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This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

EXCHANGE NETWORKS AND STRATIFICATION
IN A DANISH FARMING VILLAGE

presented by

Knud Laurits Hansen

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

_P_h_._D_.__ degree in My

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Major professor

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ABSTRACT

EXCHANGE NETWORKS AND STRATIFICATION
IN A DANISH FARMING VILLAGE

By

Knud Laurits Hansen

This study is an attempt to outline the influence of
a changing social structure on exchange networks. The
fieldsite for empirical work was a small, rural village,
named Fynby, located on the coast of Fyn, Denmark. Fynby
has existed as a Village since 800 A.D., and characterized
a traditional social structure with defined norms and
expectations for nearly all social situations.

The author was reared in this village until early
adolescence, and returned twenty two years later for a
One year study, participating in local exchange systems
and observing exchange phenomena in the community setting.
On the basis of such observations and a series of pilot
studies, a questionnaire was developed and administered
to a 33% sample of village families. The questionnaire
attempted to determine who exchanged what with whom.

Seven stratification criteria were tested to determine

their influence on specific exchanges in Fynby. These were:

Knud Laurits Hansen

1. Gender

2. Kinship

3. Occupational Skill

A. Village Nativity

5. Neighborhood

6. Traditional Social Status

7. Economic Wealth

Four categories of exchange behaviors were develOped
on the basis of observation and pilot study results. These
categories included:

1. Exchange of Skilled Services
2. Exchange of Food Commodities
3. Exchange of Visits

A. Exchange of Help

Gender influences all categories of exchange, effectively
excluding women from nearly all of the exchanges studied,
and limiting their role to those tasks directly involving
home and children. Few village women have the power, skill,
status, or economic wealth to control the distribution of
valued services or commodities. As a group, women are
marginal participants in the Village exchange system,
their participation determined by their husband's ability

to participate in exchanges.

 

Knud Laurits Hansen

Kinship ties permit exchanges to occur where normally
they are not possible; the food exchange is the only exchange
almost exclusively limited to kin related individuals. Rules
for or expectations for reciprocation are generally absent
in those situations where one kin related exchange partner
is not able to provide skilled services or valued
commodities.

Skilled craftsmen are essentially the only segment of
the village pOpulation that control the distribution of
their services. Unskilled workers and professionals do
not have the ability to control distribution of their
services since their skills are generally not valued or
in demand to the same extent craft skills are. Craftsmen
express intolerance of those who cannot contribute craft
skills, and limit their service exchanges to fellow craftsmen.
Craft skills did not appear relevant for exchanges of help
or visitation, though craftsmen tend to only help and visit
other craftsmen.

With the advent of new settlers to Fynby, nativity
functions to exclude large segments of the village pOpulation
from exchanges studied. Nativity, as a factor for exclusion,
is invoked when a villager has no knowledge of the other
criteria used for stratification.

Neighborhood patterns are not immediately obvious today

since new settlers have integrated all village neighborhoods.

Knud Laurits Hansen

Data, however, found neighborhood to influence exchanges
within established networks whose members are predominantly
village natives.

Economic wealth appears to automatically exclude
families from the exchanges studied. Apparent wealth in
families once active in established exchange networks are
also excluded.

Structural changes, initiated by economic and political
changes in Denmark, have removed Village consensus on a
traditional set of stratification dimensions. Fynby has
become a village in name only, a collection of small groups
bounded by specific and limited interaction, and economically

attached to a developing and neighboring commercial center.

 

EXCHANGE NETWORKS AND STRATIFICATION

IN A DANISH FARMING VILLAGE

by

Knud Laurits Hansen

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Sociology

1976

 

()Copyright by

KNUD LAURI TS HANSEN

1976

w:-.—__»

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

So many people have assisted me with this project
that it is difficult to properly acknowledge and thank
each individually. First, the people of Fynby deserve
a great deal of appreciation for their willingness to sit
through many hours of interviews and probing questions.
Their patience and helpfulness at times seemed unbounded.

I would also like to express a deep sense of
appreciation for the tireless support and guidance
throughout my graduate school career to Bo Anderson, Bill
Faunce, Barrie Thorne, and Fred Waisanen. They are teachers
in the broadest sense, and the project is as much theirs
as mine. Bo Anderson deserves a special acknowledgement for
sharing his insights and perceptions, they carried me
through many problems of field research.

For economic support I received while in Fynby, I am
grateful to: Mr. and Mrs SvendOve Hansen, my parents, who
responded to several "emergency" calls for financial help;
Mr. and Mrs Harvey Helms who consistently provided research
funds for the full year we were in Fynby; and to Mr. and
Mrs Lawrence Thomas, now living in Hawaii, who graciously

forwarded funds to complete the last four months of research.

iii

Mrs. Jette Brown assisted final completion of the project
by securing typing help and arranging for the duplication
of final copies of the dissertation. Without the help of
these people, the project would not have been cOmpleted.
Finally, I have a deep sense of gratitude to my wife
Kay, whose sense of reality and fortitude guided me through
a year of adjustment and revelation in Fynby. This project

is dedicated to her.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

LIST OF TABLES.

Chapter
I.
II.
III.

IV.

VI.
APPENDICES
A.

B.

C.

INTRODUCTION
FIELD SITE DESCRIPTION
METHODOLOGY
DATA RESULTS
Service Exchanges
Food Exchanges
Helping Behavior
Visitation
DISCUSSION
Gender and Exchange
Kinship and Exchange
Skill and Exchange
Nativity and Exchange .
Neighborhood and Exchange
Economic Wealth and Social Status
and Exchange . . . .

CONCLUSION

SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE
VILLAGE MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

FOOTNOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY SOURCES

Page

.111

vi

10
Al
5A
514
8A

2100
.116
.118
.130
.136
.145
.151
.156

.160

.167
.175
.178

.187

Table

10.

ll.

l2.

13.

LIST OF TABLES

Adult POpulation of FynbyS ogn for 1965
and 1975 . . .

Number of Settlers Arriving Yearly to
Fynby Village for the Years 1965 to
1975 . . . . . . .

Place of Birth and Home Location of
Heads of Households in Fynby Village

Reason for Moving to or Staying in Fynby
by Year of Migration to Village or
Birth in Village . . . .

Occupational Distribution by Year of
Arrival or Birth of Fynby Villagers

Source of Specific Foods for Fynby
Villagers Arriving in 1969 and Prior and
in 1970 and After

Sources of Pigs for Slaughtering

Source of Pigs for Slaughter for Alleged
Cash— —paying Villagers . .

Methods of Food Procurement
Source of Foods Procured by Cash - payment

Number of People Reporting Willingness to
Ask for Help from Others in Fynby .

Help Categories and Reported Incidents of
Help Received

Reported Type of Arrangement for Recipro-
cation of Help Received.

vi

Page

15

l8

l9

23

69

7O

72
75

87

87

89

 

I

Table Page

1“. Reported Events of Borrowing and not

Borrowing . . . . . . . . . . . 90
15. Number of Items Listed as not Borrowed

at any Time . . . . . . . . . . 91
16. Average Number of Items not Borrowed per

Family by Year of Arrival in Fynby. . . 91
17. Return Expectations for Help Given or

Help Received. . . . . . . . . . 97
18. Home Location of Families Visited and

Families who Visit . . . . . . . . 103
19. Home Location of Families Visited by Year

of Arrival or Birth in Fynby of Families

Visiting . . . . . . . . . . . 10A
20. Employment of Head of Household of

Families Visiting and Families Visited . 106
21. Percentage of Networks Listed for both

. Visiting and Helping Networks . . . . 107

22. Notification of Intended Visit by Year of

Arrival or Birth in Village . . . . . 108
23. Return Visit Expectations by Year of

Arrival or Birth in Village . . . . . 109
2A. Year of Arrival or Birth in Fynby and

Number of Established Helping—Networks . 1A8

vii

 

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This is a study of Fynby, a small village located on
the island of Fyn, Denmark.l Fynby has existed for
nearly 1200 years, and in those years developed a social
structure with rigidly defined stratification criteria and
expectations regarding appropriate behavior of villagers.
Recent changes in the village altered this social structure.
I am attempting to look at the influence of a changing
social structure on the exchange behavior of Fynby villagers.
Jon Sundbo describes the traditional rural communities
of Denmark as having roughly three social classes (Sundbo,
p. 123). One of these consisted of landed elites and
larger farmers, and was sharply ranked internally by size of
land and farm holdings. Farm workers and industrial workers
made up a second social class with those farm workers housed
at the farm considered somewhat lower ranked than workers
with homesteads in the village. The third social class con-
sisted of the smaller independent owners of business concerns,

and this class included teachers and office workers living

 

in the village.

Traditional Fynby had a stratification system that
essentially ”mapped — out” an individual's expected behavior
in all conceivable social situations. Such a system had
little room for mobility, and individuals born into a par-
ticular class remained in that class. Children were
socialized by parents, peers, and schools to their positions
in the village. In a sense, one's status and its concomitant
set of role behaviors and expectations were continually
validated by the village structure through the limited set of
alternative roles available to villagers.

Basically, the following set of factors characterized

the social structure of traditional Fynby:

1. A specified and limited set
of social classes.

2. Explicitly defined norms and
expectations for proper behavior.

3. A limited and nearly non-existent
possibility for mobility.

A. Validation of defined norms and
expectations by soCial institu-
tions, community consensus, and

daily experience.

In such a structure, social interaction is mapped
by the structure, and "norms and expectations which together
with tasks form the constituent parts of the roles in S
(social structure) will tell the person what to do in most
if not all social situations” (Anderson and Carlos, p. 5).

Traditional Fynby, however, has changed, and since
the mid 19605 fulfills few of these conditions; there
are now numerous expectations influencing each and all
incidents of interaction.2 Norms and expectations for
proper role behavior have little of the former consensus
that so characterized traditional villages. Social insti-
tutions are changing, local political control is now vested
in a district government office, traditional craft skills
are learned in centralized schools - not in the village,
and schools have altered their curriculum to prepare
children for further education. In summary, traditional
norms and expectations are no longer reinforced by social
institutions or a stable and agreed upon stratification
system.

Fynby also experienced a pOpulation explosion, and
since 1968 has more than doubled in size. New migrants
arrived from all sections of Denmark, and not only populated
the whole new region developed in the center of Fynby, but
also integrated the old neighborhoods. Village natives

are now the minority in Fynby. Relationships and patterns

 

of interaction developed over long periods of time in a
small and stable community have been disrupted by such
changes in the population. Interaction in such a changing.
system is a matter of the summated results of individual
choice, and not the norms and expectations of the tradi—
tional structure.

Today, an individual's interaction (in the case of this
study, interaction is limited to exchange behavior) is not
necessarily mapped-out by the social structure. There is
an element of freedom and choice available to an individual
when relating to others from different social classes.

For example, a professionally ranked person (such as a teacher)
commands much respect and deference from non—professionals

in social situations such as parties, feasts, or casual
meetings, but a skilled craftsman commands higher rank in

an exchange of services because he not only possesses valued
skills, but he also has control over the distribution of these
skills; in contrast, the teacher is obligated by the State

to teach all children qualified for school attendance. There
are now many options available for exchanges to precisely
those social classes most constrained by the traditional
structure.

There is a precedent for studying village structure
through interaction.3 Studies on visiting, inter-marriage,

and neighboring have illustrated the relationship of social

 

 

rank and interaction. Homans, in his review of the bank
wiring room and the Norton gang study proposes a direct
link between social rank and interaction (Homans, 1950).
Whyte carefully documented the relationship of Doc, as
leader, with his lieutenants, and with the gang members
at large. Both of these studies prOposed a relationship
between rank and interaction.

Homans proposes several hypotheses in his discussion
of rank differentiation and interaction (Homans, 1950).
These hypotheses are most likely only functional in social
systems where rank is determined by values and rank - dif-
ferentiation criteria generally shared by the population;
but they do not adequately account for social situations
such as in Fynby where individual choice is not likely
to be validated by prior experience, and an existing set of
norms and expectations.

My study is essentially an exploration of what happens
to exchange networks in situations where stratification
criteria may vary, and where individuals are forced to rely
on personal choice rather than an explicit and traditional
set of norms and expectations in their exchange behavior.

Specific stratification criteria are established
where possible for the village, and serve as independent
variables influencing exchange behavior. These criteria are

based upon field observations in Fynby, extended discussions

with villagers, and data results indicating consistent
exclusion of groups within the village from network exchanges.
Only criteria that are clearly definable, for which population
characteristics permits classification of the sampled popu—
lation, and which are defined to exist by students who have
done field work in Danish villages are used (Svalastoga,

1959). These stratification criteria are:

1. Gender

2. Kinship

3. Occupational Skill

A. Village Nativity

5. Neighborhood

6. Social Status (deference)

7. Economic Status

These seven criteria are the most obvious and clearly
function to influence exchange behavior.

Specific categories of exchange behaviors were developed
through a pilot study emphasizing the range of exchanges made

by villagers. These categories included:

1. Exchange of Skilled Services
2. Exchange of Food Commodities
3. Exchange of Help

A. Exchange of Visits

 

Each of these four exchange categories are defined,
and examples given in the questionnaire used for the final
set of interviews. They are the dependent variables of the

study.

 

 

Exchange of Skilled Services is defined as assistance
provided by trained craftsmen to other craftsmen. A craftsman
is one having completed a recognized apprenticeship in one
of the craft skills, and can include carpentry, plumbing,
heating and metal work, painting, masonry, and like skilled
crafts.

Exchange of Food Commodities is limited to the pig

 

 

exchange as data and observation in Fynby reveal this to

be the only non-cash transaction of food in the village.
Non—caSh food exchanges are possible in economies where

food products are locally produced. In situations where
local control of food production is minimal, food exchanges,
especially of the non-cash variety, are largely beyond the
bounds of possibility. In Fynby, only pigs are locally
produced in a quantity allowing personal exchange and local
setting of prices, so this became the food exchange studied.

Exchange of Help is defined to include lending,

 

borrowing, and the giving of a hand. Helping behavior has a
specific place in the village culture.“ Citizenship and
friendship are formed on the basis of trust, dependability,

and availability to help when needed. Such helping behavior

 

has been structurally incorporated, and is known as the

venne tjeneste (friend's favor) with specific rules and

 

expectations for the proper giving of help — it is a ritual.

Exchange 9: Visits is the fourth exchange behavior
studied. There are three major types of visitation in
Fynby. The first consists of large group—sponsored feasts
held in the Village hall. The second type consists of
family feasts for holidays, anniversaries, birthdays,
weddings, and confirmations. The third is the evening
coffe for friends and neighbors. Data for visitation
deals with these evening coffee visits since these reflect
personal choice for companionship and not the social and
traditional obligations of family or group—sponsord feasts.

Data is presented on these four exchange categories.
Data results concentrate on the range of services and com—
modities exchanged, the nature of the actual exchange
behavior, and village participation in these exchanges. The
discussion section describes the influence of each strati-
fication criterion on the four categories of exchanges.
The conclusion summarizes results and makes tentative pre—
dictions regarding the emerging structure as seen in the
exchange patterns in Fynby.

This is not a theoretical or comparative study where
the attempt is to explicate carefully developed hypotheses.

It is rather an explorative study to develop and refine

the techniques of studying changing communities and their
exchange networks; it sets the stage for future comparative
work in Scandinavian and American villages. The task here

is to not only find out something about structure and exchange
in Fynby, but to determine the methods and instruments

of research possible in the traditional village.

10

CHAPTER II

FIELD SITE DESCRIPTION

Fynby is a small village of 155 households. It is
surrounded by farms on all sides, and there is only one
access route to a neighboring village. To the north of
Fynby is the highway. Beyond the highway are the large
fields of Minde Farm. Redoak Farm is to the west of
Fynby, and is still the largest farm in the area. South
of the village are small farms with fields stretching to
the sea. There is little room for expansion here - the
land is rich, well suited for farming, and privately
owned. And finally, east of Fynby lies the village of
Husby, connected by one road with a distance of less than
a mile.

Fynby is located in Oakhill Kommune (municipality).
This Kommune consists of eight sogne (parishes) first
established some one thousand years ago when Christianity
came to Denmark. The word sogn means to search, and
indicates the collected property of all individuals who

sought the same church for guidance. The same eight

ll

eggne exist today, with Fynby being one of the eight
original village sogne.

Weapons and tools have been located in the area,
indicating habitation at least 10,000 years ago. The land
was cleared and cultivation started nearly 5000 years ago.
There are still several stone graves near Fynby dating from
this period. Villages such as Husby were settled around
500 B.C., and are still located near their original sites.
Fynby was first settled in the mid eight hundreds.

After the eleven hundreds, there was rule by the
large landoWners, among them being Redoak farm.. Redoak
still owns most of the land west of Fynby, but its influence
on the daily life of the village is minimal.

A large elm and circle of boulders in the village center
date from this early period. Public meetings were held here.
Leaders would sit on the boulders to discuss community
affairs, hear grievances, or pass new local ordinances.

In the early and mid eighteen hundreds much of the
‘ land and facilities in Fynby were sold to local inhabitants
by Redoak Farm. The administration of the sogn_was
transferred with such sales, and in 18Al new local self—
governing boards were established.

The sogn remained intact until 1970, when the national
government consolidated Denmark's sogne into larger
districts or kommune. Fynby and Husby were originally part
of the same sogn, but in 1921 heated arguments in the sogn

administration forced a separation of the two villages.

 

12

The arguments have long been forgotten, but the feelings
of separation between the two villages still exist.
Eight neighboring sogne, including Fynby and Husby, were
annexed. Oakhill Kommune became the new municipality,
and the administrative center for this new kommune is
located just east of Husby.

Hansen's grocery store marks the boundary between
Fynby and Husby. Jette Brunn's farm then stretches from
the store to the edge of the village. Once past her farm,
the church and blacksmith shop at the village center is
clearly visible. The size of the old village is immediately
apparent, for there are less than a dozen houses from the
edge of the village to the traditional center.

The church is still the pride of Fynby, though few
today consider themselves active members of a church. Built
in the eleven hundreds of granite boulders with walls
nearly two feet thick, the church represents the village's
historical place and development. The tower is attached
to the north side, according to custom, and in the past also
served as a storage shed for weapons. The baptismal fond,
installed in the early thirteen hundreds, is made of granite
and decorated with carved, waving vines, and the heads of
men and double clovers. The pulpit is handcarved oak and
installed in 1650. The organ is a recent acquisition -
first installed in 1969.

