Abstract
This chapter considers some views of Norwegian egalitarianism from the outside. English-language accounts of the Norwegian state describe a welfare state marked by national egalitarianism. This chapter argues that such an impression is misleading, and that the idealistic image is in fact doing the work of nationalism rather than political analysis. It contrasts such accounts with critiques of the notion of ‘likhet’ (“sameness”) in the Norwegian language and with writings on the nationalism of Norway by Norwegian anthropologists. In doing so, it demonstrates how easily social scientists may misinterpret the politics and sociology of other countries when they are represented in international debate by a few centrally placed authors who, intentionally or otherwise, reproduce the myths of nationhood.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Østerud 1984, cited in Eriksen (1993), 49.
References
Abram, Simone, and Richard Cowell. 2004. Learning policy—The contextual curtain and conceptual barriers. European Planning Studies 12: 209–228.
Amit-Talai, Vered, ed. 2000. Constructing the field: Ethnographic fieldwork in the contemporary world. London/New York: Routledge.
Anderson, Benedict. 1983. Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso.
Barth, Erling, Karl Ove Moene, Michael Wallerstein, and Makt- og demokratiutredningen 1998–2003. 2003. Likhet under press: Utfordringer for den skandinaviske fordelingsmodellen. Oslo: Gyldendal akademisk.
Billig, Michael. 1995. Banal nationalism. London: Sage.
Bowie, Fiona. 1993. Wales from within: Conflicting interpretations of Welsh identity. In Inside European identities, ed. Sharon Macdonald, 167–193. Oxford: Berg.
Brown, Elizabeth A.R. 2016. Feudalism. Encyclopaedia Brittanica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/feudalism. Accessed 26 Sept 2016.
Brox, Ottar. 1972. Hva skjer i Nord-Norge? En studie i norsk utkantpolitikk. Oslo: Pax forlag.
Bruun, Maja Hojer. 2011. Egalitarianism and community in Danish housing cooperatives. Social Analysis 55 (2): 62–83.
Bruun, Maja Hojer, Gry Skrædderdal Jakobsen, and Stine Krøijer. 2011. The concern for sociality—Practicing equality and hierarchy in Denmark. Social Analysis 5 (2): 1–19.
Dahl, Hans Fredrik. 1986. Those equal folk. In Norden—The passion for equality, ed. Stephen R. Graubard. Oslo: Norwegian University Press.
Eikås, Magne, and Per Selle. 2000. A contract culture even in Scandinavia. Oslo: Makt- og demokratiutredningen.
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 1993. Typisk norsk: Essays om kulturen i Norge. Oslo: C. Huitfeldt Forlag.
Graubard, Stephen R., ed. 1986. Norden—The passion for equality. Oslo: Norwegian University Press.
Gullestad, Marianne. 1992. The art of social relations: Essays on culture, social action and everyday life in modern Norway. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
———. 1996. Everyday life philosophers: Modernity, morality and autobiography in Norway. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
———. 2001. Likhetens Grenser. In Likhetens paradokser, ed. Marianne Lien, Hilde Lidén, and Halvard Vike, 32–67. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
———. 2002. Det norske sett med nye øyne kritisk analyse av norsk innvandringsdebatt. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Hamsun, Knut. 2001 [1890]. Sult. Oslo: Gyldendal.
Howell, Signe. 2001. “En Vanlig Familie”: Utenlandsadopsjon i Norge, et stadig voksende fenomen. In Blod—Tykkere enn vann? Betydninger av slektskap i Norge, ed. Signe Howell and Marit Melhuus. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.
Kielland, Alexander. 2006 [1882]. Skipper worse. Oslo: Fono forlag.
Lafferty, William M. 1981. Participation and democracy in Norway: The “distant democracy” revisted. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Larsen, Birgitte Romme. 2011. Drawing back the curtains: The role of domestic space in the social inclusion and exclusion of refugees in rural Denmark. Social Analysis 55 (2): 142–158.
Lidén, Hilde, Halvard Vike, and Marianne Lien. 2001. Likhetens paradokser: Antropologiske undersøkelser i det moderne Norge. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Lien, Marianne. 2001. Likhet og verdighet: Gavebytter og integrasjon i Båtsfjord. In Likhetens paradokser, ed. Hilde Lidén, Halvard Vike, and Marianne Lien. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Linnet, Jeppe Trolle. 2011. Money can’t buy me hygge. Danish middle-class consumption, egalitarianism, and the sanctity of inner space. Social Analysis 55 (2): 21–44.
Martinussen, Willy. 1977. The distant democracy: Social inequality, political resources and political influence in Norway. London: John Wiley and Sons.
McDonald, Maryon. 1993. The construction of difference: An anthropological approach to stereotypes. In Inside European identities, ed. Sharon MacDonald, 219–236. Oxford: Berg.
Neumann, Iver B. 2001. Norge—En kritikk. Oslo: Pax Forlag.
Olwig, Karen Fog, and Kirsten Hastrup, eds. 1997. Siting culture: The shifting anthropological object. London: Routledge.
Østerud, Øyvind. 2005. Introduction: The peculiarities of Norway. West European Politics 28 (4): 705–720.
Østerud, Øyvind, and Per Selle. 2006. Power and democracy in Norway: The transformation of Norwegian politics. Scandinavian Political Studies 29 (1): 25–46.
Rokkan, Stein. 1966. Norway: Numerical democracy and corporate pluralism. In Political oppositions in Western democracies, ed. Robert A. Dahl, 70–115. New Haven/London: Yale University Press.
Scott, James. 1998. Seeing like a state: How certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. New Haven/London: Yale University Press.
Snowdon, Christopher. 2010. The spirit level delusion. Ripton: The Democracy Institute.
Sørensen, Øystein, and Bo Stråth, eds. 1997. The cultural construction of Norden. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
Strathern, Marilyn. 1981. Kinship at the core. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Trägårdh, Lars. 1997. Statist individualism: On the culturality of the Nordic state. In The cultural construction of Norden, ed. Øystein Sørensen and Bo Stråth, 253–285. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
Wilkinson, Richard, and Kate Pickett. 2009. The spirit level: Why more equal societies almost always do better. London: Allen Lane.
Wimmer, Andreas, and Nina Glick-Schiller. 2002. Methodological nationalism and beyond: Nation-state building, migration and the social sciences. Global Networks 2 (4): 301–334.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Abram, S. (2018). Likhet Is Not Equality: Discussing Norway in English and Norwegian. In: Bendixsen, S., Bringslid, M., Vike, H. (eds) Egalitarianism in Scandinavia. Approaches to Social Inequality and Difference. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59791-1_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59791-1_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59790-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59791-1
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)