The discourse of social innovation and gender equality

Lauri, Johanna

doi:10.13169/prometheus.37.1.0027

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Prometheus

Volume 37, Issue 1

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The discourse of social innovation and gender equality

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Author(s): Johanna Lauri

Publication date (Print): 1 March 2021

Journal: Prometheus

Publisher: Pluto Journals

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Abstract

In Swedish government discourse, social entrepreneurship and social innovation have come to be articulated as the solutions to a wide array of societal challenges and social problems. Within this discourse of social innovation, gender equality is articulated as a key determinant in conquering all societal challenges defined in the UN's Agenda 2030. The aim of this paper is to analyse the Swedish government's discourse on social innovation, and how it intertwines with gender equality in select government texts and media material. The analysis starts from the assertion that the dominant discourse on social innovation and social entrepreneurs is part of generating the possibilities and limits of social change. Earlier research on social innovation discourse has shown a strong bias towards private market solutions, and that social innovation has become an essential trait in the neoliberal reforming of the state. Because of their particular influence, governments' public endorsement of social entrepreneurs and social innovation in their work is one of the factors shaping the understanding of what social change and gender equality are and how they can be achieved. The analysis shows that the government discourse of social innovation produces an understanding of businesses as having a strong desire and capacity for social change and an altruistic agency. From a discursive point of view, this could be read as if the public sector is lacking such qualities and thus the responsibility for social change is placed in the hands of private corporations. Social change and gender equality are hence made intelligible within an economic logic, equating social change with doing business and gender equality with making profit. Gender equality is thus articulated through the discourse of social innovation, as a means to an end.

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Johanna Lauri

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50022063

Journal ID (jcode): prometheus

Title: Prometheus

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 0810-9028

ISSN: 1470-1030

Publication date (Print): 1 March 2021

Volume: 37

Issue: 1 ( doiID: 10.13169/prometheus.37.issue-1 )

Pages: 27-43

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Umeå Centre for Gender Studies, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

Article

Publisher ID: prometheus.37.1.0027

DOI: 10.13169/prometheus.37.1.0027

SO-VID: 240a2fa5-5f79-4bfd-9080-194c51d8a363

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Computer science,Arts,Social & Behavioral Sciences,Law,History,Economics