Husby represents one form of village development

13

with housing located in two long rows on both sides of

the main street. Prior to the 17008, most farms were
located within the village limits, and had long, narrow
tracts of land projecting out from the main street. Today,
the original sections of Husby are all located on the high-
way, and cover a section nearly 1.5 miles long.

Fynby represents another form of village development.
There are three main streets which form an imperfect
rectangle and a central commercial area near the crossing of
these streets. Today, with the large demand for housing,
the central area of the rectangle contains four new streets.
This central area was farm land until the late sixties,
but in 1973 the whole section was developed and Fynby
doubled in size.

The village retains its traditional charm with
stores and shops well integrated into housing sections.

Less than 15 years ago Fynby contained a great number of
business concerns; most of these are now gone. All new
commercial and residential developments will have to occur
in the industrial zone between Husby and Fynby.

In 1956 Fynby lost its railroad station and tracks.
This land belongs to the kommune, and there are plans for
a development of a green area with hiking and bicycle trails
connecting several villages.

Fynby enjoyed prosperity from the mid—fifties until the
end of the sixties. There was full employment and the
villagers accumulated the luxuries already seen by the

urban dwellers of Odense and Kobenhavn. It was also in this

 

1A

decade that villagers could afford to build, and a series
of new homes were constructed east of the church. By the
seventies the continued demand for new housing forced a
kommune purchase of farm land for development. From 1965
until 1970 an average of 6 houses were built each year, and
by 197A the development of the central village area was
complete.

There are no plans for further developments and
expansion of Fynby. The village is zoned rural and residential
and the population should remain stable for th next decade.

There are development plans for areas between Fynby
and Husby, and for Husby proper. These plans call for the
development of Husby and Koldby as one community with a com—
mercial center for the southern half of the kommune. Fynby,
while less than a mile from Husby, will remain rural and
residential. These plans call for the building of
approximately_l7 houses each year on a 50 hectare tract of
land between Husby and Koldby. There are further plans for
San industrial park on 22 hectares of land south of Husby
and bordering Fynby.5

These plans represent the needs of a new and growing
growing segment of settlers in the kommune. It is necessary
to distinguish between native and immigrant inhabitants
in my research data to fully understand this changing
population. When presenting data on the population charac-

teristics for Fynby, the following terms will be used:

 

15

1. Native Resident — one born in Fynby
seen.

2. Early Settler — one migrating to Fynby
prior to 1965.

3. New Settler — one migrating to Fynby
after 1965, and in most instances after

1970.

A division of the population by these three dates seem to

most accurately reflect the Fynby population.

Fynby sogn is small. There are A26 adults in the sogn
(1976). It should be noted that the sogn is an area
larger than the village, and my sample area and field study

site was the village, not the sogn as a whole.

Table 1: Adult pOpulation of Fynby Sogn for
1965 and 1975.*

 

 

 

1965 1975

Age N % N %
20—2A 32 9 6 1
25—39 86 36 166 39
A0-59 65 27 189 AA
60-6A 1A 6 16 A
65+ 55 22 A9 12
Total 2A2 A26

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Figures include areas outside the sample
area of Fynby, though still within the Sogn.
All figures are derived rom kommune records.

16 (

An inspection of migration patterns indicates
significant changes in the Village population. Prior to
19A9, the majority of inhabitants were born either in the
village or the surrounding areas of the sogn. Few were
born in areas outside the sogn. By the early sixties
there was increasing migration to Fynby from surrounding
areas by settlers familiar with the village and village life.
In the late sixties the first new houses were built on
land east of the church. Lars Gersbo sold his land along

with his farm and decided to commute to the factories for

 

work. By the seventies, well over 65% of the settlers to
Fynby were from outside the kommune — a Virtual flood of
outsiders by traditional standards.

Table 2: Number of Settlers Arriving Yearly
to Fynby Village for the Years 1965 to 1975.*

 

 

Year Number of Year Number of
Settlers Settlers
1965 2 1970 13
1966 A 1971 9
1967 8 1972 25
1968 16 1973 27
1969 A 197A 18
1975 8

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘* Figures tabulated from data provided by
kommune authorities.

There are problems of adjustment for native Villagers,
and these problems are manifested in many ways, not the least

of which is in exchange networks and communication patterns

 

 

17

within the village. There is feigned ignorance on the

part of native villagers and early settlers regarding the
new housing development and its residents. The develOpment
area is strange to them, and not really a part of Fynby

as they know it and have come to accept it. Many simply
said "I know none there” and refused further comment.

I took my grandmother, a sixth generation village
native, on a drive to the new section of Fynby. Parked along
the edge of the section, on a hill overlooking the village,
and with the old church plainly visible, she asked me
"Where are we?” This is less than a mile from her home.

She is extreme in her ignorance of the new section of the
village, but she is not alone.

Over 35% of the present population of Fynby is native to
either the village, sogn, or kommune; 50% are settlers
from outside the kommune; and 16% are settlers from other
islands and areas of Denmark. This population should remain
stable for some time since the migration has, to a large
extent, stopped. There is little land available for
further building in the village.

The 35% of the village population native to the sogn
see their sogn as composed of two distinct groups of
people: those having been there since youth, or having been
born in the village, and those newly settled in the area.
Natives tend to believe that most new settlers are alike,
live in the new development, and share similar interests

which are alien to traditional village life.

18

I recorded data on the place of birth and present
home address of heads of households in Fynby to test
these perceptions. This gave me information on 155 houses
in the village. Dividing the village into three sections —

new, old, and bordering — I obtained the following data.

Table 3: Place of Birth and Home Location of
Heads of Households in Fynby Village.

 

 

Place of New Border Old
Birth Section Section Section
Fynby
Village 5 2 21
Oakhill
Kommune 8 8 17
Fyn

18 1A 36
Sjaelland 6 2 7
Jylland 2 3 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is not true that settlers are restricted to the
new housing development section. In fact, they are
distributed evenly in all sectors of the village, indicating
use of factors other than home location for distinctions
between native and non—native status. Home location is
the most obvious factor because of the recency and the size
of the housing development. However, the use of home
location by the natives and earlier settlers as a source

of discrimination is erroneous on their part.

19

When asked why people moved to Fynby, well over 50%
of the earlier settlers and natives insisted the family
was reason enough. Either they had relatives already
living in Fynby, or one of the members of the couple inter—
viewed was a Fynby native. The most common answer given
by the native resident was ”This is my birth place."

New settlers are less dependent upon family ties,
and migrated because of available land and housing.

Land alone is the greatest single attraction to new

 

 

 

settlers.

Table A: Reason for Moving to or Staying in

Fynby Village, and Year of Migration to Village

or Birth in Village.

Reason for Moving Year of Migration to Village

or Staying in Fynby or Birth in Village
1885—196A 1965-1975

Family 56% 18%

Land/House 13% A7%

Work 25% 6%

Other 6% 29%

 

 

 

 

 

Data tabulated from 52 families sampled.

The above data also indicates that work is of minimal
importance as a factor for moving to Fynby for the new
settlers. Only 6% of these new settlers listed work as a
reason for moving. .The natives and earlier settlers realize
the social importance of work in the traditional community.
For them, work is an integral part of their community

relationships - not an isolated factor. The new settlers

20

see Fynby in a utilitarian fashion, it is a place to
locate land and housing, but not necessarily a place for

either work or extended family and social relationships.

Besides differences in motivations for moving to or
staying in Fynby, there are also differences in educational
levels and occupational skills. For all peeple in my
sample who arrived or lived in Fynby prior to 1969, only
three had more than the basic seven years of schooling. For
those arriving after 1970, over 50% had more education.

In fact, AO% had technical training and/or college type?
experience.

Such limited education in the natives and earlier
settlers is one possible explanation for difficulties with
data collection and interviews. The villagers are alienated
by written requests or writing during the interview. There
is an active suspicion of writing. Several subjects,
honestly interested in assisting me with the pilot studies,
could not get themselves to record their activities in even
the simplest way possible.

Erna Jensen, an older lady and former owner of a
stationary store in Fynby, provided me with nearly nine hours
of detailed life history on tape. I left an activity
sheet with her to complete on two specific days. She could
not complete these sheets, and two months later finally

acknowledged that "I am not much for writing."

 

21

The borgmester indicated such problems also exist

 

for office and staff. He instructs employees of the
kommune to assist villagers in completing all forms and
letters when necessary. The headmaster of an afterschool
in Jylland also reported this hesitation to write and lack
of reading skills to be the greatest problem for the

Danish educational system. Reading and writing are not
traditional modes of expression, and villages such as Fynby
are experiencing much difficulty meeting the needs for this
form of communication in the bureaucratic world.

The presence of the school appeared to be more
symbolic in Fynby than anything else. These schools
represent the autonomy and identity of the village, and
they indicate control of parents over their children.

As effective agents for change, the schools and teachers

fail in most instances. Teachers are not insurgents in

the traditional village, they are marginal residents collecting
pay checks.

The obvious institutional function of the school is to
educate children. To the village parent in Fynby, the schools
are cherished as symbols of the activity of the village
caring for its children.

New settlers to Fynby have educations sufficiently
high to place barriers to communication with the native

and earlier settler. Of all the college educated in Fynby

22

only one was able to overcome local barriers to speak

and deal openly with professionals. He accomplished this
by building his own home, and actively seeking advice

and assistance from the odler craftsmen in the village.

Another difference between new settlers and the
native and older residen is the place of employment.
Nearly 60% of the pOpulation still work in the village.
Another 18% work within the kommune, and the traditional
pattern seems intact with more than 79% working within
five miles of home.

This pattern is rapidly changing. Over half of the
new settlers to Fynby now work outside both the village
and the kommune. The new settlers are more mobile, they
have a greater percentage of their friends outside the
village, and they shop, visit, and do other activities
outside the village.

The nature of work performed by villagers has also
altered with the last group of settlers. For the
first time there is a large category of professionals
living in the village. These are teachers and graduate

engineers who have decided to settle in Fynby.

23

Table 5: Occupational Distribution and Year
of Arrival or Birth of Fynby Villagers

 

 

 

Occupation Year of Arrival or Birth
1915—196A 1965~l969 1970—1975
N 5% N % N %
Professional 0 O 0 0 13 19
Independent 11 19 2 8 0 0
Crafts/Skilled 9 16 9 36 23 33
Unskilled 37 65 1A 56 33 A8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figures represent occupational classification of
heads of households and were derived from data
provided by kommune authorities.

The decrease in percentage of independents in Fynby
is predominantly due to the lack of available land for.
farming and available business space for commercial
'endeavors. Both of these activities would take a great
deal of capital, and it is unlikely that new settlers to
Fynby would be able to accumulate such amounts. A second
factor is zoning. The kommune administration has zoned
Fynby rural and residential, so all business concerns
have to locate either in Husby or the area between Fynby
and Husby.

The increase in the percentage of skilled workers is
due to the demands of several small shOps and factories
which have located in Oakhil Kommune. They are the
producers of electronic equipment, farm machinery, and
kitchen appliances. The number of unskilled workers in
Fynby has decreased as there is not the demand for labor

on the farms. The larger farms have mechanized and need

 

 

 

 

2A

only one or two to run and adjust the equipment. The smaller
farms are on the whole too small to support other than the
immediate family.

The greatest change in the realm of occupational skills
for Fynby is the entry of the female into the labor force.
The new settlers mark the first group where the number of
females reporting themselves to be employed outnumbers the
number reporting themselves to be housewives. For the settlers
arriving after 1970 only 37% of the females are listed as
housewives. Over 68% of all females arriving in Fynby prior
to 1970 list themselves as housewives. Along with-being
employed, there is also a significant number listing them—
selves as being in school and receiving training for employ-
ment (6%).

The females are entering the labor force at all
levels. 12% are in professional and/or academic work,

10% in the crafts/skilled level, and 37% are in the unskilled
levels. The geographic location of employment for these

women is also greater than in any year prior to 1970. In

fact, all but one female (out of 35 employed) of those migrating
to Fynby or living in Fynby prior to 1970 worked in the

village. After 1970 over 60% are working outside both Fynby

and the kommune.

The nature of employment and place of employment for the
new settlers in Fynby is not traditional. It is a response

to technological changes in Denmark and the island. The

 

 

working female of the last group of settlers is very visible
to the village - she leaves each morning to go to work in
another community, in many cases she works as a professional
or skilled worker, she dresses differently, speaks differently,
in many instances owns her own automobile, and she has other
females in the village care for her children. To a great
extent she is feared and envied by the traditional segments

of the village.

In contrast to the new settlers, the basic family
structure of the traditional Fynby inhabitant is nuclear
with ready access to an extended set of kinfolk. Affluence
has separated the generations, and provided each generation
with separate living quarters and separate homes. Sentiment
and tradition has kept the families somewhat joined in the
same village and sogn. Fyn is small enough to accomodate
traditional family sentiments with modern individual
requirements for independence and privacy.

The denseness of kinfolk breeds both familiarity and
complexity in the social relationships of the village.

The norms of social relations are often the result of

a complicated set of kinship and social rules. The peculiar
bigotries and eccentricities of traditional villages such

as Fynby are most likely artifacts of the web of kinship
relations and dependencies.

The male's role of provider retains primary importance

in the traditional families of Fynby. For example,

 

 

 

 

26

Sofie Nielsen had an hospital examination for cancer since
there is a history of cancer in her family. Her husband,

a devoted worker and family provider, seldom misses work.

The morning of the examination was not exception. He had

gone to work, leaving Sofie to arrange for child care and

transportation to the hospital.

Neither Sofie or her mother—in—law, who cared for the
children, viewed Jens as being negligent of family responsi-
bilities. He was doing what he had to, and he did not
offer to take off work, or care for the children, or
anything deviating from a normal work schedule. It is
typical and receives support from both the nuclear and
extended family members.

Erna Jensen, a neighbor to Sofie and Jens Nielsen,
is a third generation village native who summarized the
roles of men and women as follows:

I think she (the wife) should sew her
children's clothes, and keep her house
nice. She should welcome her husband with

a little something delicious, and so on.
That is what I think... it should be an

old fashion family with a MOTHER.

When she goes at home, then the man should
not have much to do there. That, I don't
think is right. Whe he is out and earning
the money, then she doesn't have more than
she-can manage at home. And then he has to
do all the yard work, the man's work outside.
But I don't think he shold have any woman's
work when she does not work outside the
home. Isn't that right? When he has to
slave for money to bring home to the family,

he has enough. So, she can care for the
rest.

 

 

 

27

For many women married to staunchly traditional men,
there can be constant frustration. Margid Jergensen is an
example of the skilled woman who has been unable to induce
her husband to share child responsibility. Mads, her
husband, says, simply, "it is not my job." The children
are Margid's responsibility, and he is the provider for all
of them. Yet, Margid, besides caring for the children and
the home, does all book keeping for Mads' garage — a task
often taking five hours a day.

Margid once reported to me, nearly crying:

When I was little, why I could always go to
my father at night. We would sit in the
living room and my father would read a story
to us all, mother would be sitting there too,
knitting, or sewing, or something like that.
Me and my brother would be there, playing,
and always listening to my father as he would
read. It was great.

Mads, when he comes in from the garage, he is
tired, and then it is just 'arn't those kids
in bed yet?’ and he can never find it in
himself to spend just half an hour with them.
He should understand that that is all it
takes. The strength from him to spend half
an hour reading to the kids and showing them
they are important too. But he never had
that in him, and it shows.

Perhaps Margid has idealized her childhood. It is
true that Margid was raised in the city and her father was
unusually attentive to the children. Her mother has
testified to that. At the present Margid is suffering
because of lack of childhood and adolescent exposure to

the extremes of the traditional village and the separation

of tasks within the traditional family. She has left Mads

 

 

 

28

three times in the last year, yet does not have the courage
to stay away. She feels she needs to stay for the children,
and now says ”What can I do?"

Children presently growing up in the village and in
traditional homes will have a difficult time adjusting
to changes. Margid's children, both boys, are already
mimicking their father - "All you women think about is
your woman's club.” Jens Nielsen rewards his son with
his laughter when he tells his sister she cannot help
in the garden because that is man's work.

The attitudes of Fynby men are traditional turned
self—righteous in the face of change. Men's work is
important, women have to adjust their schedules to the men's
and with the older traditional women there is no question
about the rightness of this arrangement.

Niels Husman was having a late afternoon coffee when
I came. I was invited to stay and we sat and talked for
some time. Casually he said to his wife ”I am going over
to Ejvind Mikkelsen to help with the cement work. It should
take nearly four hours.” His wife complained about this
since supper was nearly completed. Niels said nothing,
and she finally said ”I wish you would have said something
earlier in the day." Niels said he had made a commitment
to Ejvind, and there was nothing he could do. Niels left
and the conversation ended; His wife made no further mention

of the incident.

 

 

 

29

It is somewhat different for the new settlers. In
these homes most of the women have to work to share the
responsibility for house payments. Children and household
duties are shared by both adults, and there is greater
mutual understanding between husband and wife. Family
conflicts are mostly within those families where one
partner has made the transition from traditional and rigid
to modern and flexible role responsibilities, but the other
cannot envision the changes necessary for such a transition.

Many of the structural changes in Fynby result from
Denmark's increasing involvement in the European community
after World War II. This involvement was reaffirmed by the
1972 vote to join the Common Market, and Denmark moved to
allign itself with a technologically advanced confederacy of
European States.

The vote required standardization of economic policies
and greater control of local community affairs by large
national government bureaucracies. These controls came in the
form of national food and agricultural organizations, national
banks, and industrial associations assuring continued production
of goods necessary for Common Market trade and consumption.

Integration, previously based on isolated, self - suf-
ficient rural economies, became part of the single national
economy with strong ties to the international scene. The

State exerted control over local districts to insure the

 

 

3O

existence, security and order of a large market and its
continued functioning.

The traditional power structure within the community
changed because the local bases for political and economic
control had no say in large organizations with national and
international interests. Along with new bases of economic
and political power came develOpment of new village structures,
essentially independent of the traditional order of things.
New occupations, new facilities, and new reward systems
became part of the changing community structure.

