Tag: Sweden

The sub-culture of the Swedish ‘raggare’

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

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Yesterday afternoon in the centre of the quaint town Norrtälje, the silence was interrupted by the sound of ‘Let’s Twist Again’ blaring out from loud speakers from a car. The car was an old American brand, and had an American flag on the back of it. Two greasy guys sat in the front seats, elbows out of the windows and they cruised around the town centre looking pleased with themselves.  

These guys are called ‘raggare’ in Swedish. This fascinating sub-culture in Sweden is related to the ‘greaser’ culture in the USA and they are known for their love of rockabilly and 1950’s American pop culture. They dress in 50’s clothes, grease their hair back and dig the 50’s sound. Think James Dean. Think Rebel Without A Cause.The ‘raggare’ culture is very much associated with rural small towns and has a working class, somewhat ‘trashy’ feel.

You’d think that would mean these ‘raggare’ are young, like in the picture above, but often they’re not. They are mainly middle aged, paunchy Swedish men who enjoy meeting and showing off their retro American cars.

Nowadays, it seems that most Swedes look at the ‘raggare’ with a mixture of affection, amusement and mild disapproval. However, when the phenomenon began in the 1950’s it caused moral outrage in Sweden. Mainstream Swedes were worried about alcohol, drugs, violence and unprotected sex in the back seats of the cars and many campaigns were started to ban the ‘raggare’ from cruising the streets.

There are many events for ‘raggare’ every year. One well-known one is the long drive around Stockholm, playing loud music and drinking beer to rub rural rebellion in the faces of the city dwellers. Another event is ‘The Power Big Meet’ which happens in the town of Västerås and is actually the world’s largest classic car show.

Come dine with me, my place 7.30

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

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As a Brit, I sometimes experience differences between myselves and Swedes. But this has never been more apparent than in the two TV cooking shows ‘Come Dine with Me’ in English and its equivalent Swedish program *Halv åtta hos mig’ (My place, 7.30).

Watching these two shows, many differences are obvious. The shows shine a very clear light on the differences between the UK and Sweden. The shows have the same format and are part of the same franchised concept, but cultural differences make them into two totally different programs.

The educationally entertaining Swedish program has the following:

  1. A focus on the food and the interesting recipes
  2. Polite, if somewhat stilted conversation, mostly about the food
  3. A female narrator that is slighty, but not too, sarcastic
  4. Participants who are friendly and polite and seem to have things in common with each other
  5. Participants ‘dressed up’ very nicely for the occasion
  6. Homes that are Nordically cool, clean and well-organized
  7. Carefully selected wine for the dinner, and not too much alcohol so that participants can focus on the food

The hysterical British version has the following:

  1. A focus on getting drunk and arguing with each other, the food is secondary
  2. Confrontational, loud conversation (as people are drunk) about all subjects under the sun, often toilets and sex and very little about the food
  3. A male narrator that is a complete bitch about the contestants and personally attacks the participants’ appearance
  4. Participants who have been cast for the show as they are complete opposites, very opinionated and at each others’ throats from the very first evening
  5. Participants often wearing themed fancy dress, such as prostitutes, Alice in Wonderland, disco, bling, pirates, gangsters. Often lots of short skirts and cleavage.
  6. Homes that are quirky at best, and unhygenic at worst
  7. Wine, wine, wine, vodka, gin, wine, wine, wine

Now what cultural conclusions can we draw about the Swedes and the Brits from these differences?

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The battle of the Swedish chocolate ball

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

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What you choose to call it – racist or politically correct?

The interesting thing about language and culture is that they are constantly in flux. As time goes on, languages develop and as more people travel or migrate, cultural behaviours change. This can be a scary thing for some people who don’t want to see change happening and who cannot embrace the new aspects of their culture. They fiercely hold on to the past, their old cultural identites and behaviours and actively work against the positive influences that a cultural mix brings.

One such example of this is the chocolate ball, a kind of cake that is very popular in Sweden. Previously, in less enlightened times, these chocolate balls were called ‘negerbollar’. This translates as ‘nigger balls’ or ‘negro balls’. Understanding the offensive nature of the name, this chocolate delicacy was officially renamed some years ago. But a certain section of the population, who I am guessing are not black, hold on to their right to call them nigger balls. Yesterday, was so-called ‘negerbollen day’ on Facebook and 21 000 people had signed up their support to say ‘negerboll’. In a counter move, an organization refusing to use this title was set up claiming tomorrow as ‘Chocolate Ball Day’.

In a country with a self-image of tolerance, the chocolate ball has become a symbol of political correctness versus racism.

