Researcher interview #2: Professor Eva Heiskanen explains how citizens' material participation can reduce polarization

In your project, you are studying citizens' material participation, particularly in the energy transition. What does citizens' material participation mean in your research?

In traditional social science discussions on participation, the idea that participation is always material has been overlooked, because different circumstances, habits, and skills affect, for example, who feels comfortable participating in various consultation events. For example, it is easier to get involved in workshop-type activities if you are familiar with this type of work from your job or studies. Similarly, association activities involve various practices that may exclude people who are unfamiliar with or find it difficult to adopt these practices.

At the same time, especially in the transition to sustainability, the targets of participation and policy measures are material, concrete issues that affect different people in different ways, which is not always taken into account in social science research on participation. One example of this is policy measures targeting passenger cars.

Researching material participation means taking these factors into account and developing participation in such a way that people from different backgrounds can participate. 

How can material participation reduce polarization?

Polarization around climate policy and sustainability issues has intensified over the past decade. In particular, many people living outside cities feel that climate policy is made from the top down and from the center to the periphery. Many feel that climate policy threatens their own living conditions, for example, if private car use becomes significantly more expensive. It should be noted that, especially outside cities, many people do not have the financial means or, for example, the educational opportunities to change their place of residence or work, or otherwise significantly change their daily practices or lifestyles.

Polarization can be countered by opening up climate policy to different people. For example, I have studied citizens' voluntary participation in the energy transition, including low-threshold energy walks, where villagers gather to exercise and at the same time learn about each other's sustainable energy solutions. Many people find it easier to participate in such events, and the experiences of peers can be more valuable than, for example, lectures by experts.

People from very different ideological backgrounds participate in concrete joint activities. The aim of this project is to investigate the extent to which such joint activities create an experience of social inclusion that alleviates polarization.

What would be required to strengthen citizen participation?

The living conditions of different people living in different parts of Finland should be better taken into account in climate policy. Decision-making could be brought closer to the people by distributing decision-making power, responsibility, and resources in climate policy from the state to the municipalities. This would make it easier to find solutions that take into account the specific circumstances of each locality and its people.

Municipal politics is often less polarizing than national politics, and municipalities are accustomed to cooperation across ideological party lines. The HINKU network of municipalities is a good example of how municipalities and their residents have considered local climate solutions that are suitable for them.

The sense of involvement of different people in the sustainability transition could also be increased if climate communication were to be carried out more from the perspectives of different people. Currently, climate communication is too often based on the reality of urban, young, and educated people, but the sustainability transition would be more relatable to many if the media also showed the lifestyles of people living elsewhere and working in different professions, for example.

Text: Liisa Perjo and Eva Heiskanen

Photo: Eva Heiskanen