Jante’s Law
@ 9:56 pm I have been talking now and then about Jante’s Law. Some may be wondering what it is. It comes from a book by Aksel Sandemose, who is a Norwegian-Danish author that lived mostly in the first half of last century. He wrote the book En Flyktning Krysser Sitt Spor or A Refugee Crosses His Tracks in 1933, where he developed the idea of Jante’s Law, which is said to be about the town he grew up in, Nyköbing Mors. The ten rules of the Jante Law are:
1. Don’t think that you are special.
2. Don’t think that you are of the same standing as us.
3. Don’t think that you are smarter than us.
4. Don’t fancy yourself as being better than us.
5. Don’t think that you know more than us.
6. Don’t think that you are more important than us.
7. Don’t think that you are good at anything.
8. Don’t laugh at us.
9. Don’t think that anyone cares about you.
10. Don’t think that you can teach us anything.
These are symbolic of a cultural code that permeates the modern day Nordic countries. Anybody who breaks these rules is treated with suspicion and coldness. Sandemose himself said “By means of the Law of Jante people stamp out each other’s chances in life.” When Finnish people read these they often say “Ahaaa”, when it dawns on them how familiar they sound.
This is said to be a relic from a past agricultural society, left over because of rather recent modernization and in industrialization. People had to work together in order to get things done. Community harmony was the rule and anyone who was perceived to be out of harmony was punished. The Jante Law rears its head in other societies as well, and you can see it in the sayings, such as “Hammer down the nail that sticks out” or “cut the heads off the tall poppies.”
Breaking the Jante’s Law will make your neighbours hate you, for example when you are too different, too wealthy or too individual.
This can also be seen in the herd mentality, where everyone does the same thing, and noone dares doing something that the rest of the herd is not doing.
The Jante Law can even show its head in a situation like telling about the holiday you had. Some people can get angry and defensive and perceive it as you bragging or showing off your financial ability to travel. People who have experiences of coming from other countries or of living in other countries are often treated indifferently or ignored, since it is hard to relate to them through the context of the Jante Law. They are, in a way, outside the law or “outlaws”.
In other ways you can see it when trying to give someone a compliment, they shrug it off and say “anyone could have done it”. Or if someone gives you a compliment and if you say, “Thank you, I appreciate that”, then that is perceived as you being arrogant, when you admit you did something well. So it is a no-win situation. Noone benefits.
In Finland, it shows through some of the legislation. If you find some strange laws that you don’t understand, think of them in the context of this law, and they may start make a lot more sense. The steeply progressive taxation, the public tax records, the overtaxation of the price of new cars, the day fines, and various invasions of privacy intended to leave successful people feeling very exposed. They don’t let anyone feel very comfortable or experience a sense of enjoyment with being financially successful while living in Finland.
In the modern day EU, Jante Legislation really has no place. Finland may find its capital-owning people leaving as “privacy refugees”, in order to be left alone to live in peace and quiet in the quiet mountains of Slovakia or on the lively islands of Greece, for example.
The Jante Law is based on envy and jealousy. When being envious of what one perceives to be a successful person, may be in fact a person who is very lonely and unhappy, someone more worth pitying. and the Jante Law treatment doesn’t make the person feel any better or any less lonely.
Libertarians especially hate the Jante Law mentality. Libertarians want to be left to live in peace and not be interfered with by nosy neighbours or an intrusive government.
Right here in the municipality where I live, one neighbour told me about a conversation she was having with another neighbour, who is on the municipal Building Board. This neighbour who is on the Building Board was telling about a guy who had just bought a lot and was planning to build on it. The Building Board member told how he was planning to reject this person’s building permit application because he earns so much money. He had gone and checked in Veropörssi how much this guy was earning when deciding on granting a building permit. The other neighbour told me how she “barked him right down into the ground” about how his envy has nothing to do with granting building permits. If this were ever to come to light with the authorities, that person could loose his job, be criminally charged with discrimination, be fined, etc. And it is totally illogical to keep someone from having money move here. What do we want, only poor people in our municipality? A guy with money at least has money to build with. A poor person might afford the lot, but can he or she afford to build on it afterward and move there and pay taxes to the municipality?
Already in Estonia from the very beginning, they have rejected Jante legislation. They have a flat tax, and the same taxation for corporations as for people - no discrimination. And privacy protection laws are in place, like in the rest of the EU.
As we can start to see, Jante legislation really doesn’t have much of a place in the European Union, and we will start seeing less and less of those strange laws that can only be understood in the context of the 10 rules listed above.
“In the modern day EU, Jante Legislation really has no place. Finland may find its capital-owning people leaving as “privacy refugeesâ€Â,”
May find them leaving?
