The labour movement (Arbeiderbevegelsen)

The labour movement is strong in Norway as it is throughout Scandinavia. In the mid-1990s, union membership as a percentage of wage and salary earners was 58% in Norway, lower than in the European high of nearly 90% in Denmark, but far higher than in other industrialised countries, such as Great Britain (33%), Japan (24%) and the United States (14%). This strength is due to three factors. The first is political strength. The labour movement began in 1848. In 1899 it founded the first unions (Chapter 3). But 12 years previously, in 1887, it initiated the founding of the Labour Party (Arbeiderparti), which was in power for 44 of the 69 years between 1928 and 1997. The second is national collective bargaining under the provisions of two laws and in which annual negotiations proceed according to a basic agreement (hovedavtalen) between the unions and the employer organisations (Chapter 3). Finally, unemployment benefits (Chapter 3) are paid to workers dismissed from their jobs, and each union has a conflict fund (kampfond) to support its members in cases of prolonged strikes or lockouts. These three factors – political strength, national collective bargaining and ensured unemployment benefits – have contributed to the strength of the unions and the labour movement.

The National Budget (Budsjett)

The National Budget is a formal plan for future national revenue and expenditure as well as economic policy, which the Government puts before Parliament, usually once a year in October, including proposals for changes in taxation that later become law. After a national budget for the following year has been released, it usually is featured in newspaper reports, and copies of it may be bought in book shops. A summary in English may be downloaded online from the www.norge.no public service portal.

Norse mythology (Norrøn mytologi)

The pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian peoples together are known as Norse mythology, the most widely known version of the ancient Germanic mythology that also includes Anglo-Saxon mythology. The principal surviving record of Norse mythology is the Edda, which is a collection of poetically narrated tales in 29 parts, written down in Iceland by Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241). The second of the 29 parts, the Hávámdl, literally “Words of the High One,” is a collection of 164 poems that sum up the wisdom of Odin, a warrior-wizard god. It is frequently quoted, and school children learn about it as part of their Viking heritage. Much of the wise advice is as valid today as it was when it was composed around AD 700–900. The first poem, for instance, could be a warning to all who engage in business or diplomatic negotiations. Its English translation reads:

When passing
a doorpost,
watch as you walk on,
inspect as you enter.
It is uncertain
where enemies lurk
or crouch in a dark corner.

If you wish to gain an appreciation of the culture of the Vikings, read Edda or the Hávámdl part of it. Innumerable books have been published on the Edda and its parts, and one publisher, Gudrun Publishing of Reykjavik, Iceland, has specialised in them and now publishes translations into the Nordic languages, English and nine other languages; full details online at www.gudrunpublishing.com. The English editions are marketed by Book Systems Plus, BSP House, Station Road, Linton, Cambs CB1 6NW, UK, Tel: +44 (0) 1223 894870, Fax: +44 (0) 1223 894871, www.booksystemsplus.com, enquiries@booksystemsplus.com.

Norwegianness (Norskhet)

Though the society now is multicultural, ethnicity remains strong: Norwegianness is a prevalent peculiarity. Glorification may be the most frequent form of it. For instance, the country’s role in various peace negotiations has triggered the commonplace view that Norway is a humanitarian superpower. However, as reported in official media, including the 2005 Centennial website, international surveys conclude that Norway has splendid scenery, but is only average in its humanitarian efforts.

Norwegianness builds on parochial beliefs. Ethnic Norwegians, particularly those inexperienced abroad, will seriously tell you that Norway has the world’s best educational system, bar none. Educators know otherwise, as the result of the triennial PISA (Chapter 13) rank Norwegian lower secondary school pupils below the OECD average in key subjects, and in the global academic ranking (Chapter 13) just one institution, the University of Oslo, ranks among the top 100 in the world. You may be told that Norwegians are more honest than most other peoples, though corruption is more pervasive than in the other Nordic countries, or that the air, land and water are more pure than elsewhere, though pollution (Chapter 8) is well documented. Likewise, received wisdom holds that there are no poor people and that everyone has a decent home, though poverty and homelessness are significant and increasing.

Norwegianness builds on the entrenched views “ourselves” (oss selv), versus “the others” (de andre), as shown in studies conducted by media researcher Elisabeth Eide and social anthropologist Anne Hege Simonsen, collected in book form in 2004.* It entails reassurance of self-satisfaction, as in the frequently-voiced remark that “we have it so good” (vi har det så godt) in the sense of “it doesn’t get any better than this”. It sometimes results in outlandish claims to world fame, which, Norwegian author Jens Bjørneboe (1920–1976) remarked in 1958,** really means “world famous in Norway”. Since then, innumerable comedians have made “world famous in Norway” a catchword for the peculiar provinciality of their countrymen. Indeed, Norwegianness is imbued; it may never go away. But if academics now study it and comedians now ridicule it, its effects may diminish as the country becomes more cosmopolitan.

