Pop cultures/subcultures in Norway

Posted on by osnaiderp

In Norway we can find 2 pop subcultures: Norwegian Black Metal and
Raggare (in Norwegian: RÃ¥ner).

Norwegian Black Metal

Norwegian Black Metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music developed in Norway, at the early 1990s. It was very controversial due to its ideals against Christianity and others religions and was linked to a crimes such as: murder, arson (generally against churches), desecration of tombs, vandal acts and satanism.

The band Mayhem was a important part of the development and consolidation of this movement.

Raggare

Raggare is a subculture that we can find mainly in Sweden, but also there are important groups of them in Norway and Finland. Norway is the second country with the most Raggares, after Sweden. This subculture is related to the greaser subculture of United States of America. So they love the 1950s American pop culture, and American cars. These cars are typically old or classic, and are modified changing their engines for bigger ones in order to get more speed, they are called hot rods. They are influences for a movie called Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean,

The music, clothes and hairstyle are that of 1950s rockabilly: the wear Blue jeans, cowboy boots, white T-shirts, sometimes with print (also used to store a pack of cigarettes by folding the sleeve), leather or denim jacket. The hair is styled using Brylcreem or some other pomade and some of them listen to rockabillly, a mix between rock and roll and country music.

The Hofstede Model: Norway Vs. Colombia

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According to the Hofstede Model, we can understand the culture of a country with the measure of six criteria (or dimensions): Power Distance (PDI), Individualism Versus Collectivism (IDV), Masculinity Versus Femininity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), Long Term Orientation Versus Short Term Orientation(LTO) and Indulgence Versus Restraint(IND). The following graph shows the scores obtained by Colombia and Norway in each dimension.

Comparison between Colombia and Norway. Graph taken from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/colombia,norway/

On the graph above, we can see that the largest differences between these two countries are the IDV-Individualism- and the MAS-Masculinity- dimensions (both with 56 points of difference). On the one hand, while Colombia, with 13 points, is classified like a collectivistic society, Norway is considered an Individualist society (it scored 69). On the other hand, Colombia is shown as a competitive society, but it is also collectivistic, so the competition is between groups (or social classes), not between individuals of the same group. On the contrary, Norway, with 8 points, is a more femenine society, this means for them quality of life is the sign of success, they like what they do and do not look for to be “the best” of their groups.

The dimension where there is a certain similarity is the LTO-Long Term Orientation- dimension (they differ 22 points). Both Norwegian (with a relatively low score of 35) and Colombian (with a low score of 13) are classified like normative societies, this means for them is very important to stablish the absolute Truth, they exhibit great respect for traditions, a relatively small propensity to save for the future, and a focus on achieving quick results .

To end, in general terms, Colombia and Norway have many differences in most dimensions (in almost all), just one of these looks similar, but still there was a relative difference. So, we can say that these societies are poles apart.

A Norwegian in Barranquilla, a challenge?

Posted on by osnaiderp

Norway, as a Nordic country, is a linear-active culture, so they are very organized, have schedules, and plan everything what they have to do. Also, to them punctuality is quite important, so they will never arrive late. On the other hand, Colombia, as a Hispanic country, is a multi-active culture, that is, we (I’m Colombian😜) are very flexible, loquacious, multi-task (do many things at once) and spontaneous. Besides, Barranquilla, is one of the most cheerful places in this country, and it is assumed, punctuality is not so important to us (me not 🙄), so we are the most representive example of a muti-active culture.

Due to the different types of culture, a Norwegian could have some troubles here, especially for punctuality. Perhaps, like my English teacher Paul (who also comes from a lienar-active culture), he or she will have some drawbacks to understand how works this culture and adapt to it, because a lack of well-defined schedules or fulfillment of it.

What do I recommend to a Norwegian student who comes to Barranquilla? Well, I’m not a expert, but I think that he or she should investigate or look for what are the features of this culture, and what he or she could do to adapt to it and so avoid a strong cultural shock. As punctuality could be the greatest challenge, I would advice to try to be patient.

Gender roles: Norway Vs. Colombia

Posted on by osnaiderp

As we know, Colombia, as many others countries, has several stereotypes and misconceptions about gender roles. However, Norway has a gap of stereotypes more reduced, that is to say in this country there are more gender equality, at least it is what it seems. Many studies in Western countries, show us that in most of them, women are stereotyped as lower in competence than men, but a few studies make evident that Norway is one of the most gender equitable countries -Global Gender Gap Index- .

That means, while in Norway women can get the same kind of job that the men can, in Colombia cannot. Norwegian women have the same opportunities, and the same rights, that his male countrymen. In Colombia, women still are idealized as housewives, men are the head of the family, and they (men) are “who deserve more respect”, and women who have job, do not receive the same payment than a man that have the same, there is a wage gap.

Stereotypes of the Norwegian culture

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Well, in my country we do not hear so much about Norway so much (actually almost nothing), so people do not know about their culture, and I am not the exception. Maybe, due to their location, I know the climate is cold, and always there are snow, so people hava to always wear warm clothesan and have to be inside of their houses. To try to talk about stereotypes of Norway, I had an idea, to ask classmates and friends of the university.

When I asked them what do they know about Norway or how do they look?, most of them said Vikings, and when I asked about stereotypes, they made a association with them, like a Viking culture, or at least influenced by this Norse culture, a supposed cold and “macho” culture. People here, see norwegian people as a culture where the man is the main piece in the society and the women is (as in most cultures) a passive piece, that just obey orders and stay at home taking care of kids. Also, one of them told me that Norwegian are tall, blond and blue-eyed, but I think this a european stereotype, not just Norwegian.

On the other hand, some of my classmates and friends said something about the education, even one of them told me that the best educational sytem is from there . Also they told me Norway is currently one of the most equitable countries (I do not know if those facts are actual). So, they see it like a vey educated country, and equitable.

As we see, there are some ideas about Norwegians, some of them are a little negative: a cold, dark, and isolated place in the far north of the world , and others are more positive: a country educated and equitable.