Traditional social structure defines norms and
expectations for nearly all social situations. People adhere
to such norms because they functioned to insure mutual
benefits for the participants, but what happens when disruptive
forces, such as industrialization, nationalization of village
economy, and district government offices, literally invade
a community? If Blau is accurate in his analysis of social
exchange we can eXpect a cessation of traditional exchanges
as old norms are altered and expectations for returns based
on old norms are not forthcoming (Blau, 196A, p.6).

Exchanges tend to become specific with such changes
in the village structure; the currency for exchange is
specified, and the duration of an exchange limited to specific
transactions. For example, the Verdet of northern Norway
permitted an exchange of an unspecified amount of meat and

skin for assistance herding reindeer. There was no limit on

 

 

 

 

31

the amount of herding performed, on the time given to

the herding, or on the number of members from one family
assisting. The exchange was traditional and was performed
each year for many generations. Today, payment is made to'
each individual assisting at the time the assistance is
given, payment is specified as to amount and nature of goods
used for pay ahead of time, and the transaction is completed
at the time of herding with no expectations for the following
year.

Many-exchanges in Fynby were also specific with the
value of exchange content specified in monetary terms,
and the duration of an exchange relationship limited to
specific transactions. Nearly all exchanges outside the
established exchange networks followed such a set of condi—
tions.

Individuals make a commitment to a particular exchange,
and not necessarily to a more permanent exchange network
relationship. The decision as to which alternative is chosen
is based on personal needs and not by rules of a traditional
social structure since what constitutes benefits at one
point in time might not constitute benefits at another in
communities in transition. More likely than not, exchanges
will not be made following the patterns of a traditional
structure because of the dubious worth of such investments in a

. 6
new economic and soc1al structure.

 

32

When speaking of the worth of exchanged objects, the
reference is to some notions of currency of exchange based
on a community set of norms and expectations. Worth,
however, is also caught up in the social relationship
of the actors involved with the exchange (Blau, p.95 ).
Traditional communities undergoing rapid change find them—
selves faced with new roles and expectations, new insti—
tutions, and with individuals who have radically different
personal goals and means of reaching these goals. Such
individuals also bring new conceptions about the worth
of exchange objects. These conceptions do not necessarily
fit pre - existing norms and expectations, nor do
traditional community members expect or receive traditionally
valued exchanges with such new members.

To briefly summarize, when Speaking about transactions
in traditional communities we are focusing not only on
the actual act of exchange, but also on conceptions of the
valued objects for exchange, of the worth and investment
rules for equating exchanges, and on community perception
of rules for attaining benefits in exchanges. Rapic
community change is disruptinve, and the strategies once
used for investment and exchange are no longer optimal
for maximization of benefits. People will have to alter
not only their conceptions of what the objects of exchange
are, but also their personal goals and the means necessary

to reach these goals. This calls for adaptive strategies

 

 

33

on the part of community inhabitants. Such adaptive
strategies can be the develOpment of new networks, new objects

for exchange, and new rules for exchange.

Fynby was not isolated from such changes in the nation,
and the first set of local changes came in the mid 1950s
with the closing of the train station and later removal
of the tracks. Two grocery stores also closed; the shoemaker
died and was not replaced; the baker could not compete and
sold his shop; and the tailor moved to a nearby city
to work for a large clothing store. There were further changes
in the 1960s with the bicycle mechanic announcing his re-
tirement, and the death of both the village physician and
veterinarian. Nearly half the farms were either sold, or
else stopped production as smaller farms needed income from
outside employment.

Surviving businesses are also seeing changes today.
The automobile mechanic, carpenter, and blacksmith are all
refusing further apprentices since they are too expensive to
train. The dair will close by the summer of 1978 since it
is too small and old to operate profitably. One of the two
remaining stores will also close soon since it cannot
compete with the supermarket in Koldby. And finally, the
blacksmith shop, which has been the center of the Village
for over A00 years, is now located in a non—descript building

in the industrial zone between Fynby and Husby. The old

 

 

 

3A

buildings are being torn down this year to accomodate a
village parking lot for the hall patrons.

The village hall has represented the identity and unity
of the village since it was built in 1919 with village
donations and labor. It has housed all the village feasts,
political meetings, club and organizations meetings, and
endless family feasts. This hall is scheduled to be
replaced by a large kgmmgne hall in the late 19708 which is
to be located in Husby, nearly three miles from Fynby.

The schools are to be replaced by a central school
in Husby by 1980. Kggmgne authorities and planning
bodies have already decided that it is too expensive to
maintain a separate building for 115 students. The village
sports field and club building are scheduled to move with
the school, and thereby the place of active sport teams
representing each Village will be altered.

The village choir and drama clubs closed when the
director became ill and could not lead them. Associations
remaining in the village include the Sports Club, the
Hunting Club, and the Housewives Association. There is
a citizens action group which attracts nominal interest,
but little participation.

Finally, the governing council of the village once
included seven elected representatives, but this council
'is now defunct. Village consolidation with the Kgmmgng

now requires only one village representative to sit on the

 

 

35

Kommune Board along with 7 other representatives and a number
of permanent government planning and economic experts.
Essentially, political control of the village now effectively
lies in a kommune body of elected representatives and permanent
government members.

These changes have not been gradual; they have occurred
in less than 20 years which is a short time considering the
1100 years of Village history. The village could have
managed to retain its traditional identity and perpetuate
patterns of interaction functional in the past had its
population remained constant. However, in 1968 the
newly created kommune board, under advisement of a permanent
planning committee, voted to permit building in the central
region of Fynby. This region was part of a large farm
lying fallow since the death of the farmer. This council
decision, later Opposed by the majority of villagers, initiated
a large in - migration of settlers.

From 1968 until the summer of 1972, building permits
were issued, and by 1975 the central region was completely
inhabited. The village population doubled, and with the
gradual influx of settlers since 1955, the village now
consists of less than 35% native villagers.

Settlers are concentrated in the new section, but they
are also evenly distributed in the original settlement areas.
Younger natives have accepted such changes, but older natives

resent the newcomers who have, by their sheer number, finished

 

 

 

36

the transformation of Fynby from a village to a fringe area
of Husby and Koldby.

With the removal of local stores and facilities, villagers
find it necessary to drive to Husby, Koldby, or nearby
cities to shop and work. Today, nearly all families own at
least one automobile, and this has altered Village
interaction patterns immeasurably. The automobile is utilized
for nearly all trips, and even visitation within the village
borders seemingly requires its use. The automobile provides
the opportunity to visit frequently in all areas of the
island, and the result is a great deal of interaction with
other villages and cities and with friends from all areas
of the island.

Neighborhood and village interaction once centered
around one's work, and since work was most likely in the
village, there was time for talk and Visitation during the
day. Today, less than 20% reported visiting during shepping
trips or work periods. The greatest exposure to one's
neighbors is limited to Saturday mornings when everyone attends
to one's garden chores.7

The effects of television cannot be neglected. It too
has significantly altered interaction between villagers.
Nearly all sets in Fynby are large, and most new are color
sets with antennas designed to receive both Germany and
Sweden. During our evening visits, the television set was

inevitably on and all chairs arranged in a semi—circle so

 

 

37

everyone could see. The formal coffee and cake served at
the dining table, and followed by leisurely talk with cigars
and wine is non-existent except with the older families. Even
with these older families, care is given to insure that
special programs and American serials (mostly westerns and
police and medical melo-dramas) are seen on friday and
saturday evenings. Silence is mandatory for such evenings
since favorite shows are German and American, and require
concentrated effort to read rapidly changing sub — titles.
Social networks in Fynby were structured by a limited
set of social classes, namely the laborers, skilled craftsmen
and farmers, and the landed elites and professionals.
Neighborhoods helped isolate these classes by the homogeneous
nature of their residents. Changes in the population and
removal of most of the village stores eventually altered
the neighborhoods so now members of several classes are found
living next to each other. The old class system and
neighborhood identity is not relevant to those who work outside
Fynby, shop in Koldby, and depend on their automobiles to
carry them to friends in other areas of the island.
Visitation data indicates that over 50% of reported
visits are now made to peeple living outside Fynby; and
for residents of the new section of Fynby, these visits
approach 75% of all visits made by them. Only older natives

and settlers arriving prior to 1925 limit their visitations to

 

 

38

the same neighborhoods or to other old neighborhoods.

Explicitly defined norms and expectations for proper
behavior also structured social networks in old Fynby.

Proper behavior included paying deference to the profes—
sionals and landed elites; it also included repaying visits
regularly, setting a formal table and baking cakes and

breads to serve guests, and to hold a set of feasts and parties
at a great many events. Expectations were also to follow

the family trade, to leave school after 7 years, and to freely
spend time chatting and helping during the day. In brief,
expectations for proper behavior included meeting numerous
social obligations with a great deal of ceremony and time

never possible today.

Most villagers simply cannot meet the extended social
obligations once imposed by traditional norms and expectations.
The days are filled with work away from Fynby, and the
evenings with television, household duties, and friends from
many areas of the island. There is no present consensus on
what constitutes proper social behavior, nor is it likely
such a consensus will be possible in the future given the
heterogeneity of the present population.

Mobility from one social class to another in old Fynby
was difficult. Access to material wealth or education and
training was limited by one's family resources, and

generally sons took on the work of their fathers. Such limitation

 

39

of wealth together with the necessary language and behavior
requirements for social interaction with one's betters pro—
hibited mobility. Standing at the side of the road and.bowing
with one's hat removed at the passing of a large farmer, and
the persistent use of the formal pronoun ygg (De) or third
person when addressing such notables were behavior patterns
ingrained from the earliest days, and assured that one would
feel comfortable only with one's equals.

Today there are many social classes with a large and
growing middle class encompassing both craftsmen and teachers.
Mobility and resources for making a living outside the village
has reduced the dependency of villagers on such a monied and
educated few, and there are no benefits to paying deference
to one's superiors.

To summarize: old Fynby consisted of a social structure
that mapped the individual's activities and told him what to
do in nearly all social situations. The social structure con-
sisted of a specified set of norms and expectations for prOper
behavior, a limited and defined set of social classes; and
validation of roles and role behavior came through daily
experience, social institutions, and Village consensus.
Economic and political changes altered this Village structure,
and a great influx of new settlers with varying skills and
occupations removed validation of the old structure by
experience and consensus. Today, interaction in the form of

social networks and exchanges are determined by individual

 

 

 

 

A0

choice, and these choices are made on the basis of varying
requirements for living in a non — traditional society.

The overall effect has been to severely limit or
obviate traditional networks in favor of those that permit
greater benefits in a new and emerging social structure.

At the present time this new structure is still nascent, and
a unified stratification system built on ability to provide
valued commodities and services does not exist. The result
is a multiplication of ranking dimensions, selectively

applied depending on the nature of the interaction present.

 

 

 

 

Al

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

The village of Fynby was selected for a field site
after nearly a month of visits to sites first chosen as
study possibilities in an exploratory trip in 1973. These
sites included Villages on Jylland and Fyn, and were all
fairly isolated and distant from major urban areas, but
impossibly difficult to penetrate in the single year
allotted for the project. Another difficulty was the still
existing differences in dialects. Mastery of these
dialects is necessary to understand subtle differences in
expressions, and my lack of language skills immediately
set me off as an outsider, making discussions and interviews
difficult.

Towards the end of our first month in Denmark we visited
relatives in the village of Fynby. To my surprise, the
Village had retained its isolation, and villagers present
in 1956, when I left as a child, were still living there.

My family history in the village and my father's status as the
Village blacksmith in the fourties and early fifties
permitted rapid access to the older sections of the Village.

I decided to stay in Fynby and use the Village as my test

 

 

 

 

A2

site, and within a few weeks I was once again Knud,
one of the blacksmith boys. My dialect also returned and by
the time interviews were given I was once again a native.

An intricate aspect of gaining access to the village
was finding a place to live. This proved difficult since
most places were either filled or too expensive for our
research budget. There were three possible locations in
the village, all too expensive. A friend knew about our
limited fincances and suggested we wait a few weeks until
making a decision. He then contacted several families
regarding our need for a place and our limited income.
Eventually a retired couple offered their upstairs flat,
located only five houses from the village center. We
were charged considerably less than the going rate for such
flats in Fynby.

We accepted the flat, and in a sense were obligated to
accept since refusing such an obvious favor would be
tantamount to an insult. The decision to rent proved fortunate
since the couple had friends and family in all sections of
Fynby, and the flat location offered the greatest social
exposure possible. We stayed there for the full year.

The first three months after moving into Jens Jensen's
house was spent acquainting ourselves with the village. I
contacted the local auto mechanic to purchase an old car and
regain friendship with him and his family. I had played at

his father's bicycle shOp as a child, and followed the

 

 

A3

mechanic in school by one year. In two weeks he found a

12 year old English Ford good for another year of limited
service, and he reciprocated the purchase by offering repairs
at cost for the year we were in the village. We also walked
the streets and greeted everyone with the local ”dau”, a slur
spoken only in this area of the island. Within a few weeks
we were old news, and people did not bother to stare at us
through their windows.

I proceeded to contact fifteen families distributed in
both the old and new sections of the village. These families
remembered me as a child, and we spent several afternoons
discussing old times before I told them about my project to
study the village. They understood nothing about exchange,
but had much to say about village history and friendship.

So, I set up Specific interview times with these families,
and taped discussions on village history and conceptions of
friendship.

The tapes from these interviews were transcribed, and
the terminology for friendship and exchange recorded and
incorporated into the first draft of a questionnaire. I
returned to these families with the questionnaire, and spent
an average of two hours with each going through the questions.
These sessions were also taped, and later transcribed and used
for a revision of this first draft.

The second version of the questionnaire was tested on

three families who had by this time become friends, and who

 

AA

were anxious to help. Final corrections were made based on
sessions with these families, and a third questionnaire
draft was completed. I was nearly ready for the actual
sampling.

This development of a questionnaire took nearly two months
of repeated interviews and discussions, and I did not begin
actual interviews with the final questionnaire until our
fifth month in the village. By this time everyone knew
about my activities, and the type of questions asked.

The first ten sample families were selected from my
final sample pool with the help of close friends who judged
these families most likely to be patient and Open to all
types of questions and possible repeated sessions. This
selection of families was made so I would feel free to return

if last minute changes were made on the questionnaire.

The village has existed for over 1100 years, and the
language and behavior of exchange and friendship developed
during this time is peculiar to the village. A village
located less than three miles from Fynby requires questions
and terminology quite different from those developed for
Fynby. The successive drafts of the questionnaire was an
attempt to eventually approximate local conceptions of
exchange without imposing alien terms onto the interview

subjects.

 

 

As it turned out, I did have to make a final change in
the instructions and sequence of presentation of questions.
The fourth and final draft concentrated first on personal
history, and only gradually entered the realm of exchange
and exchange networks. This last version presented no
problems, and it was duplicated in a sufficient quantity to
complete the sample. All sessions were taped and later
transcribed onto the actual questionnaire. Translation
of results from Danish to English did not occur until
after data analysis.

The bulk of the sample interviews were made between the
beginning of March and the end of June. July was used for
obtaining details and missed questions, and August for
interviews with Village and district authorities. Had I
initiated my study with interviews of officials it is
doubtful that ready access to the village would have been
possible despite my status as a native — son. .The villagers
are suspicious of authority, and would feel I was spying

for the kommune authorities. The borgmester, towards the

 

end of August, confided that he and others had known about

my research since we first arrived, but had left me on my

own, fearing any interference or obvious contact with me

would disrupt the study. They were familiar with the suspicions
of the villagers, and themselves had many problems of

communication with the villages in the kommune.

 

 

 

A6

The first three months were also used to test other
research instruments. I designed a time study similar to one
used by the Institute of Public Affairs at Dalhousie University
in Halifax. This required villagers to record their contacts
with others and the nature of these contacts on four

randomly selected days of the month.

Form for (date)

 

 

 

 

WITH WHOM DID YOU WHAT DID YOU DO? COMMENTS
HAVE CONTACT?
Example:

Knud Hansen Had lunch at Knud offered

Husby Inn. togpay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I distributed nearly twenty such forms to selected
families in the village, and only four were returned on time,
two were returned three months late as reciprocation for
favors owed, and none were completed in the requested manner
and on the four designated dates. Erna Jensen, after nearly
six months, confided that she was not much for writing, and
she thought this the case for nearly all villagers. Erna
felt comfortable telling me this only after repeated

discussions totalling nearly 20 hours.

 

 

 

A7

A second factor interfering with completion of these
forms was the lengthy, though very basic instructions for
the forms. I gave verbal instructions to each family and
also illustrated the completion of the forms with the
example and others typed above, and finally attached a written
set of instructions. These written instructions were in
”cerrect", non-dialect Danish. While none appeared insulted
by such instructions, they certainly were suspicious. I
feel the formality of the instructions frightened peeple
who associate such writing styles with political authority.
If such a time study of activities is to be completed
in traditional villages, it has to be oral.
Aversion to all types of writing is a serious handicap
to research in the villages. As soon as I produced paper
and pencil to record interviews, subjects would visibly
tense and answer questions with simple and non—informative
responses. Even the presence of the formal and written
questionnaire interferred with the interviews; and I found
it necessary to memorize all questions and come prepared only
with a tape recorder. Subjects were especially hesitant
to report on their exchanges of illegal or black commodities
and services if my written recordings of these proved
obvious. It was my experience with the tape recorder during
the pilot stage of the project that convinced me taping would

be the only means of systematically recording data.

A8

A third set of instruments were develOped during the
early months of the project. This was a series of 26
photographs showing all homes within the sample area of the
village. These photographs were 8 by 10 black and white
prints, coded by area and street location. Subjects were
asked to identify homes and villagers living in the homes,
and then asked what types of interaction they had with these
families. Fifteen subjects were given this instrument, and
it proved most informative. Subjects averaged over three
hours to complete the series, and gave so much information
that 30 pages of transcripts were produced for each session.

A dramatic observation here was the refusal of nearly
all natives to the Village to identify homes in the new
section of Fynby. They looked at the photograph, commented
on the changes occuring in the whole village, and then
quickly and definitively placed the photograph on the stack
of those already completed. They literally dismissed the
existence of the new sections and tolerated little probing
of their feelings towards the new section and settlers.

