About me
My research is inspired by the question of how people’s agency is formed and performed in varying marginalized positions of society. I identify myself as a social policy scholar drawing perspectives from the fields of governmentality studies, gender studies, youth studies, and sociology of mental health.
Currently, I’m doing research on the new possibilities of citizenship and social inclusion in the context of ecological transition in welfare states, with a special focus on people outside the labour market. My work is a part of multidisciplinary project Towards Eco-Welfare State: Orchestrating for Systemic Impact. The aim of the STN-funded project is to produce research knowledge and practical mechanisms that will help public authorities to effectively steer and facilitate a systemic change towards an eco-welfare state. Our team at the Faculty of Social Sciences examines the transition towards eco-welfare state from the perspective of everyday life, participation and democracy. We explore the ways in which eco-social policy measures interact with the welfare needs of citizens, and whether they contain seeds of social conflicts.
My previous research project On the Sidelines? (Academy of Finland 2016-2018) examined social inequalities and agency among young adults outside labor and education due to mental health problems.
I am a member of Tampere Centre for Societal Sustainability (TaSSu). Our research promotes an understanding of individuals’ and communities’ possibilities of participation and the preconditions of ecologically and socially sustainable transformations towards inclusive societies. We aim to create theoretical and empirical knowledge of inclusive social practices, needs-based democratic and social innovations, and people’s opportunities of influencing their lives, their surroundings and the society.
Responsibilities
Research, Teaching, Supervising
Project links
Research topics
Social inequality, Social inclusion, Marginalised groups, Agency, Citizenship, Power and Governance
Research fields
Social policy
Gender studies
Sociology of mental health
Selected publications
• Rikala, Sanna (in print) Masentuneiden nuorten kamppailuja työkyvyttömyyden hallinnasta. In Kristiina Brunila, Esko Harni, Antti Saari & Hanna Ylöstalo (eds.) Terapeuttinen valta ja kansalaisuus. Onnellisuuden ja hyvinvoinnin jännitteitä 2000-luvun Suomessa. Tampere: Vastapaino.
• Korhonen, Maija & Rikala, Sanna (2020) Toipumista työtä varten: työn moraaliset järjestykset työuran katketessa mielenterveyssyistä. in Sosiologia. 57: 3, 260-277.
• Rikala, Sanna (2019) Agency among young people in marginalised positions: towards a better understanding of mental health problems, Journal of Youth Studies, DOI: 10.1080/13676261.2019.1651929
• Rikala, Sanna (2019) Nuorten aikuisten masennus ja sosiaalinen kipu. In: Filander, Karin; Siivonen, Päivi &Korhonen, Maija: Huiputuksen moraalijärjestys. Osallisuuden ja sosiaalisen kivun kertomuksia. Vastapaino: Tampere.
• Rikala, Sanna (2018) Masennus, työkyvyttömyys ja sosiaalinen eriarvoisuus nuorten aikuisten elämänkuluissa. In: Yhteiskuntapolitiikka 83:2, 159–170.
• Rikala, Sanna (2016) Työuupumus ja vastarinnan mahdollisuudet. In: Parviainen, Jaana & Kinnunen, Taina (toim.): Ruumiillisuus ja työelämä. Työruumis jälkiteollisessa taloudessa. Vastapaino: Tampere.
• Rikala, Sanna (2013) Työssä uupuvat naiset ja masennus. Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 1854.