Swedish Mentality [Paperback]

Ake Daun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1996

Is there a distinctly Swedish national character? Are Swedes truly shy, unemotional, conflict-avoiding, melancholy, and dour? Swedish Mentality, the English translation of the hugely successful book published in Sweden in 1989, considers the reality behind the myth. The author, Ake Daun, is a respected ethnologist who is sometimes referred to as the guru of Swedish character. In recent years, it has become popular to discuss Swedishness and Swedish identity. The advent of the European Union and the increasing presence of immigrant refugees in Sweden have fueled public debate on the distinctiveness of Swedish culture. Daun, however, goes beyond stereotype, drawing upon statistics gathered over more than a decade of research. The result is an entertaining and engagingly written book. Throughout, Daun quotes from interviews with native Swedes and immigrants as well as from travel accounts, folklore, and proverbs. We learn why some Swedes might prefer to walk up a flight of stairs rather than share an elevator with a neighbor and why some gain satisfaction from walking alone in the woods or going fishing. Daun describes a range of factors influencing Swedish character, including population composition, rural background, and even climate. He recognizes behavioral variations related to gender, age, class, and region, and he considers subtleties of individual character as well.Swedish Mentality should interest a wide array of readers, whether of Swedish descent or not.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Swedish --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Ake Daun is Professor and Head of the Institute of Ethnology at Stockholm University and the Nordic Museum. He is the author of many books in Swedish, but this is his first to be available in English.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271015020
• ISBN-13: 978-0271015026
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #938,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Understanding Swedish Mentality, July 2, 2008

By 

Thomas Wikman "Texas Swede" (Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Swedish Mentality (Paperback)

This was a very interesting book that enjoyed reading a lot. However, I do not entirely agree with previous reviewers who summarized the content of the book as saying that Sweden is dull and that Swedes has distaste for novelty. However, I still found all the other reviews helpful. Maybe I am biased because I am Swedish myself, but his book is a little bit more nuanced than that. The book was not anti-Swedish and not self-congratulatory.

In general I would be suspicious of any book that tries to claim or identify national or ethnic characteristics. Such books are often either self congratulatory or hateful, especially those which claim not to be. Secondly it is a very hard subject to study objectively. If you do it by surveys the answers will be affected by local beliefs and prejudices, and local interpretation of words will distort the results. However, Åke Daun still succeeds in doing what seems to be an objective assessment of Swedish Mentality. I am impressed by his efforts and he convinced me.

I can add that even though I am deeply affected by my Swedish Mentality I have partially escaped it and become a lot more tolerant of those who do not share it. That is a result of me living abroad for so many years. However, we are all "affected" and perhaps "damaged" by our culture and our childhood environment. That is true not just for Swedes!

If I were to summarize this book in just a few words I would say that Swedes are on average more pragmatic, quiet, non-aggressive, conflict-avoiding, rational, honest, diligent, punctual, orderly, and yes envious too. It should be noted that, this are the kind of personality traits that make the Swedish welfare system possible. Swedes are quite different from Americans and Southern European in behavior and thinking patterns which make culture clashes possible in those cases. Swedes are also surprisingly similar to the Japanese. Swedes prefer engineering and mechanical creativity over artistic creativity (again on average) which has resulted in some impressive accomplishments in technology and industry but not as many great accomplishments in art. I can add that Susan Sontag apparently had a very negative impression of Sweden, but I know some Americans who have a positive impression of Sweden.

One aspect of Swedish thinking that Åke Daun discusses which I have seen myself can cause some significant clashes between Americans and Swedes is the Swedish dislike for pride or "bragging". In America you are supposed to sell yourself, and talk "you're self up", and "show yourself", something that is a great "sin" in Sweden. By the way, I no longer think this way. Instead I easily adapt to the expectations of both countries (I am writing in America). In the beginning I had a hard time with the way Americans used the word "aggressive". One lady told me while watching my son play soccer, "your son is so aggressive", and when she saw that I was insulted she added "which is great". "Aggressive" in Sweden is always "bad" but here it can be something positive.

Another Swedish peculiarity that causes some funny situations when Swedes come to America is the Swedish propensity for "thanking", especially for something in the past that they already said thanks for. Add imperfect English to the brew and you will understand why so many Swedes keep telling people they meet "Thank you for the last time". This always confuses Americans until the Swede has figured this out.

Åke Daun believes that the Swedish Mentality is partially a result of "Protestant ethics" which tend to expound "impersonal virtues" like honesty and diligence at the expense of "interpersonal virtues" such as warmth and forbearance. He also believes the Homogeneity of the country has a lot to do with it. However, he also attributes Swedish mentality to the short growing seasons, the land reforms, and the hard work and diligence required in Swedish peasant society. On page 202 he states "Playfulness, tenderness, and anger over not getting what one wants, which today are recognized as basic elements of children's psychology, were given much less attention in peasant society".

Finally, in brief, this was a very diligent and surprisingly objective analysis of Swedish Mentality. However, since he did not take enough care to avoid giving those "skimming the book" a negative impression of Sweden, in combination with the fact that it is a little outdated (Sweden has changed a lot), and the fact that I see these sort of books potentially dangerous, I will knock a star.

45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating study of national character, April 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Swedish Mentality (Paperback)

Much of contemporary social science still looks down upon the study of national characteristics as hopelessly unscientific. What a pity. Author Ake Daun shows that such studies, intelligently handled, can provide a wealth of reliable insights into other cultures. Covering everything from child-rearing to academia, he sheds considerable insight into Swedish culture and answers, in the process, some worthwhile questions. Why, for example, is Swedish society, on the whole, so dull? Students interested in the cultural components of creativity will do well to take note of the Swedish distaste for novelty, the predilection for order, peace, literalmindedness, and the surprising salience of envy.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Swedish Men-what???, August 1, 2005

By 

Hilton J. Mather (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Swedish Mentality (Paperback)

On the whole I found the book a little dull, it paints the picture of average life, but is this really Sweden, perhaps it once was. A little bit outdated I think, but worth a read if only to try and understand your parents generation.