Politics (Politikk)

With a relatively small population, a large number of political parties (Chapter 20) and extensive government administration, politics are clearly visible in the everyday life of the country. Decisions on local issues, from the extent of day-care centre coverage to ordnances on the sale of beer, often are made along political lines. Along with the elections (Chapter 20) that focus on parties, this influence has made the public politically aware. Almost all political parties have youth groups, and the participants in TV panel debates on current events often are selected to present differing political views.

Population (Folkemengde)

The population of the country now is more than 4.6 million. More than seven in 10 residents live in densely-populated areas, the most in the Oslo region, which now has a population of more than 750,000. Other major urban areas are Bergen with a population of nearly 240,000, Trondheim with nearly 160,000, Stavanger with more than 110,000 and Tromsø with 62,000. About one resident in 16 is foreign-born, either a naturalised Norwegian citizen or the citizen of another country. About half the population has never been married; 38% are married and 14% have been married and now are either divorced or surviving widows or widowers. The current life expectancy is about 82 years for women and 77 years for men.

Poverty (Fattigdom)

Despite being painful for those who suffer it, poverty is not well defined. At the outset, poverty is of two types, absolute and relative. Absolute poverty is defined in economic terms, usually as the inability to acquire an accepted minimum of goods and services. Relative poverty depends on the society in which one lives. Relative poverty in a city in Norway differs from relative poverty in a farming village in a more southerly country. Within a single country, poverty may be viewed as indirect or direct. Indirect poverty is the lack of income, whilst direct poverty is the lack of essentials, such as a place to live.

Indirect poverty is assessed in Norway as in most industrialised countries, because money is needed to buy essentials. According to Statistics Norway (Chapter 42), poverty in Norway is increasing. The extent of it depends on how the statistics are interpreted. The government designates poverty according to the OECD definition of having an annual income less than 50% of the median and accordingly reckons that the poor number some 90,000. According to the EU definition of an annual income less than 60% of the median, as widely used in Europe, the poor number some 400,000 and include retired persons subsisting on minimum pensions. That figure, about 10% of the population, is used by Norway Statistics in its international comparisons. Further details at www.ssb.no.

The poor are becoming more evident, particularly in the cities, where homelessness is increasing. The failure of the welfare state to meet the needs of its less fortunate citizens has now become apparent, as touchingly documented in Fattig talt (”Spoken poor”), a book that focuses on the everyday lives and problems of the poor, illustrated with photographs by Morten Krogvold and drawings by some of the 26,000 poor children of the country, published June 2004 by Stølen media, ISBN 82-92296-05-0. In an oil-rich country with more than 125,000 millionaires, this underscores the trend seen elsewhere – the gap between rich and poor is widening.

Private consumption (Privat konsum)

The average household spends around NOK 300,000 per year. More than 25% of that sum is spent on housing, electricity and heating, nearly 20% on travel and transport, around 12% on food and less than 3% on health care. Statistics Norway (Chapter 42) compiles and publishes current and historical statistics in printed versions as well as online at www.ssb.no, in Norwegian and in English with overviews in four other languages.

Racism (Rasisme)

Racism involves personal opinion, which may or may not result in action. So it may remain unseen. Discrimination (Chapter 3), on the other hand, involves action, which can be seen, such as refusing to employ an otherwise qualified person because of his or her race.

Racism is increasingly visible. Black people often complain that they are checked more frequently at immigration and by the police than are people of ethnic Norwegian appearance. In 1999 in a rural town, a teenage boy of Indian birth, adopted as an infant and raised Norwegian, was racially harassed by classmates at school, increasingly violently and ultimately to death. In 2004, the Homeowners’ Association (Chapter 25) conducted more than 150 tests in five cities and found that landlords were less willing to rent to and demanded higher deposits from people of African descent than from ethnic Norwegians.

Fortunately the media have highlighted these and other similar incidents, and the public is increasingly aware of the blot of racism. In 1998, Centre for Combating Ethnic Discrimination (Chapter 20) was set up to deal with the relevant problems.

Ranking of reality (Gradering av virkeligheten)

A strict ranking of reality is among the more noticeable aspects of the Norwegian mindset. At its most stringent end, the ranking is evident in a penchant for strict adherence to the letter of the law down to its lowest levels. However just your complaint might be, protesting a fine for a parking violation or for inadvertently sitting in the wrong class of commuter train carriage is almost futile, as in most cases the only response will be a form-letter quoting the relevant regulation and reprimanding you for your violation of it.