References

Ahl, H., Berglund, K., Pettersson, K. and Tillmar, M. (2016) 'From feminism to FemInc.ism: on the uneasy relationship between feminism, entrepreneurship and the Nordic welfare state', International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 12, 2, pp.369–92.
Ahl, H. and Marlow, S. (2019) 'Exploring the false promise of entrepreneurship through a postfeminist critique of the enterprise policy discourse in Sweden and the UK', Human Relations, May 74(1) pp. 41–68.
Ahl, H., and Nelson, T. (2015) 'How policy positions women entrepreneurs: a comparative analysis of state discourse in Sweden and the United States', Journal of Business Venturing, 30, pp.273–91.
Andersson, J. (2009) 'Nordic nostalgia and Nordic light: the Swedish model as Utopia 1930–2007', Scandinavian Journal of History, 34, 3, pp.229–45.
Augustinsson, E. (2016) 'Statens roll förendras', Stat & Styring, 1, 26, pp.16–21.
Bacchi, C. and Eveline, J. (2010) Mainstreaming Politics: Gendering Practices and Feminist Theory, University of Adelaide Press, Adelaide.
Bacchi, C. (1999) Women, Policy and Politics: The Construction of Policy Problems, SAGE, London.
Bacchi, C. (2009) Analysing Policy: What's the Problem Represented to Be?, Pearson, Frenchs Forest, NSW.
Berglund, K., Ahl, H., Pettersson, K. et al. (2018) 'Women's entrepreneurship, neoliberalism and economic justice in the postfeminist era: a discourse analysis of policy change in Sweden', Gender, Work and Organization, 25, pp.531–56.
Eduards, M. (2002) Förbjuden Handling: Om Kvinnors Organisering och Feministisk Teori, Liber Ekonomi, Malmö.
Fougère, M. and Harding, N. (2012) 'On the limits of what can be said about “innovation”: interplay and contrasts between academic and policy discourses' in Sveiby, K.-E., Gripenberg, P. and Segercrantz, B. (eds) Challenging the Innovation Paradigm, Routledge, New York, pp.29–50.
Fougère, M., Segercrantz, B. and Seeck, H. (2017) 'A critical reading of the European Union's social innovation policy discourse: (re)legitimizing neoliberalism', Organization, 24, 6, pp.819–43.
Frostberg, T. (2018) 'Damberg satsar 150 miljoner på socialt entreprenörskap', Dagens Nyheter, 3 February, available at (https://www.dn.se/ekonomi/global-utveckling/damberg-satsar-150-miljoner-pa-socialt-entreprenorskap/) (accessed March 2020).
Gibson-Graham, J., Cameron, J. and Healy, S. (2013) Take Back the Economy: An Ethical Guide for Transforming our Communities, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis MN.
Godin, B. (2012) Social Innovation: Utopias of Innovation from circa 1830 to the Present, Working Paper No. 11, Project on the Intellectual History of Innovation. INRS, Montreal.
Häikiö, L., Fraisse, L., Adam, S., Jolanki, O. and Knutagård, M. (2017) 'The Janus face of social innovation in local welfare initiatives' in Martinelle, F., Anttonen, A. and Mätzke, M. (eds) Social Services Disrupted: Changes, Challenges and Policy Implications for Europe in Times of Austerity, Edward Elgar, Northampton MA, pp.281–301.
Hobson, B. (2006) 'The evolution of the women-friendly state: opportunities and constraints in the Swedish welfare state' in Razavi, S. and Hassim, S. (eds) Gender and Social Policy in a Global Context: Social Policy in a Development Context, Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp.151–72.
Innovationsrådet (2013) Att Tänka nytt för att Göra Nytta: Om Perspektivskiften i Offentlig Verksamhet: Slutbetänkande, Fritze, Stockholm.
Laclau, E. and Mouffe, C. (1985) Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, Verso, London.
Lindberg, M. (2016) 'Undoing gender in EU's social innovation policies?', International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 4, 1, pp.67–79.
Lindberg, M., Forsberg, L. and Karlberg, H. (2015) 'Gendered social innovation: a theoretical lens for analysing structural transformation in organisations and society', International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 3, 6, pp.472–83.
Lindberg, M., Forsberg, L. and Karlberg, H. (2016) 'Gender dimensions in women's networking for social innovation', Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 29, 4, pp.410–23.
Lindster Norberg, E.-L. (2016) 'Hur Ska du bli när du Blir Stor? en Studie i Svensk Gymnasieskola när Entreprenörskap i Skolan är i Fokus', unpublished thesis (Sammanfattning) Umeå Universitet, Umeå.
Magnusson, E., Rönnblom, M. and Silius, H. (2008) Critical Studies of Gender Equalities: Nordic Dislocations, Dilemmas and Contradiction, Makadam, Göteborg.
Martinelli, F. (2012) 'Social innovation or social exclusion? Innovating social services in the context of a retrenching welfare state' in Franz, H., Hochgerner, J. and Howaldt, J. (eds) Challenge Social Innovation: Potentials for Business, Social Entrepreneurship, Welfare and Civil Society, Springer, Berlin, pp.169–80.
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Pol, E., and Ville, S. (2009) 'Social innovation: buzz word or enduring term?', Journal of Socio-Economics, 38, 6, pp.878–85.
Regeringen (2000) Regeringens Skrivelse 1999/2000:24, Jämställdhetspolitiken inför 2000-talet, available at https://www.regeringen.se/49bba5/contentassets/9adb08926c0a4a2b93978ca7dc9cd690/jamstalldhetspolitiken-infor-2000-talet-skr.-1999200024 (accessed December 2020).
Regeringen (2018) The Government Strategy for Social Enterprises: Sustainability through Social Enterprises and Social Innovation, Regeringen, Stockholm.
Regeringen (2019) Informationsblad Feministisk Regering Mars 2019: Jämställdhet – en Självklarhet i ett Modernt Välfärdssamhälle, för Rättvisa och Ekonomisk Utveckling, available at https://www.regeringen.se/4938a2/globalassets/regeringen/bilder/socialdepartementet/tidigare-politikomraden-och-politiker/jamstalldhet/feministisk-regering/informationsblad-feministisk-regering-mars-2019.pdf (accessed December 2020).
Rönnblom, M. (2009) 'Bending towards growth: discursive constructions of gender equality in an era of governance and neoliberalism' in Lombardo, E., Meier, P. and Verloo, M. (eds) The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality: Stretching, Bending and Policymaking, Routledge, London, 1, pp.105–20.
Sainsbury, D. (1996) Gender, Equality, and Welfare States, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Scott-Smith, T. (2016) 'Humanitarian neophilia: the “innovation turn” and its implications', Third World Quarterly, 37, 12, pp.2229–51.
Sjöstedt-Landén, A. (2016) 'Nyliberal styrning och ideologi i offentlig verksamhet' in Fahlgren, S., Mulinari, D. and Sjöstedt Landén, A. (eds) Ambivalenser och Maktordningar: Feministiska Läsningar av Nyliberalism, Makadam, Stockholm.
Squires, J. (2007) The New Politics of Gender Equality, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Sveiby, K.-E., Gripenberg, P. and Segercrantz, B. (eds) (2012) Challenging the Innovation Paradigm, Routledge, New York.
Svenska Institutet (2012) Den Svenska Modellen: Synen på den Svenska Samhällsmodellens Relevans i Omvärlden, Svenska Institutet, Stockholm.
Tollin, K. (2000) 'Det Måste Finnas män med för att det ska bli Jämställt –': En Utvärdering av Mainstreamingprojektet inom Arbetsmarknadsverket i Västerbotten, Umeå University, Umeå.
Towns, A. (2002) 'Paradoxes of (in)equality: something is rotten in the gender equal state of Sweden', Cooperation and Conflict, 37, 2, pp.157–79.
Wennemo, I. (2014) Det Gemensamma: om den Svenska Välfärdsmodellen, Premiss, Stockholm.
Appendix 1
Empirical material
Vinnova (2020a) https://www.vinnova.se (accessed April 2020).
Vinnova (2020b) https://www.vinnova.se/m/jamstalld-innovation (accessed April 2020).
Vinnova (2020c) https://www.vinnova.se/e/normkritisk-innovation/ (accessed June 2020).
Vinnova (2020, call 1) 'Ett stärkt innovationsstöd för social innovation 2018', available at https://www.vinnova.se/globalassets/utlysningar/2016-05525/omgangar/social_innovation_framjare_utlysningstext_slutversion_11.docx873031.docx (accessed March 2020).
Vinnova (2020, call 2) 'Social Innovation – Smarta och skalbara lösningar som på nya sätt adresserar sociala behov och bidrar till positiv samhällsutveckling', available at https://www.vinnova.se/globalassets/utlysningar/2016-04866/omgangar/utlysningstext-social-innovation-steg-1-2018_slut-giltig.pdf840451.pdf (accessed March 2020).
Vinnova (2020, call 3) 'Social Innovation 2019 – Utveckla och testa lösningar som på nya sätt adresserar sociala behov och bidrar till positiv samhällsutveckling', available at https://www.vinnova.se/globalassets/utlysningar/2016-04866/omgangar/utlysningstext-steg-1-2019_final.pdf904548.pdf (accessed March 2020).

