Exploring Sweden Culture and Our Ethnocentric Reactions

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Generally speaking, Sweden has a wide ethnic spectrum, but most of the cultural norms apply throughout. The most prevalent ethnic groups represented in Sweden are “Swedes, Finns, Yugoslavs, Danes, Norwegians, Greeks, Turks (Sweden). Diversity changes when you hit the party scene because most Swedish peoples act totally different while under the influence of alcohol. The nation as the whole has a low drug usage percentage. At a glance, “We in the United States can envy the Swedes for avoiding many of our worst social problems, including violent crime, drug abuse, and savage property” (Macionis 2012, p 420). They stand out in having such a diverse, yet unified culture. Despite Sweden’s great successes in domestic and foreign equality, they do in fact have some shocking statistics. These numbers show that Sweden is not exactly the perfect nation. “Sweden has a high share of adults living alone (37 percent compared to 27 percent in the United States) . . . 54 percent of all Swedish children (compared to 41 percent in the United States) are born to unmarried parents. So families appear to play a less central role in Swedish society than they do in the United States” (Macionis).

“Ethnocentrism separates culture from culture and how we look at each other. Ethnocentrism and values can bring good and bad, it may manifest itself in attitudes of superiority or hostility toward members of other groups and is sometimes expressed in discrimination or violence” (Forr, 2000). In context, Americans may generalize or stereotype Swedes. Some may see the Swedes as being unintellegiant in the fact that they do not say much during initial contact. American men and women might show close-mindedness towards dating people from Sweden because they do not like the ideal of going Dutch. Additionally, Americans are ethnocentric in the way of thinking the American way of life is superior. Nonetheless, Swedes show aspects of ethnocentrism as well. Political correctness varies from country to country. Specifically, if you do not follow the status quo of Sweden you may be labelled as rude or arrogant. Sweden has a specific rule about waiting in lines. Personal space is very important there, as well as silence. They think it rude to impede on strangers’ well-being and/or personal life. Swedes may judge Americans because they are publically opinionated and well accustomed to turning strangers into friends. The Swedes see the art of remaining neutral and detached as the best way of capturing equality and politeness. Anything opposing of that nature is considered a faux pas.

Overall, this paper gave me a better understanding of Swedish culture. I believe that America can learn from other countries especially one that has such a positive effect on human rights. America has a more diverse population which I favour over Sweden, but the solidarity of Sweden ethnicities helps them keep a more cultural unified identity. On the subject of ethnocentrism, I believe that it is an aspect of both human nature and nationalistic belief. Additionally, it relates to pride because most people hate to admit that there is a better way. Both countries ethnocentric behaviour can be respected in content, but eliminating can help make people or societies more diverse and help to eliminate aspects of prejudice/discrimination.

References

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Forr, T. (2000, June 14). Ethnocentrism and Values. In Daria.no. Retrieved July 3, 2014, from http://www.daria.no/skole/?tekst=730

Macionis, J. J. (2008). Sociology (14th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 69-420). N.p.: Pearson.

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