4 ms·

Where this Scandinavian attitude comes from? That people want to be like them, to live like them. Some kind of inverted double-jealosity psychological marketing

Where this Scandinavian attitude comes from? That people want to be like them, to live like them. Some kind of inverted double-jealosity psychological marketing trick?

dijit 2y ago
Well, that's easy. People are not globally aware enough to seperate Norway, Denmark and Sweden into seperate societies. So it's easy to confuse/combine the Danish "Hygge" (meaning: Cozy), Norways wealth, and Swedens generous social systems (especially as they relate to summer vacations and parental leave/rights). As such, Scandinavia (where Sweden is for some reason the most popular stand-in name for Scandinavia - probably because it used to dominate the region) is seen as a mythical place where everyone is happy, wealthy and that the lifestyles are cozy. Yes, there's some marketing in that, just like there's marketing in the idea that the US is free when it's ranks pretty poorly in freedom globally, or that the UK is a world power, when in reality it's about as globally important at this point as South Korea or South Africa (which, is not an insult as they are medium powers on the world stage and not insignificant). Remember, companies operating globally from any given country will lean in to what they think that country is known for. You can see it a lot with "Swiss-Made" products, especially privacy products, when in reality there aren't any decent privacy laws in Switzerland- people just remember the banking sector permitting numbered accounts because they saw it in media. -- so these things get reinforced over time, by products marketing themselves as "Scandinavian" and then presenting a lifestyle in advertising.
- fredrikholm 2y ago
  > is seen as a mythical place where everyone is happy, wealthy and that the lifestyles are cozy If you're a (non-wealthy) student from the US, it's easy to see how you'd get that impression based on what its like to be that person in both countries. In Sweden, you study full time, live decently and optionally have one job that you do spare time to reduce your future debt that most likely won't be a problem given that it's a (compared the US) small amount of money and you're able to pay it back relatively easily. What I've heard from a total of 3 students from different parts of that states are some variation of: "Outside of my (full time) studies I juggle 2-3 part time jobs, barely making rent and the mountain of debt that awaits me is giving me crippling anxiety". Of course living here is not without its struggles. We, just like the rest of the world, struggle with insane housing costs, stagnant wages for working class people, our food prices are several times higher than in the US despite us making way less etc.
  - Hikikomori 2y ago
    Not only is the amount of debt you have much lower the interest rate is typically lower than inflation, so its much easier to pay off, many don't even make extra payments as its not worth it. None in my class worked while studying, I only took the extra loan part for 1 year as I had savings (if you study you get a grant and the loan is optional if needed). And didn't have to worry about debt from medical problems either.
- lifestyleguru 2y ago
  Funny because even Scandinavians don't want to live in Scandinavia. They live mostly in Caribbean, Canaries, and Balearic Islands. The only people permanently living in Scandinavia are working and not working poor.
  - anthk 2y ago
    Spaniard here. If that was true, I would hear more about it. And the truth it's the Southern Spain and the islands are full of Brits and Germans.
    - lifestyleguru 2y ago
      When drunk, they all speak the same indistinguishable mumble.
    - walthamstow 2y ago
      UK and DE are much bigger countries. Denmark has half the population of London. Per capita there are a lot of Nordics in southern Spain and Canarias.
  - RamRodification 2y ago
    You are confusing "want to live in" with "want to vacation in". If there's one thing I and other Scandinavians always seem to agree on, it's that Scandinavia sucks less for just living your everyday life in, compared to most other countries. Especially true with typical vacation destinations such as the ones in your examples.
- willvarfar 2y ago
  Although its amusing to see how Sweden is idealised in the UK and USA, and how there seems to be some BBC correspondant who feels obliged to keep churning out these lifestyle articles that nobody in Sweden would recognise, this doesn't mean its not actually a nicer place to live than the US or UK! :)
  - TypingOutBugs 2y ago
    Having lived in the US, UK, and Sweden, I prefer Sweden for everything except my friend group!
lqet 2y ago
IKEA certainly has an interest in promoting this image.
- lifestyleguru 2y ago
  Why Dutch non-profit foundation would be interested in this?!
carlosjobim 2y ago
Scandinavians are under constant propaganda pressure since early childhood of how their countries and their "systems" are the best in the world. Most of them are incapable of waking up. Quite strange, considering that Germany is just around the corner, and has been more successful in almost every aspect.
- lifestyleguru 2y ago
  I guess this BBC article is the pinnacle of living in this bubble. Here is a wooden shack in the middle of nowhere, pay EUR 3000 to come over and sleep in it.
- DanielHB 2y ago
  Born outside of Sweden and living in Sweden now, you have a few misconceptions here. Scandinavians (or at least the Swedish) complain quite a lot about public services and government, so many discussions I have end with "you know that here is better than pretty much everywhere else". My favorite one is people complaining about trains and public transport where both are waaaaaaaaay better than most other countries. Sure it is not Swiss-level of service (I travelled quite a bit in Switzerland trains), but still very good overall. And this carries over to almost everything, healthcare, education, job opportunities, entrepreneurism. Not quite the best at anything, but somehow average to very good at everything. If this "complaining" attitude wasn't a thing you wouldn't be seeing right-leaning political parties rising here. Maybe it is this attitude that keeps the services and institutions working well? I don't know. I remember a former coworker who complained so much about everything Swedish (from culture, to weather, to people, to institutions, to government). He travelled quite a lot but only ever stayed in the big centers or touristy places. He got enamored with China and thought things were so much better there in every respect compared to Sweden, he took a few months off to live there (considering moving permanently) and came back completely disillusioned. Classic case of only seeing the good parts of other places. One thing that he actually complained about that quite surprised me was that the trains in China were overcrowded and people were rude in public transport. That was like the one thing I thought China was better than Sweden (because of their overbuilt infrastructure). Another one that happens a lot when I tell stories about my home country ends up with me saying "what trains? There are no trains!"

