Experiencing Society and the Lived Welfare State (Palgrave Studies in the History of Experience)

This open access book presents a new approach to the history of welfare state. By applying the concepts of experiencing society and the lived welfare state, the collection introduces theoretical, methodological and empirical insights for bridging the everyday life and institutional structures. The chapters analyze how the welfare state as a particular individual-society relationship has become an integral part of living in the modern society. With a long-term perspective, the chapters explore the experience of society which enabled the building and the resilience of a welfare state. As the welfare state is not a universal model of social development but historically unique in different contexts, the book broadens the focus from the Nordic countries to Southern Europe, colonial Asia and post-colonial South America. This collection is essential reading for scholars and students in the social sciences and history, as well as for policymakers and practitioners who face thecontemporary and future challenges of the welfare states. Acknowledgments 6 Contents 7 Notes on Contributors 13 List of Figures 17 List of Photos 19 Chapter 1: Introduction 21 Idea of the Book 21 Experiencing Society: An Approach to the Welfare State 23 The Lived Welfare State: Facing Everyday Complexities 28 Part I: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches 34 Chapter 2: Social History of Experiences: A Theoretical-Methodological Approach 35 Introduction 35 Experience as the Social Construction of Reality 39 How Experiences Construct Social Structures: Sedimentation and Institutionalization 44 Sediments: Analysing Expressions of Experiences from Sign Systems 47 Layer of Experience: Temporal Analysis of Societal Change 49 Scene of Experience: A Situational Analysis 52 Conclusion 57 Chapter 3: The Challenges of Narrating the Welfare State in the Age of Social Media: A Narrative-Theoretical Approach 59 Introduction 59 The Weak Narrativity of Business as Usual: The #IWouldntBeHere Social Media Campaign 62 Countering Masterplots That Survive the Information Overload: Human Interest Journalism and the “Individual vs. System” Masterplot 68 The Viral Exemplum: The Facebook Story About the Decline of the Welfare State 73 Narrating Complexity with the Help of Fictionality: The Television Series “Indoor Air” (Sisäilmaa) 76 Conclusion 79 Part II: Experiences from Welfare Systems 82 Chapter 4: Stories of Initiates: The Lived Experience of Female Social Workers in the Implementation of the Welfare State in Chile, 1925–1950 83 Introduction 83 Origin and Growth of the Chilean Welfare State 88 Poverty, Commitment and Emotions in Home Visits 91 Reaching the Poorest: Breaking Down Mistrust and Supporting Change 96 Conclusion 101 Chapter 5: Previdência Social as an Experience of Society: A Case Study of Civil Servants in the Portuguese New State, 1933–1974 103 Introduction 103 The Evolution of Previdência Social in the New State 106 The Previdência Social of the Civil Service 109 Experiences of a Better Life and Forced Obedience 111 The Emerging Experience of Social Rights 118 Conclusion 120 Chapter 6: A Biographical Account of the Social Welfare State in Late Colonial Singapore, 1945–1965 123 Introduction 123 Backdrop: The Colonial Situation 125 A New Beginning: Tan Beng Neo and Institutional Care 128 Paving the Way: Daisy Vaithilingam and Medical Social Services 132 Seizing the Initiative: Constance Goh and Family Planning 134 Social Bonds to Build a Nation 138 Conclusion: The Value of Lived Experiences 142 Part III: Agency and Experience “from below” 144 Chapter 7: Voices of the Poor: Negotiations of Social Rights in Denmark, 1849–1891 145 Introduction 145 From Poor Relief to Welfare State 146 Citizenship and Pauper Agency 149 Applications in Aarhus 151 Regaining Lost Rights 152 Allotments and Active Citizens 155 A Laboratory of Modernity 158 Conclusion 161 Chapter 8: Framing the Client’s Agency: Generational Layers of Lived Social Work in Finland, 1940–2000 163 Introduction 163 “The Poor Must Be Humble”: Layer of Poor Law in Lived Social Work 168 