Åke Daun

A effot to measure and describe the collective personality of the Swedish people, based on a number of cross-national opinion surveys. It makes some interesting points -- for example, the "typical Swedish characteric" cited most often by Swedes is shyness. In general, however, the conclusions are way overdrawn. If (say) 30% of Swedes exhibit a given characteristic, compared to (say) 20% of the European average, this gets described as a "Swedish characteristic". Also, the surveys on which the book is based were taken in the 1970's and 1980's, when attitudes of young people showed marked differences from those of older people in some respects -- differences that usually pushed them in a less "Swedish" direction. Interesting, but I wouldn't base any assumptions about individual Swedes on it.… (mais)