Living with Denmark’s Democratic Socialism

[eridani]

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/11/1448606/-Living-with-Denmark-s-Democratic-Socialism?detail=email

Why so much anger?

Here’s my best educated guess: Most Americans have been brought up to believe that the USA is the best country in the world and that most people in other nations wish they could live in it. This means that it feels unpatriotic to admire someone else’s political system; disloyal – close to treason - to even consider the possibility that another socioeconomic system might be superior.

America’s superiority is an assumption I carried with me throughout my life and I probably brought it with me to Denmark when I was hired to teach for one year at the national journalism college. The one-year gig became two and then three and then five until I was granted academic tenure and permanent residency. By then, I was well acquainted with Denmark’s democratic socialism and after marrying a Danish national and realizing that I’d probably be staying forever, I started to consider myself fortunate. Let me tell you why.

First, I like Danish egalitarianism.

OK. This clearly makes me out to be a liberal. As moral psychologist, Jonathan Haidt teaches us in his provocative book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (2013) liberals need to feel equal to everybody while conservatives need to feel superior to at least a few. This makes Denmark a perfect fit for American social liberals and a frustrating - even exasperating - experience for Americans who identify as conservative.

Personally, I like how Danes value work and workers. They seem to understand that nothing is produced or accomplished in society without labor and they honor rank and file workers just as much as managers. In Danish society, human beings are judged by the strength of their character, not by their professional status or the size of their pay-check. Weekend getaway planning conferences often include everybody-at-the-office, not just upper and middle management, but secretaries, cantine workers and custodians. Everyone is entitled to express opinions and they do. In Denmark, medical doctors do not wear white coats (except in hospitals) and they normally introduce themselves by their first names. Professors and teachers are also called by their first names and everybody else too that you might meet on the job. The majority of work places have a kitchen and eating area so that mid-morning and mid-afternoon coffee breaks are social events with freshly brewed coffee served in cups with saucers and bakery goods – including, on occasion - wienerbrød (yes, what Americans call Danish).

[WMDemocract]

1. Hmmm interesting

I wonder if there's some cultural disparity. In places like Denmark, they value people and personhood. Here in the US we place more emphasis on processes? That, on top of the religious-like devotion to "the market."

[Dandilions]

2. Here Here

a toast to the day when America broadens it's capital perspective

[WMDemocract]

6. Indeed

I'll toast to that

[madaboutharry]

3. Book recommendation:

Last edited Fri Nov 13, 2015, 07:23 AM - Edit history (1)

Just last week I read a very interesting and entertaining book on this very topic. "The Almost Nearly Perfect People" by Michael Booth. He is from London, married to a Danish woman, and living and raising his family in Copenhagen. It isn't perfect in Denmark, but it is "almost nearly" and we could learn a lot from the Nordic countries if we weren't so damn arrogant. I highly recommend this book. Along with learning a great deal about life in modern day Scandinavia, you will enjoy a lot of laugh out loud moments. He tells great stories, my favorite was his description of his first visit to a Finnish sauna. Priceless.

[Enthusiast]

4. Kicked and recommended!

[Bernin4U]

5. Best Overall does not mean Best At Everything

In car magazines, they often run comparisons among 4-6 different models of a similar class, reviewed by 4 or so staff writers.

What anyone paying attention will notice fairly quickly is that the #1 overall winner is rarely any one writer's first choice. Usually it's their #2 or even #3 choice. Why? Because each writer's #1 choice is usually something with very strong qualities in one area, but much weaker in others. If those strengths and weaknesses match a writer's preferences, then he will put it on top. But that doesn't make it likely to win the overall. It can be the best at some things, but that usually is not enough to make it the best overall.

What makes America great is our cultural diversity. Our ability to accept different ways, different styles, different approaches, and add them into the mix. The more we embrace it, the better we become. This is called progress.

America, pretty much by definition, is about progress. When we're not afraid to look externally, to see that there may be better ways, that's how we can keep getting better.