University of Trondheim social sciences professor Tord Larsen speculates that the ranking of reality pervades life. For instance, the women’s movement that peaked in the 1960s and 1970s in the USA involved heightening awareness in long “bull-sessions” that contributed to changing social perceptions. When the movement reached Norway, the reality mould transformed it into demands for a six-hour work day and for more places for children in day-care centres.*

Reading habits (Lesevaner)

Norway is a country of readers. Every day, nearly six newspapers are sold for every 10 people in the country, the highest rate worldwide. The spending per head on books is the second highest in the world, behind Japan in first place. In part this may be due to the relatively high price of books, but it is also due to reading being a popular pastime. Women are the country’s leading bookworms, on average spending twice as much time as men in reading.

The Royal family (Kongehuset)

The Norwegian royal family is a branch of the Glucksburg line of Dukes, originally from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, and part of the House of Oldenberg, to which it and the royal houses of Denmark and formerly of Greece belong.

The roots of the Norwegian family go back to the 1840s. King Fredrik VII of the House of Oldenburg of Denmark (1808–1863) was childless. But an heir to the throne was found: Prince Christian of Glucksburg (1818–1906), a descendant of King Christian III who was married to Princess Louise of Hessen-Kassel (1817–1898), niece of King Christian VIII (1786–1848). In 1853 Prince Christian became heir to the Danish throne. When King Frederik VII died in 1863, Prince Christian became King Christian IX. He and Queen Louise had six children, and because several of them married into other European royal houses, King Christian became the “Father-in-law of Europe”. Their son, later King Frederik VIII (1843–1912) married Princess Lovisa (1851–1926) of Sweden. Their second son, Prince Carl (1872–1957) became King Haakon VII of Norway. Their daughter, Alexandra (1844–1925) married the Prince of Wales (1841–1910) who later became King Edward VII of Great Britain and Ireland. Their daughter, Charlotte Mary Victoria (1869–1938) married Prince Carl and became his Queen Maud. Their only child, Alexander Edward Christian Fredrik (1903–1991), born at Appelton House near Sandringham, Norfolk, UK, became Crown Prince Olav, who in 1929 married his cousin, Princess Martha of Sweden (1901–1954). The couple had three children, Ragnhild, Astrid and Harald. In 1957, Olav ascended the throne as King Olav V, without a Queen, as Martha had died in 1954. Upon his death in 1991, his son ascended the throne as King Harald V. The adult members of the royal family now are:

• King Harald V, born 21 February 1937, ascended the throne 17 January 1991, crowned in Nidaros Cathedral 23 June 1991.
• Queen Sonja, born 4 July 1937, originally a commoner when married on 29 August 1968 to Harald when he was Crown Prince.

King Harald V and Queen Sonja have two children:

• Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, born 20 July 1973. married 25 August 2001 to Crown Princess Mette-Mari, (born 19 August 1973, originally a commoner).
• Princess Märta Louise, born 22 September 1971, married 23 May 2000 to Ari Behn, a commoner.

King Harald V has two sisters:

• Princess Astrid Maud Ingeborg, born 12 February 1932, married 12 January 1961 to Johan Martin Ferner, a commoner.
• Princess Ragnhild Alexandra, born 9 June 1930, married 15 May 1953 to Erling Sven Lorentzen, a commoner.

For further information, visit a library or bookshop, as there are dozens of books about the royal family and its individual members, in Norwegian and in English as well as in other languages, or visit the royal family website at www.kongehuset.no, which provides extensive details in Norwegian and in English.

Rural Norway (Bygda Norge)

“There are innumerable myths about the Norwegian village, not least among city folk. Often they contend that their lifestyle is urban by contrasting it to that of the countryside and its people. But to non-natives, Norway seems to be just one big village.”

Such might have been the view of an urbane tourist of the 19th century. It isn’t. Published in late 2004, it’s the summary of the findings of three native sociologists* at the Centre for Rural Research in Trondheim. In contemporary city life, it spotlights prevalent bonds to rural roots. Even in Oslo, by far the largest city, folk costumes can be seen daily and in profusion on Constitution Day and other public holidays, and many of the small estates in the posh Holmenkollen district overlooking the city feature farm buildings and homes in rural styles. And among the ethnic Norwegian city dwellers, everyone seems to have a rural relative or a remote cabin or cottage at which they spend as many holidays as possible.

Indeed, the distinction between a city person and a country person arguably is less than in the larger cities of central Europe, some of which have populations close to that of all of Norway. In part, that’s reflected in the language. Unlike Swedish, Norwegian has no word for “city” in the sense of an urban area having a character of its own, distinctly different from that of the surrounding countryside. The word “stad”, which is the same as the Swedish word for “city”, is used only in mentions of the capital: Oslo er Norges hovedstad – “Oslo is Norway’s capital city”.

While undermining the myth of urban distinction, the three sociologists found many benefits of a more rural mentality among city dwellers, including a more relaxed lifestyle and more obvious friendliness than in the fast-paced, high-stress life of larger cities elsewhere. The breathtaking scenery of the country remains the prime image, even in its cities. For these and other details contrasting and describing rural life, contact the Centre for Rural Research (Bygdeforskning), Universitetssenteret Dragvoll, 7491 Trondheim, Tel: 73591729, Fax: 73591275, www.bygdeforskning.no, post@bygdeforskning.ntnu.no.

The Sámi

The Sámi are the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. They are sometimes called Lapps, but they prefer the name Sámi, which comes from Sampi, their name for themselves and the land that they have inhabited for thousands of years. The size of the Sámi population is not known, but is conservatively estimated at 70,000, of which about half live in Norway. Their native languages are related to Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian and have little in common with Norwegian. Traditionally, the Sámi have been hunters, fishermen and reindeer herders. Some still follow the traditional callings, whilst others practise more modern trades. One of the more famous of them is film director Nils Gaup, whose Pathfinder (1987), the first feature-length Sámi film, was nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar).

As has been the fate of indigenous peoples elsewhere, the Sámi have been subjected to discrimination under regulations that aimed to enforce assimilation and loosen their ties with their ethnic origins. Until the early 1960s, Sámi pupils at Norwegian-Sámi schools were forbidden to speak their mother tongue, even during breaks. Moreover, the singing of joik, the native Sámi song, also was forbidden. Many children were obliged to attend boarding schools from age seven, to separate them from their parents. People with Sámi names were not allowed to own land in Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost county.

Matters are better now. The Sámi have their own flag, acknowledged in 1986, and their own parliament (Sámeting), opened in 1989. The Sámi language is encouraged at schools, and colleges have programmes of Sámi studies. The traditional joik song form has gained international recognition: Mari Boine Persen has sung on stages round the world; Nils-Aslak Valkepää sang joik at the opening ceremony of the 1994 Olympic Winter Games at Lillehammer; and Wimme Saari mixes joik with techno backgrounds.

For further information, contact the Sámi Parliament (Sámediggi), Kautokeinoveeien 50, 9730 Karasjok, Tel: 78474000, Fax: 78474090, www.samediggi.no, samediggi@samediggi.no.

Secondary school graduating class (Russ)

In the final weeks of upper secondary school, for a few weeks in the spring, around Constitution Day, the graduating pupils celebrate in a way that has become uniquely Norwegian. They dress in red or blue costumes with matching visored caps; travel in old buses or vans in the same colour; all adorned with risqué texts, sometimes in English, and loudly party. These are the Russ. Though their deeds are new, their roots are historical. Before the University of Oslo was founded in 1812, Norwegians who wished to study at a university went abroad, most of them to Copenhagen. The university there required applicants to stand an Examen Artium, or admittance examination. After the Examen Artium and before its results were made known, the applicant was given an animal horn to wear on his (there were no women students at the time) forehead, and was thereafter teased by the older students. When the results were made known, a “forsaking the horns” ceremony was held for those who passed. The horn was removed, to signify that they had left the realm of the wild and had become worthy of university studies. Like other academic terms of the time, the ceremony had a name in Latin: Cornua depositurus, of which the Norwegian word Russ is a contraction.

With time, particularly after universities were founded in Norway, the tradition changed. The Examen Artium shifted from being an entrance exam to university to being the final examination of upper secondary school, or gymnasium, as it was then known. Likewise, the Russ celebration (Russefeiring) moved back, from the first year at university to the last year at gymnasium.

The visored caps (Russelue) became the usual attire, starting in 1905, when students in Oslo copied the red caps worn by German students on visit the year before. The custom spread rapidly throughout the country. In 1916, the business studies gymnasium adopted a cap of the same design, in blue. Thereafter, one spoke of the red and blue varieties of Russ: Rødruss and Blåruss. Russ ‘business cards’ (Russekort) came in the 1950s, each bearing a portrait photo and a personal motto for celebration, also often risqué.

Finishing upper secondary school and going on to university is no longer restricted to the select few, but is increasingly commonplace. Nonetheless, a wild tradition acquired by the intellectual elite of times gone by lives on, as ever greater numbers of Russ celebrate in the springtime with uninhibited partying, sometimes 24 hours a day.

Sexual activity (Seksual aktivitet)

According to the 2004 Global Sex Survey conducted for Durex, a manufacturer of condoms, the average Norwegian couple has sex 102 times a year, which is slightly less than the global average of 103 times. The age of consent is 16 for having legal heterosexual or homosexual relations with a person of the same age or older, and statistics bear out compliance with law: the average age for first sex is 16.5, compared to the global average of 17.7. For the further details of the latest survey, visit the Durex website at www.durex.com.