Understanding Race, Capitalism, and Entrepreneurship in Finland

This article develops a situated theory of the intersection of race, class, and capitalism in Finland, periodizing the analysis into two key phases: the formation of the welfare state and the neoliberal turn. Dominant scholarship on race in Finland often links nation-state formation to European white supremacy, emphasizing the exclusion of minorities like the Roma and Sámi. However, this article highlights the class dimensions intertwined with racial subordination, focusing on the portrayal of the Finnish poor as a threat to the national race. It argues that bureaucratic regulation and surveillance were essential to incorporating the poor into the Finnish polity, shaping welfare provision and its enduring disciplinary mechanisms.

By incorporating class into the analysis of race, the article addresses three critical dynamics: the unstable category of the “Finn,” the exceptionalization of the Finnish welfare state, and the long-standing mechanisms of labor discipline now manifested in neoliberal policies. The article challenges the narrative of the welfare state as a product of national unity. Instead, it examines how precarity, initially embodied by piece work and hunger trades, has evolved into modern forms of gig labor disproportionately occupied by non-Finnish workers.

This analysis offers a historical and theoretical framework to understand contemporary race and class relations in Finland, revealing how neoliberalism builds on earlier systems of racial and class subordination, with the welfare state serving as a tool of capitalist discipline rather than a remedy to inequality.