I found the photographic instrument to be effective,
and had there been more time would have continued its use.
The wealth of information given by subjects could never be
duplicated by standard format questionnaires. The test,
however, is nearly impossible to control during the actual
interview, and information gained is difficult to standardize

and analyze in a project limited by time.

A9

A second problem also presented itself with the
photographic instrument. Subjects felt they had participated
in the project when finished with the photographs, and it was
difficult to schedule other sessions for the exchange data
questionnaire. My questionnaire often required two sessions
for completion, and three sessions would be nearly impossible
to schedule. Because of this, I decided to discontinue the
use of the photographs, saving them for a possible return
to the Village.

The final set of interviews consisted of an interview
on life history and attitudes of the sample pOpulation
and selected others who were particularly informative on the
village history. A second set of interviews consisted of
sessions with the exchange questionnaire. All interviews
were oral and taped, at no time during the final interviews
were discussions recorded by paper and pencil. Questionnaire
results were transcribed onto the questionnaires in
Danish, with translation to English being done only at the
time of results presentation in the following sections.
Translation of summarized results, after analysis, is less
likely to include translation errors, and appears to be the
most accurate for presentation of results for those students

who are bilingual.

 

 

 

50

The questionnaire consisted of questions in the

following areas:

I.

II.

III.

IV.

Personal data
Food Purchases
A. Produce - including eggs, vegetables, bread,
milk, cheese, meat, and poultry.
B. Pig Slaughter
1. Where and how pig purchased
2. Where and how pig slaughtered.
Household Commodities I
A. Where and How obtained
E. Special Arrangements - including illegal
purchases and trade.
Borrowing and Lending
A. Listing and description of items borrowed
and lent - including such articles as lawnmowers,
garden tools, tractor, hand tools, and other items
B. Listing of borrowers
C. Listing of lenders
D. EXpectations for reciprocation of all items
listed in A
Helping
A. Listing of helping activities — including harvesting
feeding, garden work, driving, butchering, house
repairs, shopping, cooking, child care, and other

helping activities.

 

51

B. Listing of Help received

C. Expectations and methods for reciprocation

of help received

D. Listing of potential help givers and receivers

VI. Visitation

A. Expectations regarding announcement of one's

visit

B. EXpectations regarding return visits

C. Listing of other visited — including frequency,

home location, and occupation of those visited

VII. Group Membership

A. Listing of group affiliations

B. Frequency and content of group activities
VIII. Attitudes regarding public welfare and private

help giving

A. Attitudes regarding families on public welfare

B. Attitudes regarding ability to help self

C. Listing of others from whom financial help

is eXpected

Sections VII and VIII are relevant to present planning
concerns of kommune authorities. These questions were, in
part, constructed with the help of kommune officials from
other islands, and a report on the results for these
questions is promised to Oakhill kommune. Kommune

officials in Oakhill kommune were appreciative of their

52

inclusion and in turn helped with the assembling of

data on general Fynby pOpulation characteristics.

The final sample was random, and consisted of 33%
of the village population. A large areal photograph of the
village was divided into sub — sections, and a sample drawn
from each section assured adequate representation of all
sections of the village.

The final sample consisted of 73 households, and
of this group, 10 refused interviews, 8 were limited to
interviews regarding personal life histories and more general
topics relevant to the village, and two families were not
interviewed because of death and illness during the year.
Final exchange data is based on analysis of completed
questionnaires for 53 families consisting of 102 individuals

and 190 interview sessions of 2 hours each.

Participant observation was an intricate aspect of
data collection in Fynby. My methods of recording observations
and conversatins evolved from the first casual and
embarrasingly aimless notes to a system of recording using
two sets of notes. One set accurately recorded conversations
and observations during the day, and the second set
recorded summaries of the day's events plus thoughts regarding
my personal feelings during fieldwork.

Immediate recordings of conversations or complex

53

activities of villagers necessitated a small and readily
available notebook. I made it a practice to either drive or
walk to a secluded area after each interview or contact to record
the events. Such immediacy kept my memory fresh and
prevented new experiences from interfering with accurate
record keeping. At parties or other social events I
left several times during the evening, ofthen finding myself
in the kitchen or bathroom writing notes.

This system of continually writing notes developed
slowly. It was not until nearly six months into the study
I felt myself competent to accurately record long conver—
sations or exchange activities. However, by the end of the
year I could record very long conversations verbatim.

I also spent at least an hour each evening reviewing
my daily notes, and typing reflections and summaries of the
day's events. These evening notes were my Opportunity to
record the emotional and subjective aspects of my field work
encounters and proved valuable during the later analysis of
data. I did not permit such subjectivity in my small notebooks
as these reflected only actual events or conversations.
By the end of the year in Fynby I had over 1000 pages of
single Spaced typed notes, and a dozen or so books filled

with notes taken during the day.

 

 

 

5 A 1

CHAPTER IV

DATA RESULTS

A. SERVICE EXCHANGES

l
Service exchange is assistance provided by trained 3'
.
craftsmen to other craftsmen. A craftsman is one having A
completed a recognized apprenticeship in one of the crafts.
The service exchange involves Skills not generally
available in the village, and is normally paid for by a
reciprocal service.
The service exchange serves to unite the traditional
and conservative elements of the village, and is a visible
contrast to new and urban exchanges — it has become an
act of defiance of state control and power. Much of what
can be classified as service exchange is illegal: villagers
avoid the various state and local taxes by not recording
these exchanges. The illegal aspect of the exchange will
be discussed in the section on sggtg pegge (black money).
The service exchange is a symbol of Village unity, traditional
values, and local independence for its participants.
There are two basic variations of the service exchange.

The first is a series of exchanges between a set of

 

 

 

55

craftsmen who form a permanent and established network. The
second variation of the service exchange is between
craftsmen who are not members of a permanent and socially
recognized exchange network. Unskilled members or exchange
partners are found in both variations, but they are

unusual exceptions and receive unequal treatment from
regular exchange members.

Payment for services provided is different between
these two types of service exchange networks. Generally,

a permanent network of craftsmen exchange services only,
with no thought of other forms of payment. The partners

in the temporary or ad hoc service exchange networks can

1) pay in exchanged services, 2) pay in cash, or 3) pay

in a combination of cash and services, the amount of

which is determined by the provider of service. The latter
combination of cash and service is usually an invitation

by the provider of services for further exchanges, though
this is not always true.

Each of the variations of service exchanges and
methods of reciprocity will be discussed, and examples
given for each. I have used Jens Nielsen and his
regular service exchange network as an example throughout
the section. Jens is a Skilled blacksmith and representative

of many of the traditional craftsmen in the village.

 

 

56

I. Varieties of Observed Service Exchanges

Most service exchanges are initiated over beer or
coffee. The individual needing assistance casually lets
it be known he needs assistance, or that he will be doing
a particular job that falls within the realm of a potential
service exchange. The exchange partner then offers his
help at the earliest possible tiem. This pattern was so
set between Jens Nielsen and Svend Lauritsen, that after
witnessing several such communications I could both.
predict and time the steps Svend would take to ask Jens
for help.

The calculations for exchanges offered and received
can be complicated and is based on a combination of time
and value of services, past debts owed, and future favors
needed. I am sure Jens would not jump to Svend's aid
so rapidly if it were not that Svend had access to needed
oil tanks, plumbing pipes, and kitchen appliances. There
gag cash payments made to service exchange partners, but
only if the partnership is not established and permanent,
or if the job is too large and extensive to be reasonably
repaid by return services.

A. Examples of Exchanges between Temporary (ad hoc)

Service Exchange Partners.

A carpenter from Kroby Village approached Jens Nielsen

through his girlfriend, who rents from one of Jens'

 

 

 

57

distant relatives, to install a furnace and bathroom
plumbing in a home he was building. Jens' normal charge
for such a major job is around 800 Kroner for labor plus
needed parts. Jens completed the job and charged the
carpenter A50 Kroner. The carpenter realized he was left
owing Jens - a Sign that Jens would come to him for help
in the future.

Three months later, Jens obtained lumber for a new
kitchen ceiling, and called the Kroby carpenter to install
it. The carpenter came on a Sunday and completed the
ceiling that same day with the help of one of his assistants.
The charge would normally be A00 Kroner, but he charged
50 Kroner and his previous debt of 350 Kroner to Jens was
paid.

A payment of cash was made, and the exchange of
services between the two completed. The cash payment was
also an indication that the exchange partnership was

terminated since no one was left owing.

B. Examples of Exchanges Between Established Service

Exchange Partners

Expectations are higher and more demanding for members
of an established service exchange network. I recorded the
following service exchanges between Jens Nielsen and Svend
Lauritsen, a skilled mechanic running his own appliance

store and repair service, in a one week period. The frequency

 

 

 

58

and nature of their tasks is representative of most of the
village service exchange networks, and indicates that not
all exchanges between established service exchange network

members are of a Skilled variety.

Saturday: Jens Nielsen spent three hours helping
Svend Lauritsen dig down to his sewer pipes and
clear a blockage. Svend had carefully, yet
casually, dropped the hint Friday evening that

he would be digging this Saturday morning.

Sunday: Svend came and helped Jens dig up his
lawn, working four hours in the morning and

eating lunch with those of us helping Jens. Jens
had apparently told Svend about the lawn job while

helping him dig the day before.

Monday: Svend received help converting his car
to the use of gas. Jens is an excellent blacksmith
and the job required some very skillful welding.

The job was not completed that day.

Thursday: Jens received a call from Svend, who was
at a restaurant some distance away installing com—
mercial diswashing machines. He needed Jens' help
and welding machine. Jens worked with Svend from

5 pm to nearly midnight, and came home drunk.

   

 

59

Saturday: Svend came early in the morning and
again helped dig the lawn for Jens. This time
staying until the job was completed at 3 pm. In
the evening Jens completed the job on Svend's

automobile.

There were no discussions here concerning money
payments. It was obvious that they took turns, or nearly
so, helping each other, and the frequency of helping here is
not unusual. Jens was left in the position of having
provided the greater service during theweek, a favored
position requiring further services from the exchange
partner, in this case Svend.

Jens and Svend, being members of the same established
service exchange network are obligated to help each other.
The relationship between these two men is contractual and
represents relationships between craftsmen of equal status.
Membership implies a contractual relationship where one
helps the other in a variety of tasks, of which the exchange
of skilled services comprises only a small segment of their
exchanges. The contract agreements are symmetrical since the
obligation to help is equally vahd for all established

members.

C. Examples of Infrequent Exchanges with Regular

Service Exchange Network.Members

Not all network ties are as active as Jens' and Svend's.

60

There are many permanent service exchange networks which are
only active a few times a year. These exchanges require
greater attention to negotiations regarding the details of
repayment. It did not appear that services were left owing
for any length of time (such as between Jens and Svend).

Mads Petersen is now a journeyman shoemaker, and
completed his Second apprenticeship with an orthodpedic shoe
maker. A pair of wooden shoes from Mads can cost well over
100 Kroner. Sofie, Jens' wife, needed a pair of shoes
specially carved with one heel Slightly higher than the other,
and Made did this at no cost to Jens or Sofie.

Three days later, he came to Jens and reported his
furnace tank needed repairs. Jens Spent nearly four hours
doing some fine welding to seal the leaks in the old tank, and
replacing the insulation around the tank. This was nearly
the equivalent tiem spent by Mads carving the special shoes,
and so the service exchange was complete: a service had been
reciprocated with another equivalent service.

Despite the fact that Mads is now a shoemaker, he will
still do masonry work (his first trade). Jens had obtained
a set of new tiles for his kitchen walls and asked Made to
install them. Mads did so, taking nearly seven hours to
complete the task.

Several months earlier Mads had completed a driveway

to his home, and had been wanting an iron lamp for this

61

driveway. He now had the opportunity to request such a lamp
since Jens owed him for the tile setting. Jens made the
lamp two days after the tiles were set, and it took nearly
the same time as the tile job.

When I asked Jens if the lamp constituted payment for
the job of setting the tiles, he would not deny it. Yet,
neither could he say it was a direct payment. It represented
one of a series of exchanges that he and Mads had done for
some time, and he did not want to look at it in terms of
payments.

The service exchanges made with Mads constitute only
skilled work, ie., repayment is made in services rather
than cash, and is begun soon after the original service
is provided. Then, nearly six months might elapse before
the opportunity presents itself for such exchanges again.

I know that Mads had wanted the lamp for nearly half a year,
but had waited until he had the chance to do an equivalent

task for Jens.

Sometimes service exchanges can be very large, and
still not require money as payment. Mads Jergensen, a
very distant kinsman of both Mads Petersen and Jens Nielsen,
is also a member of the service exchange network used as
an example. Mads Jergensen completed building his garage

in 1970. He needed a large and efficient furncace to handle

62

the constant openings of the ports as cars were moved in

and out. Jens did this job, but very wisely did not request
a money payment for his labor. Mads Jergensen did pay

for the parts and equipment used. If Mads Jergensen

was left in the position ofowing Jens for such services,
Jens would have a ready source for future assistance.

The owed partner in a service exchange is in the position

to bargain for greater benefits and services.

Mads Jdrgensen, as payment, offered Jens the use of
his shop and tools on Sundays and Saturday afternoons when
the shop is normally closed. This is a valuable offer to
Jens as his then 7 year old Volkswagen needed repairs.

So, for the past five years, with Mads' consent, Jens
has worked on his own car in the Shop with Mads' tools and
parts obtained through the shop at wholesale prices.

Mike Loukinen, in his study of Finntown, iichigan,
found Similar arrangements between exchange partners.
There, individuals would pay cash for the cost of parts,
but beer, fish, produce or help for the labor involved
in the exchange. In Fynby this is the accepted procedure,
and little negotiation, if any, is required with respect
to such parts as Jens used when building the heating system
for Mads Jorgensen. It was assumed from the beginning that
Made would provide the necessary parts for Jens to do his
work. However, if Mads Jprgensen had not been a regular

member of the permanent service exchange network, Mads would

63

then have to pay cash for such a large service.

II. Community Rules for Service Exchanges

There exists a number of established craftsmen within
Fynby. These craftsmen supply the village with their
services, and it is recognized that the village has an
obligation to ”support its own.” A service exchange is
prohibited to the extent it jeopardizes or interferes with
the right—to—business of the craftsmen.

To exemplify community regulations of the service
exchange, let me again use Jens Nielsen. Jens is free to
engage in service exchanges outside the village. He is
very active in the kommune, and has a wide range of service
networks with fellow craftsmen. He would not, however,
consider such exchanges within the village as such exchanges
would Violate the rights-to—business of other craftsmen,
such as Bernt Madsen, the formal village blacksmith.

Jens did violate these rights of Bernt's two years
ago. He installed both a furnace and plumbing in a small
auto repair shOp in the industrial zone between Fynby and
Husby. The shop owner is son of a Fynby native, and can
trace his family back several generations in the ghgh.
There was no particular friendship between Jens and this
mechanic, though the mechanic's father was a drinking partner
of Jens' father. Jens felt obligated to provide his

services because of the mechanic's nativity to the sogn

 

614

and his father's drinking relationship with Jens' father. Also,

Jens was not about to let such an opportunity for possible
future help escape.

Bernt Madsen immediately let it be known that he
thought Jens unfair to do such business in the village,
as the business rightfully belonged to him. Jens has not
completed such an exchange again, and he gave a wry smile
when we talked about it, implying that he had known it was
wrong from the beginning. It was a calculated risk by Jens,
one that he would not likely make again considering the
reaction to such an exchange by Bernt.

When Jens installed Mads Jergensen's furnace the
situation was different. Jens and Mads had been close
friends since childhood. Bernt Madsen did not object here as
he would not have gotten community sympathy for such
objections. The community would view Bernt's objections in
this case as interference in the dealings of known friends.
So, while the community limits the service exchange activities
within the village, dealings between close and established
friends and kin relations are free of constraints.

There are no such constraints on service exchanges
outside the village limits. All craftsmen are quite busy
in service exchange networks in other areas of the kommune
and island. But within the village, service exchanges are

permitted only between establishe friends and relatives.

 

 

 

 

65

It is because of such constraints that most service
exchange networks are of limited size. Permanent networks
seldom have more than five or six members. Helping networks
such as those for the venne tjeneste, borrowing, and other
exchanges have considerably larger memberships. These helping
networks are also more subject to change and variation than

service exchange networks.

III. Black Exchanges

Service exchanges can also be illegal when they avoid the
large sales tax on all objects and services sold. Such illegal
exchanges are common, nearly everyone in the village partici—
pates in such exchanges, and many times the added dimension
of illegality serve to symbolize friendship and trust.

Actual transactions of ”illegal" articles and services
are subject to great secrecy. I obtained no information from
anyone in the interview context, and it was only when I came
as a visitor on a social or friendship basis that villagers
would tell me about these black exchanges. The villagers
term these exchanges sorte 22252: which means black money,
or economic benefits without paying the taxes due.

Black service exchanges are often hidden between legal
dealings, thereby becoming an added and personal symbol of
trust between exchange partners. For example, Jens

Nielsen ordered a complete set of windows and a considerable

66

amount of insulation from a neighbor who is a carpenter.

Records indicated Jens paid full price for the windows,
insulation, and the labor for installing the windows. This
was taxable at a 18% rate. As far as authorities were

concerned, Jens installed the insulation himself. In

reality, the carpenter had one of his apprentices blow the

insulation into Jens' house during the apprentice's free

time. The apprentice had free use of the carpenter's machines,

anti charged only half the normal labor charge. Jens
Satned a considerable sum in this exchange, and the carpenter

fulgfilled his obligations to Jens since Jens had previously
insisalled plumbing and heating equipment in the carpenter's
shogn.

These illegal or black exchanges are frequent and
iHVNDJJVG established network partners where one of the
parfliruers is in the position to offer articles or services
at Mflncalesale or reduced prices, and on a non-taxed basis.

The (DEDligations between network partners are such that
blaCIC exchanges are expected where possible, and the potential

buyel? <3f such black articles generally has an idea of what

he‘flallts and how much it will cost before he approaches the

SUppjnifier of the articles. The supplier is under equal obli—

gatiorls to provide such favors if the buyer is an established

netwo Pk partner .