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Ahl, H., Berglund, K., Pettersson, K. and Tillmar, M. (2016) 'From feminism to FemInc.ism: on the uneasy relationship between feminism, entrepreneurship and the Nordic welfare state', International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 12, 2, pp.369–92.

[2] Ahl, H. and Marlow, S. (2019) 'Exploring the false promise of entrepreneurship through a postfeminist critique of the enterprise policy discourse in Sweden and the UK', Human Relations, May 74(1) pp. 41–68.

[3] Ahl, H., and Nelson, T. (2015) 'How policy positions women entrepreneurs: a comparative analysis of state discourse in Sweden and the United States', Journal of Business Venturing, 30, pp.273–91.

[4] Andersson, J. (2009) 'Nordic nostalgia and Nordic light: the Swedish model as Utopia 1930–2007', Scandinavian Journal of History, 34, 3, pp.229–45.

[5] Augustinsson, E. (2016) 'Statens roll förendras', Stat & Styring, 1, 26, pp.16–21.

[6] Bacchi, C. and Eveline, J. (2010) Mainstreaming Politics: Gendering Practices and Feminist Theory, University of Adelaide Press, Adelaide.

[7] Bacchi, C. (1999) Women, Policy and Politics: The Construction of Policy Problems, SAGE, London.

[8] Bacchi, C. (2009) Analysing Policy: What's the Problem Represented to Be?, Pearson, Frenchs Forest, NSW.