Where this Scandinavian attitude comes from? That people want to be like them, to live like them. Some kind of inverted double-jealosity psychological marketing trick?

dijit 2y ago

Well, that's easy. People are not globally aware enough to seperate Norway, Denmark and Sweden into seperate societies. So it's easy to confuse/combine the Danish "Hygge" (meaning: Cozy), Norways wealth, and Swedens generous social systems (especially as they relate to summer vacations and parental leave/rights). As such, Scandinavia (where Sweden is for some reason the most popular stand-in name for Scandinavia - probably because it used to dominate the region) is seen as a mythical place where everyone is happy, wealthy and that the lifestyles are cozy. Yes, there's some marketing in that, just like there's marketing in the idea that the US is free when it's ranks pretty poorly in freedom globally, or that the UK is a world power, when in reality it's about as globally important at this point as South Korea or South Africa (which, is not an insult as they are medium powers on the world stage and not insignificant). Remember, companies operating globally from any given country will lean in to what they think that country is known for. You can see it a lot with "Swiss-Made" products, especially privacy products, when in reality there aren't any decent privacy laws in Switzerland- people just remember the banking sector permitting numbered accounts because they saw it in media. -- so these things get reinforced over time, by products marketing themselves as "Scandinavian" and then presenting a lifestyle in advertising.

