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ABSTRACT
In 2015, the newly elected government of Finland introduced austerity measures designed to improve the public economy, which had not recovered from the financial crisis of 2007–2008. The article examines how the government sought to secure acceptance for austerity by appealing to citizens’ emotions. We analyse how the measures were emotionally motivated and how, according to the parties in power, citizens should and should not have felt about them. The article shows how the politics of austerity produces various and contradictory feeling rules. These seek to temper citizens’ negative emotions towards austerity, such as dissatisfaction over unfair sharing of pain and distrust towards political authority. Interestingly, the rules evoke hope that a better future lies ahead if citizens follow the proposed measures, yet prompt fears of what will happen if they do not. The government also emphasised its transparency and honesty to prompt empathy and trust from the population.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Richard Foley, Sami Outinen and the anonymous reviewers for very useful comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Janne Autto
Janne Autto is Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Lapland. His main research interests are political struggles over the welfare state and citizens' social rights and responsibilities in the context of governmental aspirations and resistance to them.
Jukka Törrönen
Jukka Törrönen, with a PhD in sociology, has a chair as professor at the Department of Public Health Sciences in Stockholm University on social alcohol and drug research (SoRAD). He has had a long-term interest in alcohol and drug research, in welfare state studies and in qualitative methods.