Nordic Moral Climates: Value Continuities and Discontinuities in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden [Paperback]

Ulla V. Bondeson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1412806763 | ISBN-13: 978-1412806763 | Publication Date: August 30, 2007 | Edition: 1

Morality was a dominant theme in the 1990s, but concerns about morality seem omnipresent in the first years of the third millennium. The year 2002 witnessed the greatest corporate scandals ever seen in the United States, with immense impact financially and in human terms. Sex scandals were pervasive among Catholic priests in the United States, disrupting the lives of thousands of abused children. In Scandinavia, moral debates and scandals are of a smaller magnitude, and more often related to questions about the handling of money by politicians.

This volume takes an overarching look at the impact of such moral questions in the Nordic countries. Its approach is multi-disciplinarian, embracing philosophy, history, sociology, and political science. Based mainly upon a survey of representative samples in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, this unique study combines interview questions on crime and justice with moral questions concerning equality, confidence, tolerance, and also personal, social, religious, political, and national values. Bondeson first discusses the Nordic countries from a historical perspective and in statistical terms. She then presents interview data on the general sense of justice in Nordic countries, in particular exploring how much social and legal equality the Scandinavians have achieved in their welfare states. She touches upon criminal behavior and victimiation, and discusses crime prevention and punishment. Bondeson also reviews the problems and methods of the study. Finally, she adds depth to the statistical analysis by using a number of indexes of morality. A trend analysis illustrates the stability of these attitudes over time.

Nordic Moral Climates is an original empirical study of moral values in Scandinavia. It is one of the few comprehensive studies on this subject conducted in any nation or group of nations. The book will be of great interest to criminologists, sociologists, and social theorists.

Ulla V. Bondeson has been professor of criminology at the University of Copenhagen since 1980 and was previously professor of sociology of law at Lund University. She has also been a guest professor at several American universities, including Harvard and Yale. She is the author of Prisoners in Prison Societies, available from Transaction.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ulla Bondeson's study of Nordic moral climates is an outstanding accomplishment. She raises a number of new questions and formulates significant theoretical issues in the study of morality in modern society. It will hardly be possible to engage in subsequent studies of moral climates without taking her conceptual distinctions and empirical findings into account."---Erik Allardt Journal of the Nordic Sociological Association --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Ulla V. Bondeson has been professor of criminology at the University of Copenhagen since 1980 and was previously professor of sociology of law at Lund University. She has also been a guest professor at several American universities, including Harvard and Yale.

Product Details

• Paperback: 330 pages
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers; 1 edition (August 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1412806763
• ISBN-13: 978-1412806763
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,086,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, thorough, and interesting, August 10, 2005

By 

Dolamite "Loopy" (Middlebury, VT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nordic Moral Climates: Value Continuities and Discontinuities in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden (Hardcover)

The nations of Scandinavia are fascinating: the most societally healthy countries on earth. This book explores the beliefs, values, attitudes, and opinions of Scandinavians. It is clearly laid out, accessible to the lay reader, and a solid sociological snapshot.