The Art of Social Relations

Social life in Norway, as in other Scandinavian welfare states, may in very broad terms be characterized by 'individualism'. The author interprets the significance of this in relationship to the terms of some of the implicit understandings that people in Norway bring to social encounters. In particular, she focuses on the social practices and cultural categories that people use in order to build personal relationships of various kinds, like marital love, family life, friendship and neighbourhood relations.