Social Norms In Denmark

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What is Culture? Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines culture as, “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group” (Merriam-Webster, 2018). There are many different ways to explain the characteristics of culture. Culture can mean many different things to people around the world, but I deduce the characteristics to be: values, social norms, and traditions, along with religious and personal beliefs. Denmark has deep values that root into their egalitarianist society, which means they have a heavy belief that all people should be treated equal. Having these types of values greatly affects their social norms such as women being very highly respected business persons in many different industries …show more content…

Their society revolves around self-independence and courteous behavior. Marriage is not something that is required by their social structure for them to start a family and many families often do not get married. As part of being courteous, their culture has many rules and etiquettes that should be followed, such as bringing food when invited for dinner and other rules such as what to bring as a gift to an event and how to act in another Dane’s home. This social structure they have built makes for a well ordered environment for all people that adhere to the social norms. The primary language in Denmark is Danish, but German is also spoken near the southern border where Denmark and Germany meet. Denmark has a very diverse society with many different ethnicities including: Scandinavian, German, Inuit, Turkish and even Iranian. The old belief that women should stay home to conduct chores while the man goes to work is not prevalent within the Danish community. The women are seen as equals to men and can make very flexible hours so they can tend to their family whilst making a career for themselves. This is due to their social belief in egalitarianism, which means they believe that all people are equal (Commisceo,