[9] Berglund, K., Ahl, H., Pettersson, K. et al. (2018) 'Women's entrepreneurship, neoliberalism and economic justice in the postfeminist era: a discourse analysis of policy change in Sweden', Gender, Work and Organization, 25, pp.531–56.

[10] Eduards, M. (2002) Förbjuden Handling: Om Kvinnors Organisering och Feministisk Teori, Liber Ekonomi, Malmö.

[11] Fougère, M. and Harding, N. (2012) 'On the limits of what can be said about “innovation”: interplay and contrasts between academic and policy discourses' in Sveiby, K.-E., Gripenberg, P. and Segercrantz, B. (eds) Challenging the Innovation Paradigm, Routledge, New York, pp.29–50.

[12] Fougère, M., Segercrantz, B. and Seeck, H. (2017) 'A critical reading of the European Union's social innovation policy discourse: (re)legitimizing neoliberalism', Organization, 24, 6, pp.819–43.

[13] Frostberg, T. (2018) 'Damberg satsar 150 miljoner på socialt entreprenörskap', Dagens Nyheter, 3 February, available at (https://www.dn.se/ekonomi/global-utveckling/damberg-satsar-150-miljoner-pa-socialt-entreprenorskap/) (accessed March 2020).

[14] Gibson-Graham, J., Cameron, J. and Healy, S. (2013) Take Back the Economy: An Ethical Guide for Transforming our Communities, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis MN.

[15] Godin, B. (2012) Social Innovation: Utopias of Innovation from circa 1830 to the Present, Working Paper No. 11, Project on the Intellectual History of Innovation. INRS, Montreal.

[16] Häikiö, L., Fraisse, L., Adam, S., Jolanki, O. and Knutagård, M. (2017) 'The Janus face of social innovation in local welfare initiatives' in Martinelle, F., Anttonen, A. and Mätzke, M. (eds) Social Services Disrupted: Changes, Challenges and Policy Implications for Europe in Times of Austerity, Edward Elgar, Northampton MA, pp.281–301.

[17] Hobson, B. (2006) 'The evolution of the women-friendly state: opportunities and constraints in the Swedish welfare state' in Razavi, S. and Hassim, S. (eds) Gender and Social Policy in a Global Context: Social Policy in a Development Context, Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp.151–72.

[18] Innovationsrådet (2013) Att Tänka nytt för att Göra Nytta: Om Perspektivskiften i Offentlig Verksamhet: Slutbetänkande, Fritze, Stockholm.

[19] Laclau, E. and Mouffe, C. (1985) Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, Verso, London.

[20] Lindberg, M. (2016) 'Undoing gender in EU's social innovation policies?', International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 4, 1, pp.67–79.

[21] Lindberg, M., Forsberg, L. and Karlberg, H. (2015) 'Gendered social innovation: a theoretical lens for analysing structural transformation in organisations and society', International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 3, 6, pp.472–83.

[22] Lindberg, M., Forsberg, L. and Karlberg, H. (2016) 'Gender dimensions in women's networking for social innovation', Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 29, 4, pp.410–23.

[23] Lindster Norberg, E.-L. (2016) 'Hur Ska du bli när du Blir Stor? en Studie i Svensk Gymnasieskola när Entreprenörskap i Skolan är i Fokus', unpublished thesis (Sammanfattning) Umeå Universitet, Umeå.

[24] Magnusson, E., Rönnblom, M. and Silius, H. (2008) Critical Studies of Gender Equalities: Nordic Dislocations, Dilemmas and Contradiction, Makadam, Göteborg.

[25] Martinelli, F. (2012) 'Social innovation or social exclusion? Innovating social services in the context of a retrenching welfare state' in Franz, H., Hochgerner, J. and Howaldt, J. (eds) Challenge Social Innovation: Potentials for Business, Social Entrepreneurship, Welfare and Civil Society, Springer, Berlin, pp.169–80.

[26] Moulaert, F., MacCallum, D. and Hillier, J. (2013) 'Social innovation: intuition, precept, concept, theory and practice' in Moulaert, F. et al. (eds) The International Handbook on Social Innovation: Collective Action, Social Learning and Transdisciplinary Research, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp.13–24.

[27] Pol, E., and Ville, S. (2009) 'Social innovation: buzz word or enduring term?', Journal of Socio-Economics, 38, 6, pp.878–85.

