Filed under: Politics, Social Design | Tags: comentary, Denmark, difference, Greece, Politics, random thoughts, society, structure, trust
Some time ago, I participated in a seminar on Danish Design organised by the Arkitektskolen in Aarhus; Danish design’s past, where it stands today and what can be done to ensure a succesful future were the main topics. Within those three days of discussions, a storm of ideas and history was presented, bringing up Danish society issues and unveiling aspects of the country’s system and infrastructure. There was one quote that impressed and became the core of the seminar’s next session some months after: that Danish culture has come to be what it is today mainly because of “trust”.This quote has been spinning in my head for quite some time. To present some facts, Denmark is a country that has solved all of its problems (ok, not that extreme, but close enough). Bureaucracy is at a minimum level thanks to the CPR system; associations are being formed daily, bringing people with common interests and common problems together; as an article in the Economist said right as the economic crisis was about to hit, if one told the Danes that they were in recession, they would ask truly in surprise: “Really?” Surely enough, Danes are the most trusting people I have ever met. One can call the bank and ask to transfer money from their account to one in another country. As long as they know their CPR number, the transfer will be done within 24 hours, no further questions asked. If one goes to a pub alone and suddenly feels the urge to visit the restroom, there is no need for him or her to take any bags along. They will be found as left.
This amazing-to-a-Greek phenomenon is everyday life to a Dane. This trust is also tightly related to the Danish welfare system (although health is going downhill lately, but that is a different thing). Once people know that the system takes care of them, they loosen up a lot. They have the time and the energy to shift their focus on more social aspects of their lives, apart from struggle and putting the bread on the table. It is a society whose people are very close to each other and they trust each other enough to be ready at any time to cooperate with one another. This is reflected on their entire society’s structure; Danes leave it to their government to take care of things and they trust them with it. Surely, from time to time there are protests, but in general, they trust the system to work as it is presented to be working.
Way, way south it is the exact opposite. The Balkan peninsula finds it very difficult to rest and its people have been looking over their shoulder ever since they can remember. Once in downtown Athens, a man has to move his wallet from the back pocket of his trousers to the front. Greek public services require paper upon paper upon paper to ensure the identity of a person in order to perform even the most mundane transactions. The government is under question even as a voter’s hand is placing the envelope in the ballot box; everything is prejudged to be corrupt.
This is due to lack of trust. The Greek chaos, the lack of respect and politeness in everyday life (whether that is at an interpersonal level or from state-to-citizen) is a reflection of the deeply rooted lack of trust Greeks have. Greeks are rude and relatively cynical people from what I have observed. I believe that people treat each other just as their government treats them. The infrastructure of the Greek system is poorly planned, big cities are dirty, flats are being built with no consideration of aesthetics or respect for urban living, poor and old people are marginalised and don’t even get me started with the issue of racism. One thing I personally could not possibly stand and had to leave Greece as soon as possible, was that when looking for work, the AUTOMATIC reaction of the employer was to try and lower all of the statutory rights, from basic salary to sexual harassment definition. This creates the vicious circle of one not trusting the other and because of this lack of trust, one is trying to overtake the other, scam the other, usually by illegal means. Hence, the crazy amount of corruption in Greece.
I found the aspect of trust an epiphany when it comes to analysing these two societies. It is a very important reason why one society has taken one path than the other. I will think about this topic a bit more and follow-up on the news from both countries. I will try and support this belief better in time…
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