Jante Law

The Jante Law (Danish and Norwegian: "Janteloven"; Swedish: "Jantelagen"; Finnish: "Janten laki"; Faroese: "Jantulógin") is the Nordic version of the tall poppy syndrome. It was named and described by the Norwegian/Danish author Aksel Sandemose in his novel "A Fugitive Crosses his Tracks" ("En flygtning krydser sit spor", 1933), where he portrays the small Danish town "Jante", modelled upon his native town Nykøbing Mors as it was in the beginning of the 20th century, but typical of all very small towns, where nobody is anonymous. [note by Sigrid Undset in the book: "A fugitive crosses his tracks" ]

Definition

There are ten different rules in the law, but they are all variations on a single theme and are usually referred to as a homogeneous unit: "Don't think you're anyone special or that you're better than us."

The ten rules are: ["A fugitive crosses his tracks", pp. 77-8 ]

#Don't think you "are" anything. (Du skal ikke tro du er noget.)
#Don't think you are as good as "us". (Du skal ikke tro du er lige så meget som "os".)
#Don't think you are smarter than "us". (Du skal ikke tro du er klogere end "os".)
#Don't fancy yourself better than "us". (Du skal ikke bilde dig ind du er bedre end "os".)
#Don't think you know more than "us". (Du skal ikke tro du ved mere end "os".)
#Don't think you are greater than "us". (Du skal ikke tro du er mere end "os".)
#Don't think "you" are good for anything. (Du skal ikke tro "du" dur til noget.)
#Don't laugh at "us". (Du skal ikke le ad "os".)
#Don't think that anyone cares about "you". (Du skal ikke tro nogen bryder sig om "dig".)
#Don't think you can teach "us" anything. (Du skal ikke tro, at du kan lære "os" noget.)

In the book, those Janters who transgress this unwritten "law" are regarded with suspicion and some hostility, as it goes against communal desire in the town, which is to preserve social stability and uniformity. ["A fugitive crosses his tracks" ]

Later in his book, Sandemose adds an 11th rule, formulated as a question:

11. You think I don't know anything about you? (Du tror måske ikke jeg ved noget om dig?) ["A fugitive crosses his tracks" ]

This is the threat of punishment—that other Janters will know something about those who transgress, which can be used to punish them. Emphasis can be either on "know" or on "you", or both.

It has to be said that the general understanding of the law was an essential and fully integrated part of the Danish and Norwegian societies long before it was ever written down. [This is a common negative idea in Denmark.] Sandemose, however, explicitly said that he had seen the Jante law in operation in all countries he had been in.

The rules are not only applied outwards; Danes apply the rules equally towards themselves. This means that the rules of the Jante Law become a sort of social stabilizer where one does not wish to be either too high above or too far below others socially and economically. [This is a common negative idea in Denmark, see also Gini coefficient and http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=4086092&page=1 and Scandinavian model.]

See also

*Crab mentality
*Lagom
*Tall poppy syndrome
*Danish culture
*Finnish culture
*Norwegian culture
*Swedish culture
*Social Model

References

*cite book |last=Sandemose |first=Aksel |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others=with a note by Sigrid Undset, transl. from the Norwegian by Eugene Gay-Tifft|title=A fugitive crosses his tracks |origdate= |origyear= |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |volume= |date= |year=1936 |month= |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |language= |isbn= |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote=

External links

* [http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-4303977686564782942&hl Video "The Jante law" produced by Krzymowski Chess TV Production år 2006]
* [http://www.lysator.liu.se/nordic/scn/faq26.html Definition of Janteloven]
* [http://www.toplumpostasi.net/index.php/cat/1/col/85/art/984/PageName/Ana_sayfa Janteloven: Egalitarianism or restrictiveness?]