No, it’s already happened. And it’s been happening for many decades. Much of my own family has left from both Finland and Sweden for this very reason. They didn’t leave rich mind you; but they wanted a better life. The privacy issue and all the things you mentioned about Jante’s Law played a role.
It’s amazing that these same factors keeps expats (and those married to expats) away from Finland, even today. Especially ones who are educated and ambitious—the kind that Finland needs as the population ages. And yes, as you allude, many will leave in the future as they realize how disrespectfully the system treats them.
Very nicely written, Sirkuspelle.
Comment by Kristian — Thu, Jun 21st, 2007 @ 10:53 pm
Circus, are you estonian?
Comment by Alex — Thu, Jun 21st, 2007 @ 11:26 pm
Why don’t you guys change the title of this blog to “Bitching about Finland and more..”
Comment by tim73 — Thu, Jun 21st, 2007 @ 11:29 pm
Bah, making neighbours jealous is not forbidden. It’s a national pasttime. Always has been. Think of Pohjanmaa, where they painted half the house with yellow to show off for the neighbour, who could barely afford cheaper red paint.
Comment by Antti rn — Thu, Jun 21st, 2007 @ 11:38 pm
For people unfamiliar with Aksel Sandemose it’s probably reason to point out that he was a lifelong socialist. Any attempt to make him a proponent of the flat tax is intellectual dishonesty of the pathetic kind. His “jante law” in its original context is about small town mentality.
Comment by Erik — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 12:09 am
Estonians ‘allegedly’ like nothing more than outperforming their neighbor. “An Estonian’s favorite food is another Estonian,” as they say.
Comment by giustino — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 12:19 am
Man, this is a great website!
I’ve come to Finland on work assignment a few times over the past year and half. I’m really happy to have found this site. It puts lots of things in perspective.
The Finnish system does seem unfair to me. It almost like it is doing someting wrong in human rights. Nice country asside from that.
Comment by Brian — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 12:26 am
Jante’s Law? It all sounds so plausible and, naturally, it’s bullshit. There’s just about as much truth in it than Myrphy’s Law. It’s a quaint little anecdote and seems to hit the mark occasionally, but you simply can’t make any predictions or conclusions from it.
Let me give you the Fat Bastard Law: Who gives a shit what others think? I know I don’t. And I eat little bebes for breakfast.
Also, I’m willing to bet the neighbor of a neigbor was lying his ass off on some sort of self-aggrandizing ego trip and of course everyone took it at face value exactly because it would be a great story if only it were true. I know a hundred stories just like it myself and none of them is true.
I’m actually not sure why anyone would publicly tell a stupid story like that. Methinks it’s a severe case of Chinese Whispers and nothing more.
Comment by Fat Bastard — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 3:09 am
Sirkuspelle and Kristian.
We admire you so much because you are really, really pretty good, better and smarter than any of us as you look down at us from your pillar of wisdom. Of course as you are so good, and clever at this stuff it makes you invaluable to all of society and the readers here, even when you poke fun at us. Perhaps we could all come love you and devote ourselves to your word.
Comment by pi — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 3:51 am
Pi. It is not about being better, it is about stating a fact.
Having lived for twenty plus years in Finland, done my time in its army etc etc etc.. I can definetly say that this Jantes law sounds about right when it comes to the Finns. Nowhere in my travels overseas have I seen such “tasapäistäminen” - “leveling of the heads” as in Finland.
Here is a good take on finnish leveling of the heads (in Finnish, sorry)
http://prokariaatti.evvk.com/tasapaa.html
I actually like his front page too:
http://prokariaatti.evvk.com/
Comment by ARR — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 4:40 am
It is not about being better best check -
Rule 4. “Don’t fancy yourself as being better than us.”
Comment by pi — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 4:56 am
11. Don’t think that you will become a Billionare in Finland. Leave to do it.
Comment by winter “Yea, Proton Power, now in remission†— Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 5:10 am
I guess one form of Jante’s Law (if it really does exist)is the degree of conformity of its members.
While in Tallinn, I have been able to spot Finnish tourists as Finnish tourists much easier than I have been able to guess the nationalities of most of their other foreign tourist counterparts by dress, style etc. This also holds true in Kos or Canary Islands etc.
Perhaps, the only group of tourists in Tallinn that are easier to spot than the Finnish boat-people are English easy-jetters (who often go one step beyond in conformity by traveling in packs wearing common football colours or having a strong taste in group fashion for wearing unwashed wrinkled jeans and beat-up white sneakers). The Brits all look like they are going collectively to wash their cars in their piss up weekend excursions in Tallinn.
Comment by Peter — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 10:33 am
Incidentally, winter, since you are not living in Finland, you must be a millionaire or billionaire, right?
Comment by Dave the Slave — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 10:43 am
Winter, didn’t you hear about it? Antti Herlin just became Finland’s first billionaire.
