Now, if I've understood AVI correctly, we should read the Scandinavian results of this poll less as phrased, and more as, 'I believe it is my social duty to answer that our culture is [better/worse].' The very fact that Scandinavians so readily submit to the dictates of their culture proves their faith in it; thus, the honest answer should be similar to the happiness surveys out of Scandinavia, where vast majorities answer that of course they are happy in spite of the long winter darkness.
If that's all correct, Norway's result is the more surprising, because it's only a majority and not a supermajority. Sweden is the expected supermajority, where the people have internalized that they're supposed to proclaim themselves no better than anyone else.
UPDATE: And could it really be true that only 36% of Frenchmen believe their culture is superior to others'? France should look like Greece if people were being honest.
Sweden is the expected supermajority, where the people have internalized that they're supposed to proclaim themselves no better than anyone else.
ReplyDeleteExcept when Swedes are comparing themselves to Americans. Then Swedes consider themselves superior.
UPDATE: And could it really be true that only 36% of Frenchmen believe their culture is superior to others'?
ReplyDeleteWhat I said about Swedes, in spades. In my time as a tourist in Latin America, I met a lot of Swedes. I found them to be compatible, with the exception of one Communist- whose incompatibility was ideological.
I knew French as fellow tourists, housemates, and co-workers in Latin America and the US. The kindest thing I can say about French is that many are arrogant.
The kindest thing I can say about French is that many are arrogant.
ReplyDeleteMust be the selected population of French travelers. I have a friend, an ex-pat living in Paris (she's as redneck Conservative as I am, other than her TDS; she's in Paris to stay near her aging father), and her experience is that the French are very friendly, including toward Americans (they're fully capable of separating their disdain for our administration from their like of Americans), and the police are especially helpful to everyone, foreign and native.
Of course, that could be the selected population of Parisians.
Eric Hines
Benelux and the Swedes have broken the code that it would look bad to say that they are superior. My prejudice tells me they still secretly believe it. Though it may only be, as Gringo writes, that this is mostly about comparing themselves to Americans.
ReplyDeleteMy experience of Romanians is that this is largely true. In particular, they believe that their education, and their methods of educating children are greatly superior to others. They will admit they haven't figured out this government thing very well.
I have a friend who grew up in Romania. He's not especially patriotic about the national culture, although perhaps the fact that he grew up as a Jew in Romania complicates the picture.
ReplyDeleteOne of my professors- a much better researcher than teacher- retired to France. He must have liked the French.
ReplyDeleteHmm, The Greeks are fully unsurprising- they've been resting on their laurels for millennia.
ReplyDeleteThe Armenians are also unsurprising to me- their response to any question is to give the answer that puts them in the best light in my experience, asthey are defensive by nature (here in "Little Armenia", where they have the largest population of Armenians outside Yerevan).
What does surprise me is Hungary. Hungarians are a pessimistic bunch by nature, and usually brutally honest (don't ask "how are you?" unless you really want to hear how things are going- usually a litany of complaints), so it surprises me that they were at even 46%.
But if you look at that as a map (which of course it is), you notice that the countries within the tradition of Western Civilization (which is exactly who they asked), the closer you get to the 'frontier', the more likely you are to get an answer of 'yes, we're superior'.
Maybe it's the contrast.
As for the French, I think it makes a huge difference if you speak passable French or not.
ReplyDelete