in muni-cipal politics in Tampe-re: the environmental activists of the new generation opposed the ethos of modernisation and the closed mode of governance - which the brothers-in-arms axis and its followers represented.
'Zeitdiagnose' as the third genre of sociological theory
Arto Noro, Doctor in Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
It is argued in this evaluative article that Zeitdiagnose can be distinguished from the two other genres of sociological theory, namely research theory and general theory. Zeit-diagnose poses a question about the character of an epoch, asking who we are and what prevails in our time. In modernity, the answers can only be subjective and temporary. While searching for Zeitgeist in modernity, Zeit-diagnose continues looking for the lost coherence of the modern epoch.
First of all the characteristics of Zeitdiagnose are examined in the light of the discussion started by Walter Reese-Schäfer, where the ability to offer new insights is seen as the most important feature of Zeitdiagnose. Zeitdiagnose is then compared to essays which also present novelties that are in fact composed of familiar material. After this, the article focuses on the quasi-performative character of the langu-age of Zeit-diagnoses and on Zeitdiagnose as a type of practical wisdom.
The article then examines the special properties of Zeitdiag-nose as a message that reaches beyond the boun-daries of the scientific community, in comparison with other uses of social scientific knowledge. Zeit-diagnose is also compared to market research and its risk-products and even to fashion itself.
The article finishes off by looking at how today's best known sociological Zeitdiagnoses (by Beck, Giddens, Bauman) employ sociological components, i.e. general theory and results of research theo-ry. This means that Zeitdiagnose can be evaluated in the light of its sociological components. It cannot, however, be totally drawn into scientific debates. Therefore, diagnoses cannot be used as theories (unlike research theory) for interpreting empirical evidence; doing so would only help us discover what the Zeit-diagnoses have already revealed.
Nature in newspaper photographs: On the relations between text and image in environmental discourse
Janne Seppänen, Licenciate of Social Sciences, University of Tam-pere & Esa Väliverronen, Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
The role of photographs and the visual element in environmental discourse has received only very little explicit and systematic attention. This is quite strange because many researchers admit that photographs have had an important role to play in the 'environmental awakening' since the 1960's; if people had not been alerted to the environmental crisis earlier, they were certainly shaken by the images of oiled seabirds, poisoned fish and forests destroyed by acid rain that were shown in their living rooms. At the same time, wonders-of-nature documentaries and colourful nature books have continued to offer images of untouched nature which has not yet been destroyed.
The relationship of the photograph to nature is an internal one, in two overlapping ways. Firstly, the photograph is seen discursively as an integral part of nature. This understanding is interwoven with the photograph's truth functions. Secondly, nature photographs are constructed as a public spectacle that in itself is (simulated) nature. This simulated nature can appeal to the viewer's emotions in many different ways e.g. it may become the target of 'affective inputs'.
In this article we discuss the role of the photograph in environmental communication. More concretely, we are concerned with the definition, popularisation and visualisation of biodiversity in a certain newspaper.
The study consists of stories published in the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat between 1990 and 1997, and the analysis starts with the photographs featured in these stories. We focus on the way that nature is represented, the relationship between man and nature and the politics of biodiversity.
In contrast to forest destruction, ozone depletion and climate change, the destruction of biodiversity has had no special or distinctive visual symbol of its own, and it has proved a very difficult task to popularise and visualise this particular problem. Perhaps the most common way of popularising and visualising biodiversity is via endangered species, summing up the problem with earlier environmental thinking and its imagery; many conservation organisations, for instance, have used 'charismatic' and 'photogenic' species such as pandas, tigers, whales and elephants in their symbols.
Our examples demonstrate the key role that photographs can play in the production of meanings e.g. producing a 'reality effect', providing an opportunity for affective inputs, and constructing social relationships between different actors. They point to alternative and rival interpretations, opening the door to different affects and experiences. Texts can be used to influence the way photographs are interpreted, but on the other hand photographs can also be used to construct new meanings into texts.