Comment by Nirva — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 12:40 pm
Re the (fictional, I’m assuming) guy on the municipal board, he was breaking Jante Law, not following it. By placing his own criteria for granting building permits above those prescribed in the law, he assumed that he was smarter and more important than the community. A person who had truly internalized the rules would have shown more humility than that.
Comment by a lamb with no guiding light — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 3:42 pm
NUm. 7
Comment by hill billy — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 6:21 pm
NUm. 7 I think this guy is living proof of the jantes laws in action. Good work mate…silly reindeer dropping you.
Comment by hill billy — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 6:21 pm
That was a great essay that helps explain the communal thinking of Europe and especially northern Europe. Jante’s Law may have been necessary to survive especially in the north, but since then it has spawned some of the worst liberty depriving idealogies that ever existed, where the state is more important than the individual…ie: Fascism, Communism, and yes, even modern day Socialism.
Well done.
Comment by Clark — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 6:46 pm
#12 — you mean you saw some blondies wearing jeans jackets and arguing in some weird dialect of Estonian? I thought they were Finns too!
Comment by giustino — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 8:17 pm
#7 and #15: the characters were not fictional. The story is about 1 month old. It is very fresh news. I intend on going to the municipal office and see if anyone has had their building permits rejected and then find out on what basis.
If you find that so hard to believe, read this piece of news from 2004, which is a discussion that was made in parlaiment. This is officially documented. I fear this kind of stuff happens all too often.
http://www.verosirkus.com/KK_992_2004.html
Comment by Sirkuspelle — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 9:22 pm
#9: That Prokariaatti website is quite good. That guy has some good thoughts.
Comment by Sirkuspelle — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 10:07 pm
“Antti Herlin just became Finland’s first billionaire.”
about time. Forbes must have mussed this one. By my coumt you need 6 more to catch up.
Comment by winter “Yea, Proton Power, now in remission†— Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 10:08 pm
Yeah, that’s one of the reasons why the Finns say they are about the unhappiest people on earth. More class society and competition and soon they’ll be all better off.
http://www.vantaa.fi/en/i_uutinen.asp?path=110;4664;56637
Comment by Anonymous — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 10:37 am
And the Danes are extremely unhappy too. Sandemose is my guru from now on.
Comment by Anonymous — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 10:44 am
#22 Strange, the cultures rated the happiest are the ones that have the most alcoholism and suicide.
I do say that there is a certain contentedness people have with the pace of life in Finland that you can’t knock. Many people who have lived abroad say that they like the pace of life here much better.
Some cultures are high stress, with long workdays and little vacation time. like Japan and the United States.
Comment by sirkuspelle — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 12:55 pm
The countries - or cultures - are not rated by somebody outside in these studies. The people are simply asked how happy they feel.
Happiness is a strange thing, no doubt, but I’d say it’s about lack of stress, mostly. Somehow the Nordic people - the happiest ones - manage to “organize themselves” so that the amount of stress is minimized … perhaps.
By the way, I’m impressed that you turned out to be a … you know, not like a typical Finland or welfare-state basher, but … reasonable.
Comment by Anonymous — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 1:14 pm
Strange, the cultures rated the happiest are the ones that have the most alcoholism and suicide.
Hah!
http://www.ktl.fi/ap-pics/suomi/osastot/mao/suicide.jpg
http://www.beerandpub.com/images/imagebank/site/Test%20Picture5.jpg
Now go find a correlation!
Comment by Anonymous — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 1:34 pm
19: If the story is not finctional AND it also happens to be recent news, then how come I haven’t been able to hear about it in any news media?
I guess my definition of news is not even remotely akin to yours.
Also, the letter about public tax information in your link has absolutely nothing to do with your “news” about the alleged asshole municipal official.
I’m still not in any way convinced that your story is anything but hearsay from an unreliable source.
Comment by Fat Bastard — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 2:39 pm
Thank you for clarifying Jante’s Law a bit more.
Comment by seusstape — Thu, Dec 20th, 2007 @ 7:29 am
Jante law is exactly what happened to me as a foreigner moving to sweden (married a swede). I wanted to breed the best ponies in the world so I bought them in from Britain. Swedes had mediocre ponies and they stopped me, not just with the Janta law that lies behind their mediocre thinking, but with an actual law that gave power to the pony soceities to physically stop my business so I couldn’t excel over the rest, or take business away from their stallions. They decide who will and who will not breed and what they will or will not breed in sweden. No competition allowed here. I took my ponies back to the UK where they won at top level going to the Horse of the Year Show and blow me the Janta brigade claimed their success as sweden’s. That’s collective behaviour and anti individualism. It’s killing me.
Comment by squashed in sweden — Mon, Jul 21st, 2008 @ 4:32 pm