Justifications for commodified security: The promotion of private life insurance in Finland 1945-90

Abstract

This article examines the promotion of private life insurance in Finland between 1945 and 1990. Although a fully-fledged social insurance system was established during this period, private insurance did not become obsolete. How were people encouraged to engage in voluntary forms of insurance in the new situation? We study the ways in which insurance was marketed by justifying its usefulness in relation to the ‘goods’ that were presumed common to all potential customers. The key theoretical frameworks are given by the literature on ‘governmentality’ and by Boltanski and Thévenot’s model of justifications. The first of these is used in our discussion of the general role of insurance as a multifaceted social technology, whereas we use the model of justifications in analysing the core themes of promotion. The promotional materials reveal that private life insurance is not an attractive economic tool for potential customers without reference to at least some moral justifications. However, these justifications are heterogeneous and open to change. In addition, the question of which particular moral emphasis seems most relevant, and when, is related to socio-economic transformations. Especially important are the changes in the interplay between social and private forms of organizing insurance responsibility.