 

 

 

 

67

B. I?C)OD EXCHANGES

IJon-cash food exchanges are possible in economies
wherwa food products are locally produced. Mass production,
dist:I?j_bution, and packaging does not permit local control
oi‘izriee trade or exchange of food products since merchants
dealgixqg with mass—distributed foods are subject to price
settxirigs and distribution controls of large organizations.
Ihi:3L1ck1situations where local control of food values
is Tniliimal, food exchanges, especially of the non-cash
VaPiJEigy, are largely prohibited.

I?ynby is a village in transition. Many of the products
on Ch351lers' shelves are massmproduced and mass—distributed.
The :lEibels of Delmonte, Crest, Protein 21, and many others
are Ilcyt alien to the villagers. The merchant acts as a
100311 distributor for these products with limited freedom
to‘alyter prices.

'There are also locally — produced goods on the shelves
suck} as meats, vegetables, poultry, and flour. These
procillcts are not subject to the same regulations as are
masgs

e produced goods. Locally ~ produced goods are

sub ~ . . - 1 . .
JGEct to local conditions, local COSts of production, and

¥

the local merchants‘ demands for profit. It is with these
locally -— produced foods that both cash and non—cash
transactions are possible in the village.

It should be noted that the acts of purchasing any
of the national and international mass — produced goods also
constitute exchange. They are what will later be termed
cash—for-food variations of food exchanges. They will not
be of central interest in this thesis as they reflect
national and international concerns rather than the economic

and social conditions peculiar to the village.

I. Which Foods are Used for Food Exchanges?
When asked ”Where do you obtain your food?" over

80% Of the sample interviewed reported dealing exclusively

 

With village sources. Less than 14% reported dealing in
the Shops of two cities each about 15 km from Fynby. This

indicates local control of food distribution and a good
probability for locally — developed and locally — controlled
food exchanges.

The above answers did not reflect my own observations
in the Village, and a second set of questions were developed.

T . , . .
hese questions explored the sources of specific foods such

as o l— l _ -
eggs, milk, cheese, and Other dairy products, meats,
ve .
getables, poultry, and other food products. The answers
to

these questions produced surprisingly different results.

 

69

Herwe, less than 38% of the sample interviewed reported
<deallirig exclusively with village sources of food.

Tune first question received responses indicating
:hqdixij_dual intent to express the ideals of the village
and XJfi_llage identity to the larger world. Many subjects
answeeised this question defensively, as if the question
itseZLI? implied their less-than-full support of the village
and :iizs citizens. Such feelings were expressed in many
conteeicts by nearly all of the older settlers and natives
of blues village. In the food context, people repeatedly

saidl, "We shop in Fynby; we have to support our own."

Yet, eactual shopping behavior does not reflect such feelings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TPable 6: Sources of Specific Foods*for Fynby Villagers
lkrriving in 1969 and Prior, and in 1970 and After.

[*Egeported Source Arriving Arriving Total
C>f Foods 1969‘& Prior 1970 & After

h““ N % N % N %
Fynby 96 37 37 39 133 37
Husby/Koldby . 21 8 5 5 26 7
Clther in Kommune 38 15 5 5 H3 12
Nearby Cities 10 A 114 15 2L: 7
Self Produced. A7 18 6 6 53 15
Private Sources” 116 18 22 23 68 19
CDther Sources 1 O 7 7 8 2

e~ll
*

Specific Foods include eggs, cheese, milk, bread,

‘Jegetables, poultry, and meats. A sample of 52 families
‘Nere asked for specific sources of these foods, resulting
Sin a listing of 355 total combined food items distributed

according to reported sources.
** Private Sources are those sources other than retail
dealers.

 

 

70

The above results indicate a surprising variety of food
sources for both natives and settlers. Major differences
between these two groups are found in the levels of self —
production of foods, and number of foods purchased in the
cities. Food items of settlers arriving in 1970 and after
are nearly four times as likely to be obtained in the city
as those for the older residents. Older residents and those
native to Fynby are three times as likely to produce their
own food.

Eggs remain one of the few foods generally available in
the village. Over 65% of the villagers reported obtaining their
eggs from private sources in the village. Nearly 16% owned
their own chickens and relied on these to supply their eggs.
Less than 12% of the villagers purchased their eggs from stores.'

Meats are a second category of foods available in Fynby.
Beef is not available from private sources, it is expensive,
and few have it as a regular food. The pig is the main

provider of meat to the villagers.

Table 7: Sources of Pigs for Slaughtering

 

 

Source of Pig N %

Farmer in Fynby 10 19
Friend in Fynby 10 19
Butcher in Fynby 5 lO
Butcher in Husby 3 6
Nearby Cities 1 2
Freezer Company 3 6
Self—raised 10 19
Other Sources 1 2
Do not slaughter 9 17
Total 52

 

 

 

 

 

7i

Other foods, such as milk and dairy products, are
exclusively obtained from Village merchants. There are
only three dairy farmers remaining in the immediate area,
and these farmers do not provide milk to local villagers. Only
two families were known to obtain milk directly from one
of these farmers. Breads and vegetables are also obtained
from the merc hants. Over 75% of those arriving in the
' village prior to 1970, and over 96% of those arriving after
1970 purchase their breads. Vegetables are largely grown
for personal consumption, iot exchange. The villagers are not
large consumers of vegetables, and what is eaten can easily
be grown in the garden.

The above dataand personal observations in the village
indicates that the pig exchange is the only non-cash

transaction within a regular network system.

II. Who Exchanges Foods?

Obtaining information on participation in food exchange
networks is very difficult. Villagers are reluctant to
report actual transactions during interviews, and it takes very
little prying to end an interview. Such hesitation is due to
the illegal nature of the pig exchange. Pigs used for

exchanges are not registered with tax authorities by the farmers.

The income derived from such exchanges is not taxed.

 

 

 

 

72

As a consequence of such fears, only 10 families
volunteered information about any kind of non~cash
exchanges during the interviews. Of the M2 families
who slaughter, 28 reported paying cash for thier pigs,
and 4 families refused to reveal how they obtained their

pigs.

Table 8: Source of Pigs for Slaughter for
Alleged Cash—paying Villagers

 

 

 

 

Source of Pig N %
Fynby Farmer 8 29
Friend 5 l8
Fynby Butcher A 13
Husby Butcher 2 7
Nearby Cities 1 A
Freezer Company 3 11
Family 5 18
Total 28

 

 

 

 

It is not likely that these 28 subjects were entirely
honest or accurate during the interview. In fact, 18 of
these supposedly cash — paying families obtained their
pigs from sources where the potential for non —cash arrange—
ments is high. A review of field notes for the year found
discrepancies between the above interview reports and later
observations or discussions with the villagers. Many
villagers contradicted earlier reports once they found I
could be trusted to keep their arrangements secret. Examples

of such contradictions are:

 

 

73

1,- Mads Jergensen, mechanic, claimed to pay cash for

t1jL.ss pig when asked during the interview. While drunk

cprj. Christmas Day, however, he amused his neighbors by
iseeilling how he and his wife ”sneaked" their slaughtered
pyj_gg home from one of the farmers in their automobile

Ilzafte one evening to prevent detection by the
aigxthorities.

2 . Ruth S¢rensen claimed to pay slaughterhouse prices

t<> her son-in-law. Two months after the interview, over

a <3up of coffee, she reported how she and her son had

 

a Estory planned in the event they would be stopped by
tiles police on the way home with their slaughtered pig.
If‘ she really did pay slaughterhouse prices to her
SOrl—in—law, it would be legal, and no story for the
DC>3.ice would be necessary.

3- Ove Larsen, village painter, also claimed to buy
pieggs from local merchants, but adding that ”If I were

Of'f‘ered a pig, I would not say no.” Later I discovered

tr161t his grandparents own a rather large farm, and

 

f23.111in obligations most likely rewarded Ove with a
SEEasonal pig for slaughtering.

14- Torben Laursen's wife claimed they purchased their
piigs from a butcher in a neighboring village. Later,
While talking with her husband, I found he obtained

piégs from farmers for whom he delivered animals to

SliiUghtering houses. He was not aware of what his wife

 

74

had reported during the original interview.

As a consequence of such discrepancies between the
irrteeisview reports and observations in the village, the
finial]- determination of who participates in food exchanges
is t321sed on personal observation and participation in such

exch anges .
111:. How does the Food Exchange Function?

The nature of the food exchange is dependent upon

 

thex Cflajects of exchange and the participants in the
exclialige network. There are basically four variations in

thel Vnillage food exchange networks, and these are:

1. Cash Exchanged for Food
2. Food Exchanged for Food
3. Services Exchanged for Food
A. Non-food Objects Exchanged for Food
fiach of these variations has rules for exchange, sets
OfaCCepted exchange currencies with which to evaluate the

tradilig;value of exchange objects, and varying sets of

 

exchange network members.

rl‘he cash exchanged for food variation involves

 

m
erehants, and private food producers, and their cash
pafirirlg customers. Data indicates this to be the most

CC)
menof the village food exchanges.

 

‘

 

75

Table 9: Methods of Food Procurement

 

 

5Reported Methods of Procurement N . % _
Cash Payments 268 75.7
Trade of non—food object for food 2 .5
Trade of Services for food* 1 .3
Free from family 19 5.u
Cash payments to family 8 2.3
Share of expenses** 2 .5
Other*** - 5H 15.3

 

 

 

 

 

* This category is low because of l) exclusion of

the pig exchange from this data, and 2) doubtful

honesty of subjects during interview.

** Share of expenses category consists of indi—

viduals sharing costs of feeding poultry or pigs

for slaughter.

*** Other category consists of individuals

raising their own foods, including both

vegetable and animal.

TPhe above data on methods of food procurement indicates

18853 ‘than 22% of the food procurements to be on a non—cash
bas:is;. Since this data does not include the pig exchange,
the' ffiigure of 78% for cash payments can be trusted to be
fail?lgy accurate. As a check, the reported sources for the
abCTVee foods were also recorded. If there is a similarly
hiéghl 13ercentage of foods obtained from merchants where

or113, <3ash payments are possible, then the above figures

C o
3’1 EDGE conSidered accurate.

 

 

 

 

 

Table 10: Source of Foods Procured by Cash—

 

 

Payment

Reported Source ] N %

Merchants in Fynby 135 38.1
Merchants in Husby/Koldby 65 18.6
Merchants in near cities 24 6.8
Private food producers 69 19.6
Self - produced 52 1U.7
Other 8 2.2

 

 

 

 

 

Foods included in this table are: eggs,
cheese, milk, bread, vegetables, poultry,
and non—pork meats. A sample of 52 families
were asked about the specific sources for
these foods and for which they paid cash.
The resulting total was 353 total combined
sources for specific food items.

Pderchants accounted for nearly 65% of the food
SOUJTCZEBS of the Villagers. This figure is 10% less than
the 775% reported cash payments for foods. Actual cash
payTnfirits for foods other than pigs for slaughter most
39l<6fil3r accounts for at least 65% and up to 75% of the
1100(is consumed in the village.

'Ihere is no historical data allowing comparisons
of IDrwesent cash for food exchange norms with earlier food
eXC3hNir1ge norms.’ Discussions with older residents of the
‘Uiljlaége place cash payments for most foods as early as
{379 .Hticj to early 1800s. Two day diaries, one from 1930 and
(”16 ITrwom 1865, both detail cash payments for food-
Erqla- Cremwen's family store in the village records cash
paymehts of nearly all foods except meat, poultry, eggs,

m i '
:Lk:3 and cheese since the mid 1800s.

‘

 

 

 

 

 

77

-The trend is towards cash payments for all foods
exceEt the pig for slaughter. The pig exchange, while
continuing, is seeing severe limitations on acceptable
participants in non —- cash exchange networks. Remaining
village farmers are now reserving non — registered pigs
1‘30“? their kin and close friends only. Aksel Kristiansen
I‘epOPted that when he moved to the village in 1970 he was
not able to locate a farmer willing to exchange pigs for

futher services or wholesale price payments. He found it

 

r1e<3€388ary to befriend the village butcher, who also is a
settler to the village, to obtain pigs and other meats on

a non — cash basis.

The food exchanged for food variation is very limited.

 

Few residents, other than local farmers, have facilities
to produce foods. New homes are built in zoned districts
and exclude possibilities for raising animals. Many
SEElJJClers and village residents do not have time to develOp
gardens sufficiently large to handle family needs and

fOOd exchange requirements.

 

Food for food exchanges which do survive are between
the Small farms, and generally involve exchangeS 0f pigs
for C353.1:t1e, poultry, grain, or help during the planting and
harvesting. The arrangements for such exchanges grow out
of general helping relationships and are informal, lacking
clear definitions of trading value of exchange ObJeCtS'

Re
3.1 market values are not attached to these exchange

‘

 

 

78

focxis since the exchange fits into a larger helping network.
jFarmers and villagers who engage in the food for
fooci eexchange are secretive about these arrangements since
mansr c>f the exchanges are illegal. The food for food
excliaiiges of the small farmers will be discussed in the

corrtee)ct of the venne tjeneste (friend's favor) since the

 

ObJe<3t3ive of such exchanges is not solely food procurement.

CPhe third variation involves services exchanged for

 

£3512L, the most frequent food exchange in the village. This
eXC3kha11ge has four sub—variations based on level of skill
afl51 Exaynent for service determination. These sub —

vaIViEitions are:

1. Skilled services with pre — determined value

of the exchange objects.

2. Skilled services with the value of the exchange
objects determined by the food ~ provider.

3. Non — skilled services with pre — determined
value of the exchange objects.

A. Non — skilled services with value of the exchange

objects determined by the food - provider.

TDhe first sub — variation is an exchange of skilled
w
CDrfl‘ Ifor food, with the value of the work performed and
tr
“3 vEilue of the food (in nearly all cases meat) being

de
tear‘mined by the retail market value of each. Because

¥

 

 

 

 

 

79

Of' the specialized nature of the work performed and the
infrequent demand for such work by any one food-provider,

these exchanges are generally ad hoc in nature. The

exchange is terminated upon completion of the work, and
carries no obligation for similar exchanges in the future.

Erik Rasksten, the village electrician, reported

several instances of such exchanges. The first interview

did not provide accurate information of his exchanges,

Since he reported paying cash for his meat (which is

technically correct). Much later, when Erik realized my

nativity to the village he noted several debts owed my
father (22 years earlier), he relaxed and gave me more

infoI’mation about his food exchanges. Exact details of

these exchanges with surrounding farmers were never given;

theSe details I learned from the farmers.

Erik's skill as an electrician has been used by

villagers modernizing their farms. Such modernization

includes new wiring and installation of complicated milking
machines. Erik completes such work and then approaches
the farmer with an alternative to cash payments, usually

a pig which Erik has slaughtered by his neighbor, the
butCher of Fynby.

Erik hesitated reporting any details of such non — cash
exchal"lges as they are without the benefits of records. In
this I‘rlanner, both the 18% sales tax and the year — end

inc
Qme tax on the exchange income are avoided.

¥

 

 

 

 

80

Mads Jorgensen, Fynby's mechanic, and Jensen, the
carpenter, are both involved with such food exchanges. Jensen
would not discuss these exchanges at all, though a local
farmer reported details of one exchange with Jensen. Bernt
Madsen, the blacksmith, does not participate in such food
exchanges since his father - in — law owns a farm in
another village and supplies Bernt with a pig twice a year.
Bernt ' s absence from such village exchanges jeopardizes

his acceptance by the villagers (especially since he is not

 

a native), and many criticize him for being interested only

in money .

The second sub—variation is an exchange of skilled work
for food, with both the value of the work performed and

the Value of the food determined by the food — provider.

 

Niels Husman helps exemplify this exchange. A local

ffirmer), he needed considerable cement work done on his 400
year Old barn. His son Mads, a. former mason, performed
the Work in his spare time, and did not request payment
frOm his father despite the nearly LIO hours of work. Niels
Offered Mads a slaughtered pig nearly two months later and
Mads' accepted. Mads did not question his payment as it
was a~C1equate in the eyes of his father.

This sub - variation of the food exchange does not

OQQ
up In most instances children and other

frequently.

e

 

 

 —

81

Kinfold either pay for their pig at the wholesale price
01? else receive it free. Nearly 5.5% of food procured
Was reported freely obtained from the family, and 2.3% to
be on a cash basis. Given the legal difficulties possible
for giving information on such exchanges, I would again

assume the percentages to be a good deal higher.

Sub — variation three is an exchange of non—skilled

work for food, with the value of the work performed and

 

the value of the food pre — determined by the market price
of both,

Torben Laursen provides a good example of this sub—
variat ion. Torben, who drives a large truck for several

Slau~ghtering firms, picks up both cattle and pigs at

 

various farms on the island, and delivers them to the

cities for» slaughtering. His wife claimed they they
pur’Chased all of their foods from a butcher in Vesterby,

a neighboring village. Some time later, Torben confirmed

that he obtains at least one pig yearly from a farmer in the
W by delivering a few loads of animals free of

Charge . The value of the pig is set at the slaughterhouse
price .3 and the value of Torben's delivery service is
determined by his normal per pig charge. Since the arrangement
is L11”Ir‘ecorded, the pig is obtained without the 18% sales

tax

' rI'he farmer does not record the income and does not pay

inQO
"1% tax on the exchange.

‘+ ___

 

 

—

82

The fourth sub — variation is an exchange of non -
skilled work for food, with the value of work performed and
the value of food determined by the food provider. The
unskilled individual offers his services, which at times
are considerable, with no clear prior arrangements for
payment by the food provider. It is considered presumtuous
and rude to ask for a clear understanding of the payment
for Services provided — something akin to demanding pay

before doing the work. rfhe food provider determines the

 

rate of exchange. If the payment is considered unsuitable
by the unskilled worker, he looks for other exchange sources
rather than demanding higher payment.

This sub - variation is the most common of the non -
cash food exchanges, though it will diminish in frequency
and prominance as settlers further pOpulate the villages

and Small farmers sell their land. The exchange appears

 

only where the potential for friendship and physical labor
is possible. Those farms with mechanized feeding, milking,
Seeding, and harvesting procedures do not need help from
unskill-ed villagers, and do not wish to engage in non —
CaSh food exchanges.

Aksel Kristiansen, a new settler to the village having
no Options for non — cash food exchanges with small farmers,
providles an example of this sub — variation despite his
Status as settler. Aksel slowly initiated small exchanges

Wit .
h the village butcher, himself a new settler, and With

 

¥

 

 

83

time developed a friendship relationship. Most exchanges

were performed ad hoc when help was needed by the butcher,

and were exchanged for smaller cuts of meat or poultry.

