http://www.metafilter.com/tags/jante Posts tagged with 'jante' at MetaFilter. Wed, 27 Oct 2004 03:59:58 -0800 Wed, 27 Oct 2004 03:59:58 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://www.metafilter.com/36539/The%2DDark%2DSide%2Dof%2DEgalitarianism <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A668694">The Law of Jante</a> (<i>Janteloven</i>) was codified by the Danish-born novelist <a href="http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/sandemos.htm">Aksel Sandemose</a> while he was living in Norway. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jante_Law">Law</a> comprises ten 'commandments', and describes an unspoken <a href="http://www.bearcy.com/janteloven.html">code of conformity</a> that Sandemose felt as a stifling inhibitive influence in the town where he grew up. Later commentators have used the term more generally to refer to the anti-individualist tendencies that have traditionally pervaded Scandinavian culture, and to denote 'the dark side of egalitarianism'. Of course, the Law needn't be <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/F81021?thread=183979">interpreted</a> in such a negative light, and egalitarianism has its good side too, the difficult question being: do the benefits of equality make it worthwhile <a href="http://www.generals.org/articles_reports_words/Europe/Articles/Breaking%20the%20Jante%20Stronghold.html">suffering</a> the strictures of <i>Janteloven<i>?</i></i> tag:metafilter.com,2004:site.36539 Wed, 27 Oct 2004 03:59:58 -0800 akselsandemose conformity denmark egalitarianism jante jantelaw janteloven scandinavia sociology misteraitch