Samassa veneessä: empatiakuilujen poliittinen ulottuvuus Suomessa
Abstract
In the same boat? Empathy gaps in Finnish politics
Until today, Finns have wanted to think that they are figuratively in the same boat. In particular,
this phrase is used by politicians, creating the impression that everyone is treated in the same way
and everyone is taken care of. This article looks into this rhetoric and analyzes how the voters of
different parties care about the well-being of different population groups. In other words, we are
interested in empathy gaps within the Finnish population. The research data consists of two representative
surveys from 2016 and 2018 collected by research project Tackling Inequalities in Time of
Austerity (TITA) (N = 4933). The so called honorable poor cause most empathy among the respondents.
By contrast, least empathy is caused by groups that are somehow seen as guilty of their own
situation. The voters of Left Alliance as well as Greens are the most empathetic to most of the
population groups, whereas the voters of Finns Party are the least empathetic. However, statistical
differences between supporters of differents parties are relatively small.
