Marja Häyrinen-Alestalo

Professor, MA, D.Soc.Sc.

In Finnish

Research projects
Publications

I am professor of science and technology studies and leader of the Research Group for Comparative Sociology. The research group belongs to the Helsinki Institute of Science and Technology Studies, a jointly established network unit by University of Helsinki (UH), Helsinki School of Economics (HSE) and Helsinki University of Technology (HUT). I am vice chair of HIST's Development Group and a member of the unit's Co-ordinating Team. In addition to teaching and researching tasks I am associate editor in Science Studies.

Consultation

Consultation hour: Tuesday 15.00-16.00.

Research Interests

Recently I have continued my analyses of the government neo-liberal policy: the difficulties of the state to redefine its functions in the midst of the undermining of the welfare state and of its contradictory role in economic policy emphasising the aims of globalisation and competitiveness in international markets. My particular interests have focussed on the transformation of a knowledge-based society into a knowledge-based economy, on the political promises of new technologies, on the low validity of the new economy thesis in the attempts to explain the current societal change, on the rise of technology policy to a dominant regulatory element in social, university and science policies and on the new needs to expand the range of technology policy aims towards social, moral and ethical directions. These kinds of challenges pose questions of the possibilities to redefine the power structures between the state, the enterprises, science and technology systems and the citizens and of the social and ethical responsibility of the various stakeholders. 

A majority of my recent studies have explored the strengthening of market-driven policies from the viewpoint of the European Union, the OECD and the Finnish nation-state and the adoption of market forces-logic in the goals and practices of science, university and innovation policies. Our new international projects provide an opportunity to compare Finnish developments with those of other Nordic countries and some key European Union member states. They also pose new questions of the need to adopt new corporatist and deliberative modes of negotiation in the making of future strategies for the promotion of new technologies. At the same time it is important to define the capabilities of the holders of power in a technologizing society to be sensitive to criticism and risks and to develop a new responsive science- and technology policy.