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Zusammenfassung von The Almost Nearly Perfect People

Name: The Almost Nearly Perfect People
Rating: 4.3 (31 reviews)
Author: Michael Booth

Michael Booth

Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia

4.3 (31 Bewertungen)

22 Min.

Kurz zusammengefasst

The Almost Nearly Perfect People by Michael Booth is a witty and insightful account of the Nordic countries, exploring their cultures, strengths, flaws, and contradictions.

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Anthropologie Kultur

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What’s in it for me? Explore the complexities of Nordic culture.

Scandinavia, the frozen home of Vikings and IKEA, has long been considered an almost nearly perfect set of nations, a sort of utopia where any progressive, peace-loving person would be proud to live. But can this really be the whole truth?

Well, according to the author, it’s not. He refused to believe the media image and instead took a journey through the five Nordic countries – Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark – to try to understand where this image came from, and whether it’s as accurate as everyone seems to think.

As you join him on his trip, you’ll learn

what Jante Law is;
what Icelanders believe in more than God; and
which Nordic country was given an intergalactic award for its natural beauty.

The Nordic countries have some of the best wealth and gender equality in the world.

Did you know that the first-ever parliament was founded in Iceland? Or that Finnish has no gender, and Denmark is basically one big middle class? Could it be that the Scandinavian region is one of the most equal places in the world?

Well, according to the Gini coefficient, it is!

The Gini coefficient, developed in 1921 by Italian statistician Corrado Gini, is a statistical method that measures the wealth distribution of a nation. It records the range of income differences from the richest to the poorest, with the smallest divergences indicating higher equality. And although the rankings change every year, the five Nordic countries, along with Japan, almost always place in the top six. In other words, the income differences in these countries are some of the smallest in the world.

The author believes that this even economic playing field might be an inheritance from Scandinavians’ Viking ancestors, who, when they weren’t butchering and pillaging, were supposedly some of the most egalitarian people in history.

But Scandinavians aren’t only remarkable for their wealth distribution; they also have some of the greatest gender equality in the world.

Back in 2010, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark were all ranked by the nonprofit organization Save the Children in the top five “best places to be a mother.” In addition, in 2011, Newsweek also ranked Iceland and Sweden as the top two places to be a woman in the world.

In fact, Swedish men are supposedly the least chauvinistic in the world, to the point that one former Miss Sweden controversially said that they were all “nappy-changing sissies.”

Meanwhile, Finnish women won the right to vote in 1906, making them the first women in Europe to be granted suffrage. Today, it is quite normal for half of their parliament to be female, and women have served as both prime minister and president of Finland.

So it seems that Scandinavians enjoy almost unparalleled equality. But is there more than meets the eye?

The Scandinavian people have a culture of modesty and reserve that borders on rudeness.

Thinking of saying “I love you” to your new Finnish partner? Well, you might want to reconsider. In Nordic cultures, you can’t just throw around that word, or any others, unless you really, really, really mean what you say.

This is because of a certain reticence that’s found across Scandinavia, and which intensifies the farther north you go.

Though parts of Nordic culture benefit from a strong sense of national identity, national pride does cause issues with immigration.

The Nordic countries have a lot in common with each other, and they have what US anthropologist Edward T. Hall would call “high-context” cultures. This means that they share similar backgrounds and experiences, and, since they already relate to and know so much about each other, their societies need less active communication.

Just look at the Finns. Their population is incredibly homogenous, with an immigrant population of just 2.5 percent; sure enough, they are also infamously untalkative.

Iceland has had a turbulent journey that weds Scandinavian sensibilities and American opportunity.

In the year 930, the first ever parliament, the Althing, was founded in a narrow Icelandic canyon known as Thingvellir, which was formed by the slowly separating tectonic plates of Europe and North America. The state was quite literally founded at the point where America and Scandinavia meet. What could such a combination lead to?

Well, as far as their Scandinavian roots go, Icelanders still have strong Viking-like personalities thanks to their close relationship with nature and myth.

Norway's distinctive culture is the product of both a love of nature and vast oil reserves.

In Douglas Adams’ classic sci-fi book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the character Slartibartfast, who “designs” planets and coastlines, wins an award for his beautiful work on the Norwegian fjords. These astounding natural surroundings, combined with their genuine physical isolation, has caused Norwegian people to cultivate a deep attachment to their environment.

In fact, Oslo wasn’t even a capital city until just over a century ago, as Norway was a colony of Denmark and Sweden for most of its history. The author noticed how, as a result, the rest of the country is quite detached from it, both mentally and geographically. Norway is actually the least densely populated country in Europe, with just eleven people per square kilometer, spread throughout the whole country.

A turbulent history and hostile environment have made Finland a country of extremes.

Finland offers a mixed bag of pros and cons. The country has the third-highest level of gun ownership in the world, coming in behind only the United States and Yemen, and the highest murder rate in Western Europe. It also boasts the best schools in the world. Is this really the same place?

To understand these seeming contradictions, it’s worth taking a look at Finland’s tumultuous history.

Despite their reputation as a rational country, Sweden has been quietly controversial for much of the twentieth century.

Sweden is the homeland of best-selling author Stieg Larsson, the third-largest exporter of music in the world after the United States and United Kingdom and is the global face of Scandinavia. But what is not so well-known is the country’s peculiar politics.

You see, for most of the twentieth century, Sweden was essentially a one-party state. The Swedish Social Democratic Party – or SSDP – first came to power in 1920, and then ruled, almost without interruption, from 1932 to 1976, with no other party winning a second term until 2010.

Danish social cohesion makes them the happiest citizens in the world.

Supposedly, the more equal a society, the happier it is. So it would stand to reason that Denmark, whose citizens have repeatedly voted themselves the happiest in the world, would have the best Gini coefficient, right? Well, surprisingly enough, Denmark actually comes in last among Nordic countries. So why are the Danes so happy?

One thing’s for sure: it’s certainly not because of their public infrastructure.

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Worum geht es in The Almost Nearly Perfect People?

In The Almost Nearly Perfect People (2014), Danish resident Michael Booth takes us on a journey through the continent (and beyond) in an attempt to deconstruct and understand the popular belief that Scandinavia is some sort of cultural utopia – albeit a very cold one. Since the turn of the century, the influence and popularity of Scandinavian culture has cropped up almost everywhere, from books and TV to IKEA and Spotify.

Bestes Zitat aus The Almost Nearly Perfect People

But we are all kings here. – excerpt from an old Viking story

—Michael Booth

Wer The Almost Nearly Perfect People lesen sollte

Those with an anthropological interest in Scandinavia
History buffs interested in the lesser-known stories of Scandinavian history
Anyone who has been bitten by the Nordic bug

Über den Autor

Michael Booth, an award-winning English journalist and author, contributes to many British and foreign magazines and newspapers and has written several books. He has lived on and off in Scandinavia for the last few decades and now lives in Denmark with his wife and children.

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