Hanna Kuusela Is 2026 Scholar in Residence

Hanna Kuusela, an associate professor in sociology at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, is the MPIfG’s Scholar in Residence for 2026. Joining the Institute at the end of March, Kuusela will work at the intersection of economic power and cultural legitimization to ask: Who are the rich, how do they legitimize their wealth, and what does that tell us about the society in which they live? Kuusela has developed these topics over the past few years studying the Finnish case. She investigates how cultures of private capital in twenty-first-century Finland are formed, how wealth elites understand and defend – or undermine – the Nordic welfare model and its changing moral foundations, and how rich families are represented in popular culture. Her current research looks at philanthropy: legacies and large donations and the role of charitable giving in a welfare state founded on collective redistribution. During her stay at the Institute, Kuusela will give a lecture series titled “The Redistributive Ethos in Crisis: Three Imaginaries Dismantling the Welfare State.” The three lectures in the series, on May 5 and 26 and June 2, 2026, examine challenges to some of the normative principles of the welfare state today. Kuusela is also the coauthor of a book with Anu Kantola on top earners in Finland that was nominated for the Finlandia Prize in the non-fiction category in 2019.