Sweden is a country with the right to self expression and freedom of speech. But with that right and freedom also comes responsibility. Just because we can say whatever we want doesn’t mean we should. If with our words we can cause harm, or personal offence, I think that we should choose other words. In cultural theory, there is a concept of the in-group and the out-group. One way to look at this is that the in-group is the group in the majority, they set the rules, the create the standards and decide the norms. The out-group is in the minority, and they are very aware of how injust some of the behaviours of the in-group are. The in-Group is usually blissfully ignorant of these things because they don’t have to think about it. But it is the in-Group that has the power to make the change. Chocolate balls are just one example of that. It’s not about being politically correct, it’s about realising that with the language we use, we create gaps in our society. We might not care if we say ‘nigger balls’ but as long as somebody else is offended then we should change our words. The majority of Sweden has done that, but not all.

We are all in in-Groups sometimes and all in Out-Groups sometimes. Maybe it’s our religion that puts us in the out-Group or our sexuality, skin colour, origin, profession, education, place we live, unemployed status, interests and hobbies, political beliefs, choice of clothes. If you reflect for a moment over a social out-group you identify with and then pick a derogatory word for that group. Then put that word in front of the word ‘cake’. How does that feel? Probably not ok.

So let’s think broader than our own perspectives. We have a history of language and culture to be proud over, but that doesn’t mean we can’t change it. A small word can make a huge difference to improving integration and harmony in a society.

So is ‘negerboll’ racist? It depends. If you are aware that it is loaded with multiple meaning, that you might seriously offend others and that you’re using it politically – then yes. It is extremely racist. If you live isolated in a part of the country where you do not know that ‘neger’ is an offensive word to others but you think that it just means chocolate – then no, it’s not racist. But you do need to get out more.

Afton – Swedes’ favourite celebration

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

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In the UK, we celebrate ‘Days’ such as Christmas Day & Easter Day. But in Sweden, it is always the Eve ( ‘afton’) that is the big celebration time. There’s Julafton, Påskafton, Valborgsmässoafton, Midsommarafton, nyårsafton, trettondagsafton. Why is this? Anyone know? Cos I’ve always wondered. Surely it can’t just be to get an extra day’s holiday?

Sweden’s Got Talent

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

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All over the world. the franchised talent shows ‘Country’s got talent’ and ‘X Factor’ unveil contestants with surprising talents. We all know about Paul Potts, Susan Boyle and recently the fantastic Sam Bailey in the UK, who caused a storm when they opened their mouths and sang. This storm was mostly caused by the contradiction of their appearances and their incredible singing capabilities. The same applied to America’s Got Talent’s sweet singing, musical goth by the name of Andrew de Leon.

What about Sweden then? The current series of ‘Talang’ has shown a breadth of skill and inventiveness but I’ve felt, in comparison to the UK and the USA, it’s all a bit amateur. Until last night. Up on the stage walked Glenn Edell,a seemingly shy unemployed father. He stood on the stage, shaking and opened his mouth to sing. And he proved that Sweden’s got talent.

Still, the surprise factor was lacking a little. Compare it to this fantastic 8 year old Norwegian girl Angelina Jordan who recently blew audiences away with her bluesy, jazz voice. She’s so good, you almost suspect foul play.

So, Sweden does got some talent. But does Norway got more?

Swedes – the healthiest in the EU?

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

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The image of the healthy, well-trained Swede has found support in some research from the Europabarometer released recently.

 According to this research, ‘41% of Europeans exercise or play sport at least once a week, while an important proportion of EU citizens (59%) never or seldom do so.’

Generally speaking, ”citizens in the Northern part of the EU are the most physically active. The proportion that exercises or plays sport at least once a week is 70% in Sweden, 68% in Denmark, 66% in Finland, 58% in the Netherlands and 54% in Luxembourg. The lowest levels of participation are clustered in the Southern EU Member States. Most respondents who never exercise or play sport can be found in Bulgaria (78%), Malta (75%), Portugal (64%), Romania (60%) and Italy (60%).”

So, Sweden tops this research at 70% of interviewees saying the exercise at least once a week, closely followed by Denmark and Finland. Why might this be? Why could there be such a difference between Scandinavian countries and the Southern European countries?

  • One answer could be the climate – maybe the long, dark winters require some kind of exercise regime in order for us to survive?  
  • Another answer might be ‘peer pressure’ or ‘training hysteria’ as it’s sometimes called in Sweden. Does a tendency to Group Think mean that we follow what others are doing in order to be ‘in’?

I think a major contributing factor is values. We all know that values differ from group to group , and that those values often determine the desired behaviours of the people.

According to the respected ‘World Values Survey’, in Scandinavia, and in Sweden especially, a strong value is self-actualisation, or self-realisation. In other words, we as individuals have the right to be who we want to be, live how we want to live, think what we want to think and make the most of ourselves in the way we choose.

