FINAL SHORT ANSWER Flashcards
1
Q
Solidarity (lateral and vertical)
A
- Social cohesion based in interdependence and interlocking/common interests
- Empathy across boundaries based on shared higher interest: a “community of strangers”
- Lateral: One oppressed group with another - first-gen immigrants (asian/hispanic)
- Vertical: Altruistic sympathy - rich to poor
2
Q
Swedish/Nordic Theory of Love
A
- (Stereotypically) high degrees of social trust, to relatively homogeneous demographics, to early inculcation of awareness of the needs and interests of others as a social value
- Nordic citizens practice values of social empathy and are taught to think outside their own narrow interests from a young age
- Debatable about good - Enemy of the People/Law of Jante contrast this value
3
Q
Gemeinschaft/Gesellschaft
A
- Gemeinschaft (community): composed of altruists who are exceptionally caring or loving
- Gesellschaft (society): modern self-realizing individuals who believe that a strong state and stable social norms will keep their neighbor out of both their lives and their backyards
- German terms perpetuated by Weber and Tonnies
- Ex: Sweden stereotype v. actuality
4
Q
Statist individualism
A
- Priorities between state, individual, and family: Germany is S&F, US is F&I, Sweden is S&I
- Statist individualism: allows for true love - “the Swedish theory of love posits that all forms of dependency corrupt true love”
- similar to Sara Videbeck
5
Q
“push” and “pull” emigration factors
A
- mass emigration from Scandinavia to the United States in the mid-1800s (?)
- push factors: low wages/no jobs, mass emigration to cities + rural lifestyle
- pull factors: cheap/fertile land,
- representing this is two statues in both Karlshamn, Sweden, and Lindstrom, Minnesota of Moberg’s characters Karl-Oskar and Kristina
6
Q
Law of Jante
A
- Originally: created by Aksel Sandemose (D-N, 1899-1965), meant to be sinister (no individuality, main character’s crime comes from childhood repression/shaming)
- “The Jante personality is the thoroughly conformist personality, the mass personality that terrorizes others into conformity. The repression stems as much from inside as from without, in that everyone holds himself as well as each other down.”
- Now, positive connotations of not being arrogant (Aleksander Skarsgård interview where he equates it to being humble)
7
Q
Avant-garde
A
- originates from French military - the group that went ahead of the main troops to lead the charge
- began to be applied to writers, artists, and philosophers in the 19th century seen as being years ahead of their contemporaries in style/vision of what art could be
- Ibsen thought of himself as an “intellectual aristocrat” far in advance of his contemporaries
8
Q
The people’s home/The fellow-citizens home
A
- repurposed by famous Swedish PM/creator of Nordic Model Per Albin Hansson (before + recently, have been used by conservative parties for patriotic/ethnically homogenous nostalgia purposes)
- society = home metaphor invokes: a warm sense of connection, fairness, egalitarianism, hard work
- Hansson describes a workplace culture driven by worker input, consensus decision-making, and collective bargaining structure – equate with what the society should be like
9
Q
Consensual democracy
A
- political system dominated by consensus decision-making and negotiation rather than adversarial partisan politics
- Per Albin Hansson pushed for this process in his speech about the people’s home
- contrasts with American “all or nothing” model - harder to get things done but if it happens, there are not a lot of compromises
10
Q
Hegemony
A
- an order in which a common social-moral language is spoken, in which one concept of reality is dominant, informing with its spirit all modes of thought and behavior
- predominance obtained by consent rather than force of one group or class over other classes
- ex: melting pot over soup metaphor
11
Q
Assimilation
A
- Enforced hegemony – changing to fit dominant culture
- ex: Danes and biking, newcomers who can’t bike are outsiders
12
Q
White melancholy
A
- is a psychic state, a structure of connection to the nation, common to Swedes as well as to the image of Sweden in the world
- brought up because Scandinavia is regarded as so progressive, but now having issues with race relations
13
Q
Astrid Lindgren
A
- Pippi Longstocking creator/author (1900s)
- Pippi represents: perpetual youth, superhuman
abilities, unexplained childhood autonomy, confident independence, colorful but ultimately non-threatening disorder - she’s a resonant literary figuration because it’s imaginable that she would be able to develop in a place like Sweden
14
Q
Ludvig Holberg
A
- Father of Danish drama – shift from Latin to Danish plays, Enlightenment figure (Norwegian-Danish, 1684–1754)
- Wrote Erasmus Montanus: book smart vs. common sense, alienation by intelligence, put back in his proper place/social station
- aspired to same model as Moliere: the correction of character excess in the service of Enlightenment ideals of moderation and sense
15
Q
Vilhelm Moberg
A
- Swedish historian, journalist, dramatist (1898–1973), wrote about villages (around time people were romanticizing peasants)
- Best known for a novel series often called “The Emigrants”, about a family emigrating from Småland to Minnesota in the 19th century (1.2 million Swedes emigrated to US between 1885-1915)
- Didn’t like city life - moved back out to rural areas