After nearly two years, Aksel began helping on a regular

basis and the exchanges increased in value. Aksel now

receives nearly all of his meats from the butcher in exchange

for help with slaughtering and delivering of meat to the

We; customers .

The Village postman, a native to the area, has a similar

ar’PEz‘Lngement with Jette Brunn. For well over a decade he

 

has helped 'seed and harvest Brunn's 5 hectares of grain.

They have developed 'a close friendship and the terms of the

exchange are not discussed. When the Brunns slaughter,

they always include a pig (or lamb) for the postman as his

due for the summer's help.

 

 

8M

3. HELPING BEHAVIOR

Helping behavior has a specific place in the village
culture. ‘Citizenship and friendship are formed on the basis
of trust, dependability, and availability to help when
needed. Such helping behavior has been structurally
incorporated, and is known as the friend's help (venne
tjeneste) with specific rules and expectations for each
stage of such exchanges of help - it is a ritual.

Many villagers bitterly report that the tjeneste is a
thing of the past. Few, if any, according to these critical
villagers, have the time or inclination to help others. A
review of these critical villagers indicates them to be
members of groups excluded from presently existing helping
networks in the village. They are the aged, single women
(ie., unmarried, divorced, or widowed), proprietors and
managers, and others locally perceived as privileged.

The following data indicates that these critical
villagers are, to some extent, accurate in their perceptions.

The form of the venne tjeneste, and of helping behavior

 

in.general, is changing. Helping behaviors are not, as they

perhaps were in the past, a general and frequent aspect of

village life .8

 

 

85

I. Helping Activities in the Village

The final questionnaire, given to a sample of 52
Fynby families, contained 15 distinct categories of helping
behavior. These categories were develOped in a pilot study
which consisted of a series of interviews and a first draft
questionnaire given ten families in the village. The
discussions on help and helping behavior were recorded
and categorized. Representative categories of helping
were then develOped and retested by further discussions
with villagers. The final list of helping categories was
developed from this second set of discussions.
Helping Behavior in the Form of Borrowing and Lending
of Items
1 Lawnmower
2 Garden tools and utensils
3. Roto tiller and/or tractor
A. Automobile
5 Hand and work shop tools
6
c

. Other items borrowed or lent (ladders,
ooking utensils, phone, etc)

Helping Behavior in the Form of Assistance Given or

Received

1. Harvesting and planting
2. Feeding of animals

3. Garden work

A. Driving

5.. Slaughtering

6. Repairs to house

7. Shopping

8. Cooking

9. Child care
10. Other help given or received

 

 

 

 

86

These categories also served as a context for
questions relating to expectatons for reciprocation of
help given or received. The original pilot study indicated
much confusion by villagers with questions relating to
reciprocity and help, but after giving the above context
of fifteen helping and borrowing/lending situations,
only two out of fiftythree sampled families required
further explanations. Questions on the final questionnaire
were understood by the sample subjects.

The discussions during the pilot study were animated
and filled with personal observations. Nearly everyone
felt Fynby to be ideal for its expression of traditional
helpfulness. There appeared to be few restrictions on who
could or would ask for help from anyone in the village.

The question, "Is it in order to ask someone in the
village for a tjeneste (help) if you have not done him
a tjeneste first?" attempted to obtain specific information
on whom Villagers felt they could ask for help. Over
56% of the sampled families answered they could go to
anyone in the village and expect assistance. Seven families
(13.8%) said that whom they ask for help depends upon the
extent to which they know them.

Subjects were also asked whom they would not go to for
help in the village, and only three families were able to give
direct replies. These replies indicated rejections of help

due to personal grudges against specific families in Fynby.

 

87

Table 11: Number of PeOple Reporting Willingness
to Ask for Help from Others in the Village.

 

 

Expressed Willingness to N %
Ask for Help

Yes, very willing 29 56.9
It depends 7 13.7
No, not willing 11 21.6
Do not know 1 1.9
Other 3 5.9

 

 

 

 

 

Results support the impressions received in the
initial interviews of the pilot study. Villagers express
great freedom to ask for help from most others in the
village, and few have any restrictions on whom they would
go to for help. Yet, when results are analyzed for actual
helping incidents reported for each of the 15 helping
categories listed above, most villagers do not ask others
for help. Expressions of traditional ideals are not

reflected in day — to — day activities of villagers.

Table 12: Help Categories and Reported Incidents
of Help Received.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category of Help Reported Source of Help
Received

No help Help from Help from

received family friends

N N N

Feeding of Animals A6 1 3
Garden Work AA 3 3
Driving 35 8 7
Slaughtering 31 9 10
Repairs to House 36 5 9
Shopping 33 5 12
Cooking A8 1 1
Child Care A9 — 1
Totals 322 32 H6
Percentage of Total 80.5 8.0 11.5

 

 

g—

88

The above data indicates that over 80% of A00
possible helping situations for the entire sample involved
no acutal help from others; most people felt they could

or should perform these activities by themselves.

”No, that is something I manage by myself.”
”I take care of my own children!”

"If we can manage it, we do it ourselves."
"We have been offered help, but we would
rather do it ourselves.”

"...we run around together, we have painted
the house and tarred the foundation, and
then we get a beer and schnapps for lunch,
and then the evening meal; then, that one

is paid, and we have a good day together."

The average number of "no help received” responses
for each family was nearly 6 out of a total of 8. That is,
less than 25% of the sampled families reported using
help from others when performing these activities.

In those situations where help was reported, subjects
were encouraged to discuss the nature of their arrangements
for returning or repaying the help received. The majority
Of subjects had no specific expectations to reciprocate
f0? help received (just a thank you for payment). Over

27% of reported help received were listed as part of

_¥—

 

 

 

 

89

established network arrangements between the help giver and
help receiver. There are indications that the established

network route for receiving and giving help is diminishing,
and in the future will not be the guranteed source

ready help it has been in the past.

Table 13: Reported Type of Arrangement for
ReCiprocation of Help Received

 

 

 

 

 

 

Type of Arrangement N %
Cash payments A A.5
Established arrangement

for mutual help 2A 27.3
Help received without

expectation to reciprocate A7 53.A
Illegal (black) exchange

of help 13 1A.8

 

Borrowing as a helping activity gave results similar
to those reported above for the specific help categories.
Only 30% out of 2A5 possible borrowing situations involved
actual borrowing behavior, and over 70% of the listed
situations were reported as not involving actual borrowing.

The category of ”no borrowing reported” is by far
the largest with an average of 3.5 items not borrowed at
any time for each family. Only 1.5 items were reported
to have ever been borrowed for each family. Again, earlier

discussions during the pilot study gave the impression of

free and frequent borrowing of items by nearly everyone.

 

 

 

90

Table 1A: Reported Events* of Borrowing
or not Borrowing

 

 

 

Reported Borrowing

Behavior N %
No borrowing reported 172 70.2
Borrowing from family 16 6.5
Borrowing from friends 57 23.3
Total ‘ 2A5J

 

 

 

 

 

* Five potential borrowing situations were
presented to subjects, including lawnmower,
garden tools, roto tiller/tractor, auto.,
and hand tools. Each subject was asked
"Have you, at any time, borrowed.. ?"

Total number of possible borrowing events
is equal to five items for each family times
a sample of A9 families.

Table 15: Number of Items Listed as not
Borrowed at any time

 

 

 

 

Number of Items
Listed N %
One item 1 2.0
Two items ‘ 13 26.5
Three items 7 1A.3
Four items 16 32.7
Five items 12 2A.5

 

 

 

There was no significant difference in the average
number of items borrowed at any time when recorded by year
Of arrival or birth in the village. Older settlers and
natives had a slightly higher average number of items nqt
bonrowed, which is also contrary to expectations given
duning the early interviews and discussions of the pilot

study.

91

Table 16: Average Number of Items not
Borrowed per Family and Year of Arrival

 

 

 

in Village
Year of Arrival Average Number of
Items not Borrowed
N Average
1970 — 197A 1A 3.1
1960 — 1969 7 3.3
1950 - 1959 9 3.9
1885 — 19A9 19 3.7

 

 

 

 

 

Leriding as a type of helping behavior reflected
Similal? 'trends as borrowing. The average number of items
“Qt aVEifiQlable for lending at any time was 3‘69 OUt Of 5
pOSSib:L€s items for each family. Both settlers and natives
to the \Jillage have similar high averages for items not

lent at any time.

E30th borrowing and lending behavior data resembled
helpir1g§ data (for the 15 categories of help) with equally
10W p6217<3entages of help given or received through
eStabJ—fiLsshed arrangements between families. Over 27% of
liSteC1 luelp categories involving actual help were part Of
eStablfiLehed network activities. The results Of the
borrowfith/lending data were almost exactly the same at 27.3%-
The aEDCD‘ve data on helping behavior given or received through
eStabJ-i_shed arrangements represents percentages 9£.B£lB

8333§3;3;z given gr received. If we were to calculate the

IIIIIIIIIlll-___

92

percentage of established arrangements for help of the

total number of possible helping events, then the percentages

for help through established networks would be 6% for‘the

help categories and 6.5% for the borrowing/lending categories.
If personal accounts given by older citizens in the

village and data for helping behavior for natives of the village

are accurate, then we can conclude that the established

network route for helping is indeed diminishing.

To summarize: data indicates that helping activity
does occur in the village, but less frequently than expected.
'Only 19.5% of a possible A00 helping situations for 51
families actually involved the giving of help by someone,
and of this 19.5%, 27% involved established network activity.
Borrowing activities showed similar results with 29.8% of 2A5
possible borrowing situations actually involving the act
of borrowing, and lending with 23.3% of 2A6 possible lending
situations. Less than 6% of the total possible helping
situations involved established arrangements for giving or

receiving help.

11. Discussion of the Help Exchange in Fynby

In view of the expressions of traditional helpfullness

93

of villagers given during the pilot study discussions,
data results in the above sections show a surprising
paucity of helping activities in Fynby. Traditional ideals
emphasize free and generous giving of help to fellow
villagers, and by village accounts such help was the norm
as recently as the middle fifties. Social changes due to
the large migrations of settlers to the village, the
diminishing number of established networks, and changes
in the life‘style have altered the dynamics of the help
exchange. Past traditional requirements for village
solidarity and present economic pressures for individual
independence often conflict, producing resentment since
villagers cannot always meet the demands of both.
The following is an attempt to explore such changes through
a discussion of help exchange as seen by the villagers
in Fynby.

A look at some of the terms and phrases normally
used in helping situations indicates the extent to which

reciprocity influences help exchange dynamics.

"When we both say thank you, it is then paid."
"The one favor is the other worth.”

”It is a gesture.”

"We like to reciprocate and not be in a
position of owing anyone."

"It is reciprocal.”

 

9A

These terms exemplify a continuing concern with
reciprocation. Villagers expect that once a gesture of
help has been given, it is followed by a continued giving
and receiving of help. ”It has to start somewhere" the
saying goes as natives try to explain their motivation for
offering assistance to new settlers. When the new settlers
do not reciprocate, there are hurt feelings; and the
failure to continue the exchange is taken as a personal
affront and rejection of traditional village life.

The feelings of obligation to reciprocate are so
imperative that the giver of help must minimize the value
of his own efforts. For example, a reply of ”You're

Y

welcome." by a help giver to a "Thank you.’ given by a
help receiver incites great feelings of obligation and debt
in the help receiver, and is considered impolite. The
correct, and expected, response to a thank you is "it
was so little" (det er saa lidt).9

The felt need to reciprocate is not based on generosity
or good will, but rather a fear of being in debt to others,
since such debts cannot readily be repaid if one carries on
most of one's daily activities away from the village.
Poul Jensen summarized these feelings and fears well in
his interview when he said "No, I don't think that (payment)

is anything we think about; but, it also follows that we

 

would very much like to reciprocate so we are not left

 

95

feeling grateful to anyone." Poul describes reciprocation
as a removal of feelings of obligation, not as payment
for services received.10

The result of such feelings is usually a series of
help exchanges in an attempt to balance perceived debts
and remove feelings of obligation. Such a series of
exchanges often generates feelings of resentment since many
do not have the time for such exchanges. Erik Ulrich, in
his interview, expressed the goal of such exchanges by
saying, "When we both say thank you, then it is paid."
He meant that if we, as exchange partners, had both given
and received equally, then nothing would be left owing. We
could then relax since we both would be in the position of
freely offering help without feelings of obligation in the
future.
I It is difficult to regulate mutual feelings of
obligations to the point where a continual balance is
perceived by both the giver and receiver of help. Con—
tinual fear of obligations make such a balance difficult
to achieve. The result of such difficulties is to
overcompensate when reciprocating help received.

There are numerous examples of overcompensation and
manipulation of exchanges by one or both partners to avoid
feelings of obligation. Jens Nielsen, for example, is

so zealous in his helping behavior that he often does much

 

 

96

more than requested, making the recipient of his help
visibly uncomfortable. Jens' regular network partners
laugh and say ”You're crazy Jens!" but others plead with
him to stop or rest. It is a way for Jens to demonstrate
his traditional image of the helpful Fynby citizen, and at
the same time to control his exchanges and avoid feelings
of obligation to others.

Jens is aware of what he is doing, and privately keeps
careful account of who owes him return favors. When Jens
asks someone for assistance, he is aware of the debts
they owe him; and in those situations where people excuse
themselves or refuse to help, Jens shows great anger,
privately complaining about the times he has helped
them without asking for return favors. Jens, for example,
complained bitterly about Thorvald's absence from the lawn
digging job while we had lunch. Such complaints were
not heard from Jens when others in the village talked to
Jens about his lawn and the difficult time he must have had
to dig up such a large lawn.

Jens creates obligations to help in others by his
over-compensating behavior. He makes sure that he is owed
help so he can request help in future situations where such
help is needed. When Jens cannot collect help from others
who owe him help, he complains privately since public
complaints would be the equivalent ofredefining his network

relationship with the negligent help giver. A redefinition

 

97

of a helping relationship can be potentially disruptive to
an established exchange network, requiring reallignment by
all network members. For example, when Thorvald Andersen
was publically critized by Jens for failing to help when
asked, other members of the exchange network alligned them—
selves with Jens. The result was a final exclusion of
Thorvald from exchanges with all the network members.

The above discussion of the fear of obligation to others
is reflected in answers given by sample subjects to two
questions. The first question is ”If someone helps you,
do they then expect something in return?" The second question,
asked directly after the first, is ”If you helped someone
do you then expect their help in return?" The answers to

these questions were surprisingly different.

Table 17: Return Expectations for Help Given
or Help Received

 

 

 

 

 

If someone helps you, do If you helped someone
they then expect some- do you then expect their
thing in return? help in return?
Yes No Depends Don't Know
Y
Yes 13 1 0 0
No 17 A 3 O
Depends 3 1 0 1
Don't Know 6 1 l 0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

98

Total number of answers to each question are:

If someone helps you.... If you help someone....
N % N %

Yes 1A 27 Yes 39 76

No 2A A7 No 7 1A

Depends 5 10 Depends A 8

2

Don't Know 8 16 Don't Know 1

Only 27% of the subjects felt something was expected
of them in return for help received, and over A7% claimed
no such expectations. For help given, the answers were
quite different. Over 75% of the subjects expected
reciprocation for help they had given to others. Of these
subjects who expect reciprocation for help given, over
AA% also answered that they themselves felt no obligation

to reciprocate for help received.

Examples of answers given to these two questions are:

If someone helps you, do they If someone helps you, do you
then expect something in return? then expect their help in return?
1. No, I've never observed that. Yes.

2. No, it is usually with a beer
Yes.
when we are done.

3. No, not of those we have any- Yes, that is the way we have

thing to do with. it, we have it.

 

 

 

 

 

99

A. Not of those we get together Yes.

with.

It is obvious that more careful study of the help
exchange is needed; the discussion of the dynamics of
exchange only partly explains the above results. Observations
and questionnaires alone cannot hope to accurately portray
these exchange dynamics. It is also difficult to manage
such questions in Fynby since questions dealing with
motivations for exchange will be answered by the villagers
with traditional messages and ideals. Any further probing
for motivations are met with suspicion and impatience, and
seriously jeopardize further field work in the village.
Prolonged participation and observation appears to be the

- 11
best approach.

 

 

 

100

D. VISITATION

There are three major types of visitation in the
village. The first consists of large group—sponsored
feasts held in the village hall or sports clubhouse. The
second type consists of family "get—togethers" and feasts
for holidays such as Christmas, Easter, New Years, and
for anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, and confirmations.
The third is the evening coffee for friends and neighbors,
often held without prior planning. These evening coffees
represent the majority of visits between friends.

In the past many feasts were sponsored by families
during major events such as weddings, round figure birth—
days, confirmations, anniversaries, harvesting, and
slaughtering. These feasts were well attended and frequent.
Today, family sponsored feasts involve only family and
the closest friends of the family because of the expense of
food and drink. They are still held in the hall, but families
only rent one or two rooms adjacent to the main hall; and
they prepare their own food in the hall kitchen.

The remaining large feasts are group ~ sponsored, and
there are charges for admission, food, and drink. Admission
is general with only an invitation from a regular member

required. The feasts are well attended, and have become

 

 

101

general village feasts despite their original purpose of
obtaining funds and members for the organization.

The evening coffee is, by far, the major type of
visitation in the village. .These visits are informal, most
of the time on an ad hoc basis, and involve little
preparation other than the making of coffee and cheese
sandwiches. In nearly all the evening coffees we attended
the television set proved to be the center of entertainment

and conversation. Coffee was served in the living room,

 

and we sat in chairs conspicuously placed around the
television set. Conversation was minimal, generally timed
with breaks in the programs.

Older community members retain some of the past
formality, and always have a cake standing ready for such
evening coffees. For these villagers such visits are meant

to be conversational and coffee is served in the dining room

 

with a formally set table. We later retire to the living
room with cigar and wine, and Spend several hours in
conversation. The television set is turned on only for
special programs.

