Hello!
This week we're doing an episode on one of the most central features of Danish society: the fact that (in general) the default position is to trust strangers.
For people who have been in Denmark their whole life, this is one of those things that seems blindingly obvious: if my child is out playing and hurts themselves of course I believe that a stranger will help them out.
But for those new to the country, this can in fact be a bit of a culture shock.
Game theory
If you come from a society where the default is that everyone is out for themselves then it can actually be naïve to assume other people will do the right thing.
As such, people learn that it pays to be selfish (pay the official to fast track your application; steal from a stranger's bag) in order to get by. If everyone does the selfish action, the value to "the greater good" diminishes, even if the individual benefits in the short term.
Denmark has been able to have a society where, on the whole, people act in a way that is good for the whole.
The trust dividend
Doing so yields all sorts of benefits to the country:
- Greater efficiency: less time/ resource needed to monitor actions
- Fewer controlling checks: a culture of trusting people to do the right thing vs filling in forms
- Increased oxytocin: people who get their trust reciprocated get a mental wellbeing boost
As we discuss in the episode, trusting strangers is not without its downsides.
We share examples of Danes who trusted too much when in a "cheating" rather than "collaborative" environment, and also took about the risks (and responses) to people trusting the state/ each other too much.
This week's guests
In this episode we spoke with three excellent guests
- Peter Mühlmann, CEO of Trustpilot
- Gert Tinggaard Svendsen, Professor of Political Science at Aarhus University
- Kathy Siddique, a Polish/ American expat in Denmark for the past 13 years
Note also that the image we used for this episode is of a roadside stand on the Danish island of Bornholm where members of the public are trusted to pay for the items available. (I thought this was so great, I took the pic whilst on holiday there last year to show my friends abroad)
Thanks to ECO Hotels for hosting us at Guldsmeden Hotel in Copenhagen.
Where to listen
As always, you can learn more about What The Denmark via: www.whatthedenmark.com and @whatthedenmark on Instagram
You can hear this (+ all previous episodes) on:
Whilst there, a rating/ review would be much appreciated (if you can spare the time)
Happy Friday,
Sam
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