While other countries, such as Bulgaria and Romania, are focusing on how to survive the day, many Swedes are focusing on self-development, education, environmentalism and, not least, physical appearance and health.

So that Sweden comes out top in this research is not surprising. In Sweden, most of the serious ‘survival problems’ of life have already been solved, allowing many citizens to focus on other things.

Such as themselves.

If you’re interested in reading more about the research, find it here.

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Swedish vanity

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

A visiting friend of mine from Austria was walking in Stockholm taking in the sights. When I met her later that day, I asked what her biggest impression was. And her answer surprised me. It wasn’t about the beautiful buildings, the amount of water or the narrow streets. No, she said the following:

‘Well, the men really like their hair gel here don’t they’.

She was struck by the fact that the men on the street were pimped up, groomed and well styled. She perceived this as vanity.

It reminds me of a joke once told to me:

‘Why do Swedes always go outside when there’s lightning?’
‘Because they think someone’s taking a picture of them’

Are Swedes more vain than other nationalities?

What do you think?

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‘Vobba’ – a brand new Swedish complaint

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

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Perspectives-taking is one of the most important skills required for working in an multicultural environment. Anybody who’s travelled abroad knows that a new perspective is often one of the main impressions we receive. This is especially true if we travel to countries that are culturally and economically different from ours. In the context of the other society, we gain perspective on our own.

Yesterday, I returned from a trip to Thailand and Cambodia and was left, as often, with a humbling feeling. Cambodia is a dirt poor country, as yet not destroyed by tourism. The countryside, the cities and the people, raped by their recent history, are warm and humane and welcome us with open arms. Homelessness is rife, unemployment and sikness prevail. There, they really have a lot to complain about, and I’m sure at times they probably do.

Transport to Sweden, Monday  morning, breakfast television. As I sat there this morning and watched the local news to catch up on latest happenings,  I learned a new Swedish word. And this Swedish word reminded me of the importance of having perspective – ‘Vobba’.

‘Vobba’ is a combination of two Swedish words – ‘Jobba’, which means to work and ‘Vabba’ which means to be at home with a sick child and therefore free from work. In Sweden, parents receive support from the government to ‘Vabba.’

This new word ‘Vobba’ refers to parents who are home with their sick child but, thanks to technology, they also do a little work while at home, such as check emails or speak on the phone.

According to the report on the news this morning, one third of parents who have to ‘vobba’ feel stressed, and invaded, by it and find it impossible to balance their home and work lives with their sick child. 

What a problem! Oh dear me! I really don’t know how they cope! Not only are they paid to be at home by the tax payer, and their child is probably asleep in bed, but it’s really hard work to check a few emails on a smart phone while they’re having a cup of coffee.

Really??? Get some perspective!  

In countries like Cambodia, where daily survival is a struggle, they would be shocked by this new Swedish stress factor.

So, I am asking all of us to get some perspective on this issue and on all those other issues and compaints that we have. In the greater scheme of things, how important are they?

Instead of focusing on what is stressful, invasive or unfair, let’s focus on the positive! Sweden is a great country where parents get to be home with their sick child and are not forced to take a day’s holiday or leave the child with an unknown baby-sitter or force the sick child to go to school. That is fantastic!

Let’s focus on that instead and remember most people around the world don’t have it anywhere near as good as we do.

 

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Sweden, it’s time for ‘fredagsmys’

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

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Soon it’s the weekend! A collective sigh of relief falls over the Swedish population, at least those who are not forced to work Saturdays and Sundays of course.

A weekend means relaxation and family time. It means late nights and parties. It means sports activities with the kids. It means sleeps-in and late breakfasts. It means cultural activities. It means computer game or TV series marathons. It means sledging and skating, drinking hot rose-hip soup.

Weekends mean so many different things to different people.

And it means a very Swedish concept: Fredagsmys

‘Fredagsmys’ loosely translated as ‘Friday Cosying’, is a modern ritual in Sweden. It is when friends and families gather together to mark the end of the working week and get ready for the approaching week. Traditions are different depending on if children are involved but one common denominator seems to be that food is easy and quick to make. Friday night is a big taco and pizza night in other words. 

Gathering around food for cosy family evenings has a long tradition in Sweden. In the 1800’s and 1900’s something called ‘Söndagsfrid’ (Sunday peace) was popular. Then in the 1970’s ‘kvällsgott’ (Evening Goodies) became a concept.

The concept ‘fredagsmys’ became popularised in a high-profile advertising campaign for crisps. With the perky slogan ”Now it’s the end of the week, it’s time for Friday cosying”, (really, it’s perky in Swedish), they captured the Swedish market and encouraged the consumer to devour potato chips on Friday nights.

So how does your Friday night look? What kind of cosying are you planning?