Data for visitation deals with these evening coffee
visits since these visits reflect personal choice for
companionship more than the family feasts and group —
sponsored events. Through such visitation data it is possible

to determine specific groups and sub — groups within the

 

102

village, and the pattern of visitation reflects dynamics

similar to other types of exchanges.
I. Visitation Data

Subjects were first asked with whom they get together
for evening visits. Tabulation of answers indicated the
average number of families visited by sample subjects to
be 5.67, with no significant difference between the various
neighborhoods in the village. Two small sub — sections
however, did have higher averages. These were New Street
east with an average of 7.67 families visited, and
Mill Street north with 6.80.

When looking at home residence of those families
visited, nearly 60% of all visits by residents of the
new central section of Fynby (including the streets of
South Street, East Street, and West Street) are made with
people living outside the village. This is somewhat
higher than the near 50% of such visits outside Fynby for
the old section residents, and reflects less isolation from
other villages and kommunes for residents of the new central
section.

New district residents also visit nearly all sections
within the village, whereas residents of the older sections
exclude new sections from their visiting. This trend is
reflected in other exchange data also, and can clearly be

seen in the relative percentage of visiting networks recorded

 

 

 

103

for residents visitng others on the same street or in

the same section of the village.

Table 18: Home Location of Families Visited
and Families Who Visit

 

 

 

Home Location of Home Location of Families
Visiting Visited

Same Old New Outside
Old Section Street Section* Section** Fynby
New Street 26(17) A2(28) 2(1) 56(37)
Mill Street 17(10) AA(26) 2(1) 5A(32)
Green Street 13( 5) 38(15) 5(2) 57(23)

 

New Section

South Street 11(
East Street 7(
West Street 0(

l

)
)
)

CWUJ
WWI-4

l( 3) 5(A) 7A(20)
0(13) 7(3) 63(27)
8( 6) 6(1) 56( 9)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figures within parentheses indicate actual number of visits
recorded for subjects of specific streets within the
village.

* Figures include visits to same streets for old section

residents.

** Figures include visits to same streets for new

section residents.

Residents of the old sections of Fynby have consistently
higher percentages of families visited who are located either
on the same street or in the same section of the village.

The older sections also have a very low percentage of
families visited living in the new section. The residents
of the new section have greater variety of home location of

families visited, with visiting networks located in all

sections of the village. However, new section residents

 

10A

also have higher percentages of visits made to old section
residents than to residents of their own sections of the
village. Some of these results are explainable through

an analysis of the population characteristics of each section
of the village.

There are some differences in population characteristics
of these village neighborhoods. While new settlers are
distributed throughout the village, older settlers and
natives are concentrated in the old sections of the village.
To see if such population differences influenced data
results on home location of families visited, results were
analyzed by year of arrival or birth in the village of the

sample subjects.

Table 19: Home Location of Families Visited and
Year of Arrival or Birth in Village of Families

 

 

 

 

Visiting
Year of Arrival or Home Location of Families Visited
Blrth 1n Fynby Outside Areas in Old New
Village Village* Section Section
1970 - 1975 65(AA) 6< A) 21(1A) 8( 6)
1955 - 1969 51(38) ll( 8) 2(2A) 7( 5)
1925 — 195A A5(25) 20(11) 33(19) 2( l)
1885 - 192A A8(38) 1A(11) 38(31) 0( O)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figures within parentheses indicate actual number of visits
recorded for subjects of specific years of arrival or birth.
* Figures in this column represent visits to families not
included within the village limits, though located within
the Fynby sogn limit. This area consists predominantly of
natives and old settlers who farm the surrounding village
and sogn.

 

 

 

105

The above data, recorded by year of arrival or birth
in the village, indicates that the longer an individual or
family has lived in the village, the fewer visits made to the
new section of the village. No one settling in 192A or before
list any visits to families in the new section. 7
Village differences are also reflected in frequency
of visitation. The average number of monthly visits made

to new sections of the village is 5.60, while it is nearly

7.00 to the old section. These averages are based on a

 

total of 266 listed visitation networks for which frequency
of visitation was obtainable. Older village settlers and

natives have more visits per month with a greater number of
families than new settlers, and such a pattern is reflected
in some of the comments made by Villagers during discussions

of visitation.

 

Comments by new section residents

1. ...but we have so much to do that we do not
need to visit anyone...

2. I don't like to go out so much, we become too
hurried.

3. We don’t visit anyone, for we don‘t have time
for that....

Comments by old section residents
1. If anyone of the neighbors come by, then we say,

'wouldn't you like a cup of coffee, or a Sunday‘s
brunch...‘

 

106

2. We get together mostly for a cup of coffee...
3. Mostly for coffee since we don‘t have to prepare
so much (for coffee visits)...
Differences in visiting data also appeared when the
data was organized by type of employment for both subjects
(those visiting) and those visited. Here, several employment
groups are noticeably different. For example, over 80% of the
families visited by teachers are also teachers, while less
than 8% of families visited by teachers are skilled workers,
and less than A% are unskilled workers. Obviously, this is a
two - way discrimination, for only the independents of the
village (managers, small business owners, and farmers) list
2% of the families they visit to be teachers.
Unskilled workers are similarly isolated in the sense
that they list nearly A0% of families visited as also being
unskilled workers.

Table 20: Employment of Head of Household of Families
Visiting and Families Visited

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Employment of Employment of those Visited
those Visiting Self— Skilled Unskilled Frofes~
Employed sional
Self-employed 15(7) 26(12) 32(15) A(2)
Skilled 8 (A) 28(15) 26(1A) 2(1)
Unskilled 7 (8) 16(19) 39 A5) 1(1)
ProfeSsional 0 (0) 9(2) A( 1) 83(19)
Figures within parentheses indicate actual numoer of visits

recorded for subjects of Specific employment group. Visitation
to kinfolk was uniformly high for all groups but the profes—
Sional, with figures being: self employed, 23(11); skilled,
35(19); unskilled, 37(A3); and professionals, A(1).

 

A comparison made of the above visiting networks with
helping networks indicate little overlap in network member—
ship. Less than 10% of visiting networks are also listed by
sample subjects as being helping networks, and data is
consistently low for all village neighborhoods and employ—
ment groups of the Village.

Table 21: Percentage of Networks Listed
for both Visiting and Helping Networks

 

 

 

Percentage of dual
membership networks N %
0 - 05 25 A9
5 — 10 l 2
ll — 15 5 10
16 — 20 10 20
21 — 25 A 8
26 — 30 l 2
31 — 35 A 8
36+ 1 2

 

 

 

 

Questions were also asked regarding the necessity of
notifying one’s intent to visit. Nearly 55% of the sample
indicated it was not_necessary to call or let others know
about an intended visit. Nearly 31% reported it depends upon
circumstances of the intended visit, and 1A% reported it to
be always necessary to announce an intended visit.

New settlers are the most informal with none claiming
it necessary to call prior to visiting. Older settlers and

natives are divided on the issue, with most saying that it

depends upon circumstances such as the distance between

 

 

 

108

the Visitor and the visited. If the distance is great,

then it is necessary to call to insure the intended host‘s
presence at home. Other reasons include visits of more

than a few hours duration, and visits involving preparations
by the host for eating (other than the normal coffee and

1’
cake). 3

Table 22: Notification of Intended Visit and
Year of Arrival or Birth in Village

 

 

 

Year of Arrival Type of Notification Necessary
or Birth None It Always Total
Tecessary Depends* Necessary

1970 - 1975 86(12) 14( 2) 0(0) 1“

1955 — 1969 5U( 7) 31( 4) 15(2) 13

1925 — 195“ 50( 6) ”2( 5) 8(1) 2

1885 — 192A 25( 3) A2( 5) 32(4) 12
Total 55(28) 31(16) 14(7) 51

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Notification of intent to visit is dependent upon
circumstances of visit. The most frequently quoted
of which are 1) distance to host, 2) duration of
visit, and 3) necessary meal preparation by host.

Figures within parentheses indicate acutal number of
reported answers for each group of subjects arriving
or born in specific years. Total sample was 51
families (33% of village population).

Villagers were also asked if they expected their
hosts to return their visits, or if some other means of
reciprocating visits was considered. Herc, results indicated
fewer hesitations and greater certainty about expected
and proper behavior.

Older settlers and natives again had greater percentages

 

109

expemrtcijig a return visit for each visit made. New settlers
are dji‘fided, with 21% saying yes, 36% saying no, and 21%
saying; the rules were not specific, but a balance is

attemgst:ed.

Table 23: Return Visit Expectations by
Year of Arrival or Birth in Village

 

 

 

 

 

Year of Arrival Expectations for Return Visit
or Birth Expected It De— None Rules
pends* Expected Unclear
1970 — 1975 21( 3) 21( 3) 36( 5) 21( 3)
1955-— 1969 31( 4) O( O) 62( 8) 8( l)
1925 — 195“ 25( 3) O( O) 74( 8) 1( l)
1885 - 1924 42( 5) l7( 2) l7( 2) 25( 3)
Total 29(15) lO( 5) 45(23) l6( 8)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figures within parentheses indicate acutal number
reporting expectations for return visits for subjects
arriving or born in the village in specified years.

* Return visits for each visit made are generally
not expected for informal coffees during either
mornings or evenings; nor are there expectations

for casual ”falling — in" types of visits.

rI‘o briefly summarize the above visitation data, it is
found that:

l) O:Lcier sections of the village have a higher average

n . . . . . ..
umIDEEI‘ of families ViSited than new sections of the Village,

th9\%§k1 the difference is not great.

2) NEEarly 65% of all visits made by residents of the new

 

ce 1... o o 0
1155513. district are made to areas outSide the Village,

Whereéifis the older sections list less than 55% 0f their

Vi 'e . .
Slbis ‘to areas outSide the Village.

 

110

3) Residents of the new central district visit residents
in all areas of Fynby, but residents of the older sections
exclude new sections of the village from their visits.

4) The longer an individual has lived in the village,

the fewer visits made to residents of the new central area
of the Village.

5) Teachers and other professionals exclude non — teachers
and other non — professionals from their visits, and
villagers who are not teachers and professionals exclude
teachers and professionals from their visits.

6) There is little overlap (less than 10%) of Visiting
networks with other types of exchange networks.

7) Over 55% of the villagers feel it is not necessary to
announce their visits, though 32% of the older settlers and
natives feel it is absolutely necessary.

8) Nearly “2% of natives and older settlers expect visits to
be reciprocated, but new settlers are divided, with only

21% saying reciprocity is necessary for each visit.

11. Village Feasts

The data presented in section I was based on
evening Visits for coffee and cake. These Visits are
traditional, have remained popular, and are subject to
individual sentiments and choice. Social gatherings such as

confirmations, weddings, baptisms, funerals, and anniversaries

 

 

 

111

are now basically limited to family and close friends
because of the expense of food and drink. Group - sponsored
feasts remain the only representative of the traditional

and large village feasts that were so popular in the past;
and while these feasts are open only to members and their
guests, they generally involve the majority of the Village
residents.

Group sponsored feasts are held for the purpose of
raising funds for local organizations and their acitivities.
The groups or organizations which presently sponsor yearly
feasts in the village are, the sports club, the hunting club,
the Village citizens committee (open to all villagers),
the house keeping club (also called the house mothers club),
and the school.

The feasts are all similar, and the evening‘s events
of one feast duplicates the events of all others. The
description of the events at the sports club feast given

below serves as a representative sample of all these feasts.

We were invited to the sports club feast by Svend
Lauritsen, a passive member; and while we were his guests,
we had to pay for admission, food, and drink. Jens and
Sofie Nielsen were also invited, as were the postman and his
wife. The feast began at 7 p.m., but Sofie had gone to
the hall to secure a good table by the entertainment before
6330 p-m. Seating had been arranged by Svend and Jens, and

the spouses were separated.

 

 

 

112

The president of the club introduced himself and
the board members at 7:15 p.m., welcomed the members and
their guests, and gave an account of the year's activities
and the purpose of the feast. It was the same speech given
at nearly a dozen previous feasts, and concluded with
"Let us eat and enjoy the evening."

The hall staff carried large trays of open faced
sandwiches to each table (couples had previously ordered
their portions through the regular members). Svend placed
the first order for Schnapps and beer, and gave a cheer to
begin the evening. The dinner hour consisted of continual
rounds of such cheers and increasingly ribald joking.

Towards the end of the dinner hour, large facsimiles
of paper money with party drinking songs printed on the
sides were passed out to the guests. These songs were
laed by the club president, and at the end of each verse
general cheers with beer and schnapps rang through the hall.

Entertainment begins after the coffee and cake with
a harmonica player warming the audience to jokes and cheers
of schnapps. Tables are pushed to the side of the hall
and dancing begins, lasting until the early morning hours.

There are also a series of predictable family holidays
and feasts, including confirmations, weddings, funerals,
baptisms, anniversaries, round birthdays, Christmas, and

New Years. In the past these were large feasts attended

 

 

 

113

by friends in the village. Today they are limited to family
and close friends, and this change of attendance for these
feasts also indicates a changing function of the feasts. In
the past, the feasts served as symbols of Village unity and
friendship with one's neighbors and work companions. Today,
they are symbolic of family unity.

Some family events such as confirmations, weddings,
anniversaries, and round birthdays also have Open — house
periods during the day, and prior to the actual feast in
the hall in the evening. Here people come with cards and
congratulations, though most now send their cards or have
their children carry the cards to the celebrants. At several
open house events I observed, it was only close friends
and extended family that attended, and those invited for
the evening dinner did not show up until late in the day.

As an example of an earlier tradition, let me describe

 

a wedding feast in 1922. This was the pattern of attendance
and feasting events until the mid fifties. The description
was given by Anna Nielsen during an interview and was

taped.

We were married the year Laurits was 25.
That was, of course, in 1920 when l was

23. My father had our house built by then,
and we had cleared the furniture out of

the rooms downstairs. People were invited
for the noon meal, we were 75 and we sat

in the living rooms and bed rooms.

At 2 pm, we were to be married in the
church, and there was an old musician from
the old house up on Mill Street. He went
_ahead of the procession and played a horn

 

IIIII::::______________________________________1__11 11111111

 

114

all the way from the house and up to the
church...

After the church we went home for the evening
meal, and afterwards we all danced in

the hall (across the street). We rented

the hall only, not the kitchen since people
could walk over here for whatever they
wanted.

Yes, it was such fun, such fun. We all
marched, just so, up to the church; all of
us did that because they were of course

all invited to the wedding. They came from
Vesterby and Kilnby, and all around.

And then they got 'night food.‘ Yes, they
were fed three times...there were two

large tables set together so that they made
one wide table filled with flowers, and
all that food (one calf and a pig were
slaughtered for the wedding).

 

And then we had the cOok from Green Street,
but she wasn't completely trustworthy.

I think a couple of roasts went with

her home... .

There was more life then.

 

These large family feasts are now unusual. By far, the
norm for the Village is informal coffee visits during
the eveing, and the early morning coffee hour between women
of the village.

The morning coffee hours are usually held after the
Children are in school and before they come home for lunch.
They are one of the few chances available for women to
Communicate with other women in the village. Evening
COffee Visits are generally not planned, and often involve

a walk around the village and then a "falling in” with a

 

¥

 

115

known family. Children are often sent scouting after
dinner for suitable places for coffee. The arrangements
are informal, and villagers take great care to either
”fall in" or else announce their coming in a manner pre—
cluding any possibility of the host going through a great

deal of preparations for the evening.

 

 

116

CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION

Data results indicated that partners in specific

exchanges varied. Less than 10% of the various exchange

 

networks studied for any one individual had members who
participated in more than one type of exchange with that
individual. Data also indicated specific groups of
villagers were excluded from exchanges of services and
commodities. These groups included women, the unskilled,
new settlers, and professionals living in the village.

It was proposed that such variations in network
paiticipation is due to selectively applied rank differen—
tiation criteria. High rank is attributed to those who
command social deference or who have access to valued
services and commodities. Those Villagers who have a high

social or economic status are not necessarily ranked high

 

by Village craftsmen in an exchange context, and thereby
are excluded from many village exchanges. It is a
rational system of ranking based on ability to provide
scarce resources. Traditional structure does not function
to direct network exchange participation since those

groups traditionally ranked high no longer control the

¥

117

distribution of valued services and commodities. Exchange
network affiliations are now a matter of personal choice.

The exclusiveness of service exchanges suggests a
developing, high ranked group consisting of skilled
craftsmen; but this could be a function of immediate changes
in Fynby, and not necessarily a permanent change in the
social structure. Data results indicated great variation
in exchange network participation with few rules for
exclusion other than inability to provide rather specific
services and commodities. Such variation suggests a
nascent structure, still in the process of change.

The field site description and the conclusion outline
the structural changes in Fynby since 1950. Extreme as these
changes have been, they are still very recent in Fynby's
1100 year history, and there are no indications the village
has reached stability. In fact, the Kommune urban planning
committee plans for expansion of the Village by allowing
new settlers in the late 1970s, concentrating existing
industry in Husby, paving a new expressway south of Fynby,
and removing the Village school and sports facilities and
the village hall to Koldby.

The present study describes existing exchange networks
and the possible rank differentiation criteria influencing
network participation. The following sections of the
discussion outlines each rank dimension listed in the

introduction, and then traces the influence of these dimensions

 

_*—1

 

118

on exchange of services and valued commodities. Hopefully
present data will provide a foundation for further work
in Fynby or similar villages, and provide a comparison
between two points in time. Only such a comparison can
give valid information on the relationship of emerging
social structure and network exchange, and provide a

basis for theory building.

A. GENDER AND EXCHANGE

Women, as a group, have a special position in
Village relationships which emphasizes exclusion from the
types of exchanges studied, and relative restriction to
roles of childcare and housekeeping. It is a traditional
position, and is displayed in the authographs of Ella
K Rasmussen, written nearly a century ago:

A good humor
a loyal soul,
Combined in a loyal woman
is the greatest treasure
On this Earth.
Henrik Hansen, Fynby,
den 3/1/95

Love your husband and
darn his socks,
(and you will) wander on red roses.

Aleksandra Jeppesen, Fynby,
den 25/12/9A

 

 

 

119

When once in your days
You are a cheerful wife and happy...

