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Maybe I misunderstood you, but it seems you're saying that people _either_ "comply" with Jante or succeed, but my point was that Jante, broadly understood, affe
by Grustaf 9y ago
Maybe I misunderstood you, but it seems you're saying that people _either_ "comply" with Jante or succeed, but my point was that Jante, broadly understood, affects even successful people.
Sure, if you take it literally then I suppose it would stop people from succeeding but the way I see it "Jante" is what explains the relative humility of many successful Scandinavians. In a way it's just a flippant way to describe the (downsides of) the Nordic egalitarianism, as argued eloquently elsewhere. So in that sense there is no real opposition between Sweden being full of successful entrepreneurs while enforcing Jante.
- ThomPete 9y agoHumility is not what Jante Law is about. Jante Law is about conformity. You definitely don't have to live in Scandinavia to be a humble millionaire or even billionaire. In fact, one could argue that the successful people in Scandinavia are humble because of the fear of the Jante Law. All I was saying is that people who are successful mostly ignore the Jante Law otherwise they wouldn't try to become successful, to begin with. None of this is an exact science of course.
- Grustaf 9y ago>In fact, one could argue that the successful people in Scandinavia are humble because of the fear of the Jante Law. This is pretty much what I _am_ arguing.
- ThomPete 9y agoOk, not sure how that contradicts what I said which was about becoming successful not about how you deal with the law.