Abstract
The study looks at the changing relationships between the citizen and the state in the context of two case studies, concerned with the dismantling of restrictive alcohol policy in Finland.
The first is based on a reception research in which key persons interpret two editorials on alcohol policy, one in defence of a (neo)liberal alcohol policy, the second in favour of a regulated welfare-state alcohol policy. The recipients were selected from three occupational fields in the city of Lahti in southern Finland representing politics, the mass media, and trade union branches.
The second is based on focus group interviews among influentials in Helsinki and Tallinn. In both cities the groups were chosen from three fields: mass media, economy, and public administration (the article deals only with the Finnish part of the material). The key persons' argumentation is interpreted as identity speech dealing with the spatial, temporal, and positional aspects of ‘reference group’ values.
The study shows that liberal alcohol policy predominates, not as a homogeneous ideal of freedom shared by all but as manifold forms of liberalism. Three strains of liberalism are identified: utopian, expressive, and cynical. All of them adopt a negative attitude towards the state, believe in the markets, have an aspiration for freedom, and interpret individuality as an obligation.