Kristian Jeppesen, Fynby,
den 2U/A/96

The mother is depicted as the prime protector of

sacred and innocent children: ”Mother Dear! Be with me,
guard me when I sleep; you will not forsake me, I can
trust in you," and "In no places are the roses so red, and

the thorns so small, and the down so soft, as there where
‘the child's innocence rests." (both authographs dated 1896)

Until the 1950s girls aged 12 and older were indentured
to hard task masters. Anna Nielsen, in the late 18005,
was indentured for nearly four years to local farmers where
she was required to learn the woman's tasks. She received
two sunday afternoons off a month, and a wage of $10.00
yearly, which was paid to her parents.

Girls also had small books for written evaluations
of their services at each place of indentureship. A bad
evaluation guaranteed return to her parents, and a stigma
as lazy and a poor subject for marriage. Loss of the book
was an offense punishable by imprisonment and a diet of
bread and water.

Sofie Nielsen is now 29 years old and wants to work.
She has been unable to find the cooperation and support

necessary for her to escape the role described above. I

 

 

witnessed an argument between Sofie and her parents and
husband which revealed many of the values that function to
keep women in a subservient and home — centered position.
The family and I had been discussing the unemployment
problems on the island, and Sofie's father contended that
jobs were aVailable in facturies, but people were too lazy
today to work at these jobs. Sofie replied that she did
not blame them since such work was boring and involved
doing the same thing over ard over again. ”It's much like
being a housewife," she added after a few seconds thought.
This comment immediately brought a chorus of protest from

her parents and husband.

The main points to the argument are as follows:

Frida, Sofie‘s mother, vehemently rejected Sofie's
ideas; she Viewed them as an attack on the wife's role, on
her role. "I've done many chores in my day, and let me
tell you, being at home is an opportunity for self - develop—

ment that adds life to the family.”

Egon, Sofie's father, looking out the window, added,

"I've always held that a woman's place is in the home."

Jens, Sofie's husband, said nothing and was visibly
nervous since he had been through this many times before.
He sat and chewed on his cigar, and pointedly stared at the

group's reflection in the window.

 

 

 

Sofie, still brave, said, "there is no self - develop-
ment in cooking, cleaning, and being stuck in the house. It

is isolation."

Frida, momentarily taken back by Sofie's persistence,
agreed, but suggested that Sofie could do something while

the children were in school.

Sofie, getting more emotional, "it's not enough; I
need more for self - fulfillment. I wanted that vacation...
but Jens always tells me to earn for it by washing steps,

and then he won't let me work when it comes to it."

Jens, nervously laughing, protested, “Can't you take
a bit of joking?"

Frida, still angry at the attack on motherhood, saw
her chance, and said, "There is no substitute for a mother,
when you have small children in the home you should be a

mother to them."

Sofie countered, "They could depend on the father too

if he was around."

Jens said nothing; he lit his pipe slowly and continued

staring at the window.

Egon came to his wife's support and said, "Most women,
if they got a taste of working, would soon head for home.

They just can't take it."

 

 

 

122

Sofie, returning to her original point, said, "I

would head for home too if I had to take a shit job."

Egon became angry, and shouted, "I've had those in

my 1ife."l

Sofie began crying and had no further arguments with
the family. She could not argue against the call for
motherhood. Jens was visibly nervous and finally joked,
"Well, then I'll buy a-farm and you can be fulfilled tending
cows." Everyone laughed and Sofie went to the kitchen to
prepare more coffee. \

It was obvious Jens felt sorry for Sofie, but he
did not know or comprehend her conflict, and could only
suggest tending cows — the traditional job for girls
indentrured to farms - as the final blow.

The limited participation of women in the exchanges
studied is clear in the data. In all interviews, no women
were listed as active participants, nor were they full
fledged and accepted members of established male exchange
networks. As a group, women are excluded from direct
dealings in exchanges of all types, and are seen as
participants only to the extent their husbands are active
participants. The authographs of Ella Rasmussen, written
nearly a century ago, and Sofie's inability to argue her

desire to work indicates the continuing marginal position

 

of women in village exchanges.

A. Service Exchanges and Gender

The low esteem given women in exchanges is obvious in
service exchanges. Women simply do not participate directly
in service exchanges. The most obvious explanation for
their exclusion is the lack of women with craft skills;
there are no women with craft skills in Fynby. Skilled
women are trained for tasks such as office work and most of
the professional helping carreers, but they are not trained
in traditional craft skills. This is partly historical,
but certainly also a function of present stratification
in these villages.

During my stay in Fynby, and from what I recall as
a child, learned of no women members of service exchange
networks. It is, as Mads Jergensen would say, "not their
job." All contracts and arrangements are made between men,
women do not interfere or interest themselves in actual
exchange arrangements. They are supportive in other ways,
and thus the women make it a point to see the wives of their
husband's contacts, and accordingly restrict contacts
that might offend or restrict the husband's network potential.
When Jens became irritated with me for failing to help him

with his lawn one saturday, Sofie made a point of letting

my wife know about it. Later in the year Jens believed I

 

 

12A

purposely avoided helping in several tasks, and Sofie
immediately stopped active contact with my wife for several
weeks.

The male dominance in the service exchange networks
is so pervasive that when it was time for Irene Lauritsen to
have her kitchen appliances replaced, she had no active
involvement in the selection and purchase of the new appliances.
This was left to her husband. He would make the necessary
contacts and obtain the appliances at cost. As a result,
she obtained appliances that she disliked and continually
complained about to her friends.

Single women living in the village are also excluded
from direct dealings with the service exchange networks.
Erna Jensen was required to pay in full for her furnace
work as well as for installation of new windows and kitchen
appliances. Although she is a native of the Village, and a
close friend of village craftsmen, her lack of marketable
skills excludes her from service exchange networks. It is
doubtful that the men would even consider dealings with
women such as Erna. A woman only benefits from the
service exchanges because of her status as wife of a service

exchange network member.

 

 

125

B. Black Exchanges and Gender

Gender is also a factor limiting access to black
exchanges. Women as a group are excluded from black
exchanges in the Village, and when they are permitted to
participate, they are then unequal partners accepted by
Virtue of their husband's membership in an established
network.

Irene Lauritsen provides an example of a woman who
occationally participates in black exchanges. The wife of
one of Jens' network partners, she owns a beautyshOp in
the new section of the village. Once a month Irene gives
Jens a haircut during the evening when the shop is closed.
As payment for the haircut, Jens brings along four bottles
of beer for Irene's husband and himself. Irene does not
receive direct payment for her services; instead, that
goes to her husband, and while the exchange of beer for
the haircut is technically a black exchange, Jens Views
it as a favor that is due to him as a regular network
member. Irene not only could not refuse the haircut without
endangering her husband's membership in the network, it is
doubtful that she resents the fact. that her husband, rather

than she, receives payment.

 

126

C. Gender and Pig Exchange

The first and most obvious limiting factor to
participation in the pig exchange is gender. The producers
of pigs available for non — cash food exchanges are local
farmers, and it is not likely that Fynby women would be
in the position to initiate a pig exchange. The situation is
similar to the service exchange, in that there is little that
women could offer in exchange which would be of value to
the farmer.

While women have full and sole responsibility for food
preparations and shopping, the slaughter is performed on a
day when the husband is home, with the whole family parti—
cipating in the day — long event. The men do the basic
cutting, wrapping, and freezing. Women do all preparations
involving cooking and making of sausage and liver paste.

Children carry pieces of meat from the slaughtering
area to the kitchen, and receive pieces of the slaughtered
pig to play with - the bladder is rolled in salt for
elasticity, inflated, and then used for a game of soccer.

Poul Jensen is typical in making arrangements for a
pig. He contacts his wife's father, who owns a farm, and
the details of "cost" and slaughtering logistics is
arranged between the two. Anne, his wife, would not consider

interfering with such arrangements between her husband and father.

 

 

 

127

D. Summary on Gender and Exchange

Women are generally not influential in exchanges of
the type studied, but this is not to say that women have
no means of interaction or exchange. For example, there is
active visitation between women during the morning hours
when the children are in school. These coffee visits are
regular and provide one of the few regular sources for
communication between women.

It is interesting to note that participation in these
coffee visits are generally limited to wives of the men's
established exchange networks. Sofie Nielsen, for example,
has coffee nearly each morning with different wives of
Jens' exchange network, and only two women are not wives
of Jens' friends. These two are fellow members of the
Housewives' Association in the village, and many times use
the coffee hours to carry on association business.

The coffee visits are times for conversation and
gossip on village affairs, but they also serve as a means
of communication between the men. Wives often use these
hours to relay messages given by husbands before going
to work, and in fact, amny times make it a point to see
women because of messages given by the husbands. In a sense,
even the coffee visits become tools and extensions of the

men's exchange networks.

 

 

128

I observed none of the helping behaviors between women
that are common for men. Women did their own cooking, baking
and housework. When asked about child care, the most common
response was, "I care for my own!" The overall impression
I received of Fynby women is one of competition with other
women, and relative social isolation.

General visitation during the evenings and attendance
at feasts are limited to the husband's exchange partners,

and his determination of proper times for Visitation.

 

There are few areas of responsibility held solely by
women. Their basic responsibilities revolve around food
preparation, housekeeping, and child care. Any attempt
to deviate from this role is reprimanded, either harshly
and physically, r by whining and cajoling. Jens, for
example, would complain loudly if his supper was not warm
and ready when he returned from work. If Sofie had a

justified reason for not being at home during supper time,

 

he would not eat, and then later call that fact to her
attention.

Women are without power in the Village; they have
little determination over the events of their lives.
Whatever power enjoyed is through the manipulation of their
husbands by emphasis on their importance for the home.
Irene would often say to Svend, "What would you and the
children do without a mother in the house?“ When Svend,
by his actions, cast serious doubt about her necessity to

him and the children, Irene responded by first threatning

 

129

and then attempting to commit suicide.

As a criteria for differentiation, gender is most
effective. It effectively excludes women from nearly all
of the exchanges studied, and imits their role to these

tasks directly involvin home and childre.. To most men,

0‘!

it is inconceivable that women would have any of the factors

necessary for social exchanges, and today, they don't. Few

H.

k 11, social status, or economic

women have the newer

u
0)

tatus to command the distribution of valued commodities and

O)

 

ervices. As a group, women are only marginal participants

0)

in Village exchanges, their participation determined by their

husband's ability to participate in exchanges.

 

130

B. KINSHIP AND EXCHANGE

Kinship is another criterion for rank differentiation,
though one that is loosing its relevance in view of the large
segment of new settlers in the village. Prior to 1968,

Fynby consisted of less than 300 adults. Most of these

were natives to the village, and represented many generations
of families native to Fynby. With a village population

so small, and with the limited mobility of its inhabitants,
most villagers were related to a few core families. These
families became important in the village exchanges by
influencing allignments of individuals through marriage and
control of village produced commodities. Relationships
became a complicated function of traditional values and
kinship obligations. Kinfolk had high expectations for mutual
help and economic support as witnessed by the continuing
parceling of family land holdings to children, and the
inheritance of occupations and family business concerns.
Today, kinship is still important to traditional families who
are natives to the village.

New settlers do not make the distinctions between
family and non — family relationships in their exchanges
to the same extent as natives, nor do they express such

obligations to support extended family members. For example,

 

131

when subjects were asked why they moved to or remained in
Fynby, well over 50% of the natives insisted that family
ties were reason enough. New settlers, however, migrated because
of availability of land and housing, with land being the
greatest single attraction. Less than 18% of new
settlers listed family proximity as a motivation for moving
to Fynby.

This emphasis on kinship obligations and devotion
by natives makes it difficult for recent settlers to penetrate
various types of established exchange networks. For natives
to the village, existing and established netowrks for exchange
have existed for many years (many are passed on from
generation to generation) and exist because of a combination
of skilled individuals within the family who have access to
valued commodities and services, and a continuing feeling

of family obligation.

A. Kinship and the Pig Exchange

Kinship is important for the pig exchange. While only
9.6% of all foods listed in the questionnaire came from
family members, over 2u% of pigs used for slaughtering were
obtained from family. Families on farms (all natives)
generally raise one or two pigs from each litter for such
exchanges with kinship related families, and these are not

'registered with authorities.

  

‘HIIHWH ...b—

 

 

 

Without kinship to farmers, it can be difficult to
gain access to such exchanges. Most settlers arriving
prior to 1969 and native residents obtain meat through kin—
related networks. New settlers and residents without nearby
kin relied on special arrangements with others or larger
farmers in neighboring districts.

Of those listing non — cash food exchanges in the
village, only one family settled there after 1970, and this

family has an especially large set of kinfol in Husby with

 

whom they actively exchange their services for food. This
family is the exception to the new settlers in Fynby. In
most cases, new settlers are excluded from such pig exchanges
based on kinship ties.

Viggo Mortensen, a new settler, makes arrangements
with a fellow teacher to share the expense of raising a
pig. They purchase two eight week old pigs from a farmer at
retail prices, making the purchase and arrangement legal.
Such arrangements are on the basis of friendship and mutual
interest. They are replicas of traditional exchanges
without the obligations of kinship, and they are generally
by those Villagers who are excluded from the traditional pig
exchange networks. They are also legal since taxes are paid

on the original purchase.

 

133

B. Kinship and Service Exchanges

Service exchanges, by definition, depend on access to
valued commodities and skilled services by the exchange
partners in such a manner that formal records and taxes can
be avoided. Kinship influences such exchanges only by
making them available to kinfolk where one of the kin related
exchange partners does not have the skill or access to
valued commodities by which to reciprocate. In these

situations, the exchanges symbolize the importance of family

 

ties and family dependability to help when necessary.

Many service exchanges, and certainly all black exchanges,
are subject to great secrecy since they are illegal. This
4makes systematic observation and questioning nearly im—
possible. In fact, many villagers simply refused to answer
questions or to discuss topics related to such illegal
exchanges. Other Villagers stated that such exchanges are a
thing of the past, and are not possible today. These answers
are obviously false.

Erik Hansen, a local teacher who is excluded from such
exchanges, states that everyone engages in black exchanges,
but everyone does not deal with everyone else. Excluded
are nearly all women, and those individuals who do not have
access to valued commodities or skilled services.

Kinship functions to gain access to such exchanges for

 

individuals not normally eligible for participation. Holger
Jakobsen, for example, is an unskilled laborer whose daughter

is married to a blacksmith. Holger would not normally

134

command the resources to obtain heating and plumbing
services, but his kin ties with his son-in—law won him
access to a completely new kitchen, bathroom, and furnace
at cost. He supplied the parts, and his son—in—law supplied
the skilled labor to install the appliances.

Such exchanges are common in the village; their
occurance is also common knowledge, but none will acknowledge
them. My own observations found them to exist for all

families befriended during the year and willing to discuss

 

the topic.

Based on these observations, tentative rules for
exchange and kinship can be spelled out; but again, these
have to be verified by further work in the village.

In situations such as the above example where one of
the kin related partners is unskilled and does not have
access to valued commodities, the expectations for reciprocation
are generally nonexistent. Where both kin—related partners
skilled, or have access to valued commodities, then some
standards for the value of the exchanged commodities or
services exist. These values are not as firm or conclusive
as those for non—related exchange partners. For example,
Mads Pedersen, the mason, provided a new cement floor for
two stalls for his father's barn, and he also made extensive
repairs on the tile roof of the barn. Mads received a pig
in exchange for his services. The value of Mads' work
was based on Mads' cost of providing materials, and his

father's cost of raising the pig to slaughtering size.

135

Kinship does not appear to obviate record keeping
where exchange partners are skilled. There is a balance
kept, but the anxieties normally produced during such
exchanges are absent, and the payments are not so time
bound or immediate.

Kinship ties permit service exchanges to occur where
normally they are not possible. Rules for or expectations
for reciprocation are generally absent in those situations
where one kin related partner is not able to provide
skilled services or valued commodities. In exchanges
where all partners are skilled or have access to valued
commodities, reciprocation is expected and the value of
exchanged commodities is determined by the wholesale
cost of the commodities. Reciprocation does not have to
be immediate, and is generally relaxed and anxiety free.

Kinship gains an individual access to all types of
exchanges, but the pig-exchange is the only exchange that is
almost exclusively limited to kin related individuals. This
is in part due to ownership of remaining farms by fourth and
fifth generation natives to the Village who make "black"
pigs available only to their kin living in the village. All
villagers can obtain pigs from these farmers, but non—kin

are required to pay full retail prices for such pigs.

 

 

 

136

C. SKILL AND EXCHANGE

Traditional villages such as Fynby were small, generally
consisting of less than 300 adults. In such small villages
it was possible to identify individuals by their occupation
since many occupations were passed on from father to son:
the carpenter became Leif Tgmer, the electrician Erik

elektriker,,and the blacksmith Jens smed. These labels were

 

symbols of an achieved rank and commanded respect and
deference by those not having such status. The limited size
of the villages and the limited number of skilled positions
available in the villages made such systems of designating
relative status functional. Each villager knew where

he fit into the village stratification system, and the
benefits and responsibilities due to one's position. It was
a closed and largely unchanging system with very limited
potential for individual mobility.

Today, villages are larger; Fynby has doubled in size
and there are now many blacksmiths, carpenters, electricians,
and other craftsmen living in the village. The old order
of ranking individuals by occupational title is no longer
feasible. The occupational title designation remains the
exclusive property of those villagers who have carried on
their trades in the village for many years, and in most cases

for several generations.

 

 

 

Craftsmen still rank high in the village, but the
designation of rank has changed from one of occupation to
one of skill. Today, it is one's craft skills, not one's
occupation that gains access to specific types of exchanges
and exchange networks.

Skilled craftsmen are essentially the only segment
of the population that have control over the distribution
of their services. Unskilled workers do not have the
ability to control distribution of their services since
their skills are generally not valued or in demand to the
same extent that craft skills are. Professionals, such as
teachers and higher level office workers, likewise do not
have the power to control the distribution of their services.

What has happened is the development of a social
class strictly bounded by skill, and expressed intolerance
of those who cannot contribute such craft skills. Jens,
for example, does not befriend individuals from whom he
cannot expect to receive valued services, and since valued
services are defined by Jens to be craftsman's skills, he
limits his interaction to fellow craftsmen.

When visiting non — skilled families, usually at
the behest of his wife, he sits glum and silent, usually
staring at the television set. He gives only partial at-
tention to the evening's conversations. When visiting members
of his exchange network, however, he becomes animated, and he

and his friends spend many hours discussing shop.

 

138

The attitudes motivating such behaviors became
clear during several of the social lessons I