— from Learner Limbach —

Last night, Thursday, I flew into Copenhagen, and I plan to spend eight days digging in to the details of Denmark’s progressive social policies and structure and then to head to Spain for five days to learn about the Mondragon Cooperative.

I have a long list of things I hope to learn about and experience on this trip, including the general frameworks of social policy in Denmark and an arranged tour of Mondragon’s Headquarters, Cooperative Training Center, and Mondragon University. My plan is to document as best I can and publish updates.

What can we learn from the happiest countries in the world? 
As you may know, Denmark is consistently referred to as one of the happiest countries in the world. They consistently rank in the top five countries, in the UN’s World Happiness Report, coming in third on the list in 2018 just behind Finland and Norway, and just ahead of Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia. The US is moving the opposite direction, having dropped from 14th on the list in 2017 to 18th in 2018. Though I can only scratch the surface in this short trip, my hope is that I can get a more grounded understanding of why Danish people are so happy, and which of their ideas may have applicability in the US.

Equality and community above all else
What I have already learned in less than 24 hours in Denmark is that the values of equality and community are placed above all else. Janteloven (Jante Law) was explained to me by the first few people that I spoke with as an unwritten code or social norm that basically says that no individual is better than anyone else, and that the well-being of the collective is more important than individual success. This is in stark contrast to the US, which is one of the most individualistic societies in the world.

Its easy to come up with critiques for Jante Law, but I am told, and I tend to agree, that you can’t have it both ways, that you can’t have a society where everyone puts the collective good above themselves, and also have a society where everyone tries to get ahead of everyone else. Not everyone likes the system. Detractors say that it stifles innovation and ambition. On the other hand, its hard to argue with the results they are getting. This is good food for thought and something I’m sure I’ll be rolling around in my head as I explore other aspects of Danish society over the next week.

Until the next update…

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