The Idea of Social Rights Shakes the Client Relationship of the First Generation 177 The Young Generation and the New Horizon of Expectation 181 “Becoming Us”: Toward a New Client–Social Worker Relationship 185 Turn Back Since the 1990s 188 Conclusion 189 Chapter 9: Between Gift and Entitlement: Experiencing Public Social Services and Charitable Food Aid in 2020s Finland 192 Introduction 192 The Lived Experiences of Service Users 196 Absurdity and the Loss of Humanity vs. Respect and Recognition 198 Uncanny Demonstrations of Agency 201 Navigating Social Hierarchy 204 Getting Along with the Welfare State: Gratitude and Survival Codes 207 Conclusion 209 Part IV: Space, Age, and Class as Experience 212 Chapter 10: Lived, Material and Planned Welfare: Mass-Produced Suburbanity in 1960s and 1970s Metropolitan Finland 213 Introduction 213 Suburbs Revisited 216 Material and Planned Suburban Welfare 218 A Leap in the Standards of Housing 224 Socio-Spatial Suburban Hubs 227 Abundant Yard Life 232 Unplanned and Planned Outdoors 235 Conclusion 241 Chapter 11: Children and the Mediated Experiences of the Welfare State: The International Year of the Child (1979) in the Finnish Public Sphere 245 Introduction 245 Setting the Stage for the IYC 250 Children as Expert Interviewees 256 The Global South as a Comparative Element 260 Conclusion 264 Chapter 12: The Making of the Western Affluent Working Class: Class and Affluence Through Postwar Public Discussions and Academic Interpretations 266 Introduction 266 Rise of the Affluent Working Class 269 The Counter-Narrative on Poverty 273 Fall of the Western Affluent Working Class 276 Narrative of Working-Class Conservatism 280 Conclusion 285 Part V: Experience of Equality and Justice 289 Chapter 13: Rural (In)Justice: Smallholding as Social Policy in a Modernizing Finland, from 1945 to the 1960s 290 Introduction 290 The Land Reform 294 Dashing Hopes: Debt, Economic Hardship, and Bankruptcies 298 Lower Courts Regulating Rural Life: Changing Rural Self-Determination 300 Conclusion 307 Chapter 14: From Survival Mode to Utopian Dreams: Conceptions of Society, Social Planning, and Historical Time in 1950s and 1960s Finland 310 Introduction 310 Present Past: A Postwar Society Walking a Tightrope (Early 1950s) 313 Present Past: Societal Chaos and Pre-Emptive Societal Planning (Mid-1950s) 319 Present Past: Proactive Planning for a Modern Society (Early 1960s) 324 Conclusion 331 Chapter 15: Welfare State in a Fair Society? Post-Industrial Finland as a Case Study 333 Introduction 333 Finnish Welfare State: Framework of Experience 336 Good News, Part I: The Legitimate Welfare State 339 Positive News, Part II: Fair Society 345 Positive News, Part III: Covid-19 and the Just Society 350 Discussion: An Exceptional Country? 352 Chapter 16: The Experience (and Constitution) of Society in Postwar and Post-Industrial Finland, 1960–2020 355 Introduction 355 From Survival to Success 357 Belief in Society 359 A Plan for a Society 361 Restructuring and Experience 364 Losers and Winners 366 End of History? 372 Fall or Renewal 374 Conclusion 377 Author Index 380 Subject Index 383 This open access book presents a new approach to the history of welfare state. By applying the concepts of experiencing society and the lived welfare state, the collection introduces theoretical, methodological and empirical insights for bridging the everyday life and institutional structures. The chapters analyze how the welfare state as a particular individual-society relationship has become an integral part of living in the modern society. With a long-term perspective, the chapters explore the experience of society which enabled the building and the resilience of a welfare state. As the welfare state is not a universal model of social development but historically unique in different contexts, the book broadens the focus from the Nordic countries to Southern Europe, colonial Asia and post-colonial South America. This collection is essential reading for scholars and students in the social sciences and history, as well as for policymakers and practitioners who face the contemporary and future challenges of the welfare states.