Weird habits about the West

[Natfixit]

The lack of spices in food. Only Salt and pepper. Also the sheer amount of sugar used in food compared to in HKG and Asia. Fair enough, Singapore and South Korea love their oh so sweet drinks, but not in food.

Harsher sentences for criminals compared to the mere slap on the wrists here.

Less of a community here than in Asia. People where I live think like an island - they are individuals, on their own, take care of oneself or only their immediate family, but the pressure to conform to live along one static line - Jante-ism - dress, eat, work the same is a contradiction in itself. In HKG/ Asia, there is community, but the pressure is to better oneself, do better, earn more and people dress individually, but still care for your family. In Sweden, it is difficult to talk about goals and aspirations because there will always be a group who will shoot you down.

[hullexile]

The lack of spices in food. Only Salt and pepper. Also the sheer amount of sugar used in food compared to in HKG and Asia. Fair enough, Singapore and South Korea love their oh so sweet drinks, but not in food.

Harsher sentences for criminals compared to the mere slap on the wrists here.

Less of a community here than in Asia. People where I live think like an island - they are individuals, on their own, take care of oneself or only their immediate family, but the pressure to conform to live along one static line - Jante-ism - dress, eat, work the same is a contradiction in itself. In HKG/ Asia, there is community, but the pressure is to better oneself, do better, earn more and people dress individually, but still care for your family. In Sweden, it is difficult to talk about goals and aspirations because there will always be a group who will shoot you down.

Many British love spicey food.

Filipino food has way too much sugar.

[kungpaochicken]

The lack of spices in food. Only Salt and pepper. Also the sheer amount of sugar used in food compared to in HKG and Asia. Fair enough, Singapore and South Korea love their oh so sweet drinks, but not in food.

Harsher sentences for criminals compared to the mere slap on the wrists here.

Less of a community here than in Asia. People where I live think like an island - they are individuals, on their own, take care of oneself or only their immediate family, but the pressure to conform to live along one static line - Jante-ism - dress, eat, work the same is a contradiction in itself. In HKG/ Asia, there is community, but the pressure is to better oneself, do better, earn more and people dress individually, but still care for your family. In Sweden, it is difficult to talk about goals and aspirations because there will always be a group who will shoot you down.

This is super interesting because most studies describe Sweden as a really individualistic country. But like you said, there’s actually a lot of pressure to conform, which goes against the whole idea of individualism. And Sweden is a big welfare state which also seems to contradict that.

Can you explain a bit more? In what ways is Sweden even more conformist than somewhere like Hong Kong?