[28] Regeringen (2000) Regeringens Skrivelse 1999/2000:24, Jämställdhetspolitiken inför 2000-talet, available at https://www.regeringen.se/49bba5/contentassets/9adb08926c0a4a2b93978ca7dc9cd690/jamstalldhetspolitiken-infor-2000-talet-skr.-1999200024 (accessed December 2020).

[29] Regeringen (2018) The Government Strategy for Social Enterprises: Sustainability through Social Enterprises and Social Innovation, Regeringen, Stockholm.

[30] Regeringen (2019) Informationsblad Feministisk Regering Mars 2019: Jämställdhet – en Självklarhet i ett Modernt Välfärdssamhälle, för Rättvisa och Ekonomisk Utveckling, available at https://www.regeringen.se/4938a2/globalassets/regeringen/bilder/socialdepartementet/tidigare-politikomraden-och-politiker/jamstalldhet/feministisk-regering/informationsblad-feministisk-regering-mars-2019.pdf (accessed December 2020).

[31] Rönnblom, M. (2009) 'Bending towards growth: discursive constructions of gender equality in an era of governance and neoliberalism' in Lombardo, E., Meier, P. and Verloo, M. (eds) The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality: Stretching, Bending and Policymaking, Routledge, London, 1, pp.105–20.

[32] Sainsbury, D. (1996) Gender, Equality, and Welfare States, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

[33] Scott-Smith, T. (2016) 'Humanitarian neophilia: the “innovation turn” and its implications', Third World Quarterly, 37, 12, pp.2229–51.

[34] Sjöstedt-Landén, A. (2016) 'Nyliberal styrning och ideologi i offentlig verksamhet' in Fahlgren, S., Mulinari, D. and Sjöstedt Landén, A. (eds) Ambivalenser och Maktordningar: Feministiska Läsningar av Nyliberalism, Makadam, Stockholm.

[35] Squires, J. (2007) The New Politics of Gender Equality, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

[36] Sveiby, K.-E., Gripenberg, P. and Segercrantz, B. (eds) (2012) Challenging the Innovation Paradigm, Routledge, New York.

[37] Svenska Institutet (2012) Den Svenska Modellen: Synen på den Svenska Samhällsmodellens Relevans i Omvärlden, Svenska Institutet, Stockholm.

[38] Tollin, K. (2000) 'Det Måste Finnas män med för att det ska bli Jämställt –': En Utvärdering av Mainstreamingprojektet inom Arbetsmarknadsverket i Västerbotten, Umeå University, Umeå.

[39] Towns, A. (2002) 'Paradoxes of (in)equality: something is rotten in the gender equal state of Sweden', Cooperation and Conflict, 37, 2, pp.157–79.

[40] Wennemo, I. (2014) Det Gemensamma: om den Svenska Välfärdsmodellen, Premiss, Stockholm.

[41] Appendix 1

[42] Empirical material

[43] Vinnova (2020a) https://www.vinnova.se (accessed April 2020).

[44] Vinnova (2020b) https://www.vinnova.se/m/jamstalld-innovation (accessed April 2020).

[45] Vinnova (2020c) https://www.vinnova.se/e/normkritisk-innovation/ (accessed June 2020).

[46] Vinnova (2020, call 1) 'Ett stärkt innovationsstöd för social innovation 2018', available at https://www.vinnova.se/globalassets/utlysningar/2016-05525/omgangar/social_innovation_framjare_utlysningstext_slutversion_11.docx873031.docx (accessed March 2020).

[47] Vinnova (2020, call 2) 'Social Innovation – Smarta och skalbara lösningar som på nya sätt adresserar sociala behov och bidrar till positiv samhällsutveckling', available at https://www.vinnova.se/globalassets/utlysningar/2016-04866/omgangar/utlysningstext-social-innovation-steg-1-2018_slut-giltig.pdf840451.pdf (accessed March 2020).

[48] Vinnova (2020, call 3) 'Social Innovation 2019 – Utveckla och testa lösningar som på nya sätt adresserar sociala behov och bidrar till positiv samhällsutveckling', available at https://www.vinnova.se/globalassets/utlysningar/2016-04866/omgangar/utlysningstext-steg-1-2019_final.pdf904548.pdf (accessed March 2020).