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Replaced the old English with modern English. The original text is not in old Danish. Also added the original Danish text.
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'''The ten rules are:'''<ref>''A fugitive crosses his tracks'', pp. 77-8 </ref>
'''The ten rules are:'''<ref>''A fugitive crosses his tracks'', pp. 77-8 </ref>


#Don't think you ''are'' anything. (Du skal ikke tro du er noget.)
#Thou shalt not believe thou ''art'' something.
#Thou shalt not believe thou art as good as ''we''.
#Don't think you are as good as ''us''. (Du skal ikke tro du er lige så meget som ''os''.)
#Don't think you are smarter than ''us''. (Du skal ikke tro du er klogere end ''os''.)
#Thou shalt not believe thou art more wise as ''we''.
#Thou shalt not fancy thyself better than ''we''.
#Don't fancy yourself better than ''us''. (Du skal ikke bilde dig ind du er bedre end ''os''.)
#Thou shalt not believe thou knowest more than ''we''.
#Don't think you know more than ''us''. (Du skal ikke tro du ved mere end ''os''.)
#Thou shalt not believe thou art greater than ''we''.
#Don't think you are greater than ''us''. (Du skal ikke tro du er mere end ''os''.)
#Don't think ''you'' can do better than us. (Du skal ikke tro ''du'' duer til noget.)
#Thou shalt not believe ''thou'' amountest to anything.
#Thou shalt not laugh at ''us''.
#Don't laugh at ''us''. (Du skal ikke le ad ''os''.)
#Thou shalt not believe that anyone is concerned with ''thee''.
#Don't think that anyone cares about ''you''. (Du skal ikke tro nogen bryder sig om ''dig''.)
#Thou shalt not believe thou canst teach ''us'' anything.
#Don't think you can teach ''us'' anything. (Du skal ikke tro, at du kan lære ''os'' noget.)


In the book, those Janters who transgress this unwritten "law" are regarded with suspicion and some hostility, as it goes against communal desire in the town, which is to preserve social stability and uniformity.<ref>''A fugitive crosses his tracks'' </ref>
In the book, those Janters who transgress this unwritten "law" are regarded with suspicion and some hostility, as it goes against communal desire in the town, which is to preserve social stability and uniformity.<ref>''A fugitive crosses his tracks'' </ref>
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Later in his book, Sandemose adds an 11th rule, formulated as a question:
Later in his book, Sandemose adds an 11th rule, formulated as a question:


11. Don't you think we know something about you?<ref>''A fugitive crosses his tracks'' </ref>
11. You think I don't know anything about you? (Du tror måske ikke jeg ved noget om dig?)<ref>''A fugitive crosses his tracks'' </ref>


This is the threat of punishment—that other Janters will know something about those who transgress, which can be used to punish them. Emphasis can be either on ''know'' or on ''you'', or both.
This is the threat of punishment—that other Janters will know something about those who transgress, which can be used to punish them. Emphasis can be either on ''know'' or on ''you'', or both.

Revision as of 20:55, 23 August 2008

The Jante Law (Danish and Norwegian: Janteloven; Swedish: Jantelagen; Finnish: Janten laki; Faroese: Jantulógin) is the Nordic version of the tall poppy syndrome. It was named and described by the Norwegian/Danish author Aksel Sandemose in his novel A Fugitive Crosses his Tracks (En flygtning krydser sit spor, 1933), where he portrays the small Danish town Jante, modelled upon his native town Nykøbing Mors as it was in the beginning of the 20th century, but typical of all very small towns, where nobody is anonymous.[1]

Definition

There are ten different rules in the law, but they are all variations on a single theme and are usually referred to as a homogeneous unit: Don't think you're anyone special or that you're better than us.

The ten rules are:[2]

  1. Don't think you are anything. (Du skal ikke tro du er noget.)
  2. Don't think you are as good as us. (Du skal ikke tro du er lige så meget som os.)
  3. Don't think you are smarter than us. (Du skal ikke tro du er klogere end os.)
  4. Don't fancy yourself better than us. (Du skal ikke bilde dig ind du er bedre end os.)
  5. Don't think you know more than us. (Du skal ikke tro du ved mere end os.)
  6. Don't think you are greater than us. (Du skal ikke tro du er mere end os.)
  7. Don't think you can do better than us. (Du skal ikke tro du duer til noget.)
  8. Don't laugh at us. (Du skal ikke le ad os.)
  9. Don't think that anyone cares about you. (Du skal ikke tro nogen bryder sig om dig.)
  10. Don't think you can teach us anything. (Du skal ikke tro, at du kan lære os noget.)

In the book, those Janters who transgress this unwritten "law" are regarded with suspicion and some hostility, as it goes against communal desire in the town, which is to preserve social stability and uniformity.[3]

Later in his book, Sandemose adds an 11th rule, formulated as a question:

11. You think I don't know anything about you? (Du tror måske ikke jeg ved noget om dig?)[4]

This is the threat of punishment—that other Janters will know something about those who transgress, which can be used to punish them. Emphasis can be either on know or on you, or both.

It has to be said that the general understanding of the law was an essential and fully integrated part of the Danish and Norwegian societies long before it was ever written down.[5] Sandemose, however, explicitly said that he had seen the Jante law in operation in all countries he had been in.

The rules are not only applied outwards; Danes apply the rules equally towards themselves. This means that the rules of the Jante Law become a sort of social stabilizer where one does not wish to be either too high above or too far below others socially and economically.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ note by Sigrid Undset in the book: A fugitive crosses his tracks
  2. ^ A fugitive crosses his tracks, pp. 77-8
  3. ^ A fugitive crosses his tracks
  4. ^ A fugitive crosses his tracks
  5. ^ This is a common negative idea in Denmark.
  6. ^ This is a common negative idea in Denmark, see also Gini coefficient and http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=4086092&page=1 and Scandinavian model.
  • Sandemose, Aksel (1936). A fugitive crosses his tracks. with a note by Sigrid Undset, transl. from the Norwegian by Eugene Gay-Tifft. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |accessyear=, |origmonth=, |accessmonth=, |chapterurl=, |month=, |origdate=, and |coauthors= (help)

External links

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