fredrikholm 2y ago
> is seen as a mythical place where everyone is happy, wealthy and that the lifestyles are cozy If you're a (non-wealthy) student from the US, it's easy to see how you'd get that impression based on what its like to be that person in both countries. In Sweden, you study full time, live decently and optionally have one job that you do spare time to reduce your future debt that most likely won't be a problem given that it's a (compared the US) small amount of money and you're able to pay it back relatively easily. What I've heard from a total of 3 students from different parts of that states are some variation of: "Outside of my (full time) studies I juggle 2-3 part time jobs, barely making rent and the mountain of debt that awaits me is giving me crippling anxiety". Of course living here is not without its struggles. We, just like the rest of the world, struggle with insane housing costs, stagnant wages for working class people, our food prices are several times higher than in the US despite us making way less etc.
- Hikikomori 2y ago
  Not only is the amount of debt you have much lower the interest rate is typically lower than inflation, so its much easier to pay off, many don't even make extra payments as its not worth it. None in my class worked while studying, I only took the extra loan part for 1 year as I had savings (if you study you get a grant and the loan is optional if needed). And didn't have to worry about debt from medical problems either.
lifestyleguru 2y ago
Funny because even Scandinavians don't want to live in Scandinavia. They live mostly in Caribbean, Canaries, and Balearic Islands. The only people permanently living in Scandinavia are working and not working poor.
- anthk 2y ago
  Spaniard here. If that was true, I would hear more about it. And the truth it's the Southern Spain and the islands are full of Brits and Germans.
  - lifestyleguru 2y ago
    When drunk, they all speak the same indistinguishable mumble.
  - walthamstow 2y ago
    UK and DE are much bigger countries. Denmark has half the population of London. Per capita there are a lot of Nordics in southern Spain and Canarias.
- RamRodification 2y ago
  You are confusing "want to live in" with "want to vacation in". If there's one thing I and other Scandinavians always seem to agree on, it's that Scandinavia sucks less for just living your everyday life in, compared to most other countries. Especially true with typical vacation destinations such as the ones in your examples.
willvarfar 2y ago
Although its amusing to see how Sweden is idealised in the UK and USA, and how there seems to be some BBC correspondant who feels obliged to keep churning out these lifestyle articles that nobody in Sweden would recognise, this doesn't mean its not actually a nicer place to live than the US or UK! :)
- TypingOutBugs 2y ago
  Having lived in the US, UK, and Sweden, I prefer Sweden for everything except my friend group!

lqet 2y ago

IKEA certainly has an interest in promoting this image.

lifestyleguru 2y ago
Why Dutch non-profit foundation would be interested in this?!

carlosjobim 2y ago

Scandinavians are under constant propaganda pressure since early childhood of how their countries and their "systems" are the best in the world. Most of them are incapable of waking up. Quite strange, considering that Germany is just around the corner, and has been more successful in almost every aspect.

lifestyleguru 2y ago
I guess this BBC article is the pinnacle of living in this bubble. Here is a wooden shack in the middle of nowhere, pay EUR 3000 to come over and sleep in it.
DanielHB 2y ago
Born outside of Sweden and living in Sweden now, you have a few misconceptions here. Scandinavians (or at least the Swedish) complain quite a lot about public services and government, so many discussions I have end with "you know that here is better than pretty much everywhere else". My favorite one is people complaining about trains and public transport where both are waaaaaaaaay better than most other countries. Sure it is not Swiss-level of service (I travelled quite a bit in Switzerland trains), but still very good overall. And this carries over to almost everything, healthcare, education, job opportunities, entrepreneurism. Not quite the best at anything, but somehow average to very good at everything. If this "complaining" attitude wasn't a thing you wouldn't be seeing right-leaning political parties rising here. Maybe it is this attitude that keeps the services and institutions working well? I don't know. I remember a former coworker who complained so much about everything Swedish (from culture, to weather, to people, to institutions, to government). He travelled quite a lot but only ever stayed in the big centers or touristy places. He got enamored with China and thought things were so much better there in every respect compared to Sweden, he took a few months off to live there (considering moving permanently) and came back completely disillusioned. Classic case of only seeing the good parts of other places. One thing that he actually complained about that quite surprised me was that the trains in China were overcrowded and people were rude in public transport. That was like the one thing I thought China was better than Sweden (because of their overbuilt infrastructure). Another one that happens a lot when I tell stories about my home country ends up with me saying "what trains? There are no trains!"