More on Life in Sweden - Adventures in Lagom

[pennswoods]

I went out last night with a bunch of expats and learned quite a few interesting new things that hadn't experienced before. But there are others that do keep coming up regularly and I thought I'd list a few of them here:

1. I learned last night that when you give birth in Sweden, you are not allowed to leave the hospital until you pass a breastfeeding

Comments

[tripperfunster]

Funny, since Ikea certainly does not subscribe to Lagom! 300 different chairs! 20 different cheese graters! :D

We were just discussing maternity leave here today, and I'm still agog that the USA doesn't have any! (or much) They were just discussing on CNN how not having it negatively affects the entire economy, and how it has contributed to the gender gap in most businesses.

What if you don't want to breast feed? Is it mandatory? Obviously, if it's viable, it's the best choice for the baby, but so is not living in a police state.

What are the abortion laws there?

[magnetic_pole]

Funny, since Ikea certainly does not subscribe to Lagom! 300 different chairs! 20 different cheese graters!

:) M.

[pennswoods]

So funny that you mentioned IKEA! Yes, it does have dozens of chairs, but can you imagine living in a country where IKEA is kind of like Wal-Mart and there aren't a lot of other furniture store options (except for the really expensive stuff in designer stores)? So if you're looking for something that is not in that IKEA style (e.g. a La-Z-Boy leather recliner), you're not going to find it in the whole country

[magnetic_pole]

I'm also fascinated by the concept of lagom. I can see where you and I, raised in North America, might have a hard time wrapping our mind around it--as you say, it's very different from the ideals of abundance we're used to. I wonder if it's also related to class? A friend and I were recently talking about the idea of optimizing and how central it is to the way that the US middle and especially upper middle classes see themselves--how we pride ourselves on learning about a variety of options or resources and making the very best possible choice among them--and how often in practice that choice turns out to hinge on a difference without a real distinction, except the fact that we made it, dammit! :) M.

(Sorry, editing for subject verb agreement. *sigh*)

[pennswoods]

It might be indeed related to class and ideologies in Sweden that there should be no class distinctions. If everyone has just enough, then no one is without. You can see how this ties in well to help socialize people into a state where socialism might functioning much better than it would in a place like the US where portions of the population are socialized into feeling entitled to options and advantages and more.

[221beemine]

Very interesting. I love cultural differences, I never get tired of learning them.

[pennswoods]

That's one of the cool things about living in another country. Every moment is a learning moment. There is so much I still don't know here because I work too much.

[woldy]

I love the idea of lagom. How does one say it?

[pennswoods]

This wikipedia entry has the IPA for the pronunciation and a more detailed explanation of the concept.

The way I say it in my American accent, it sounds like LAH - gum.

[major_dallas]

Lagom...clearly Sweden has not met Galactus, errr I mean me <.< -.- >.>

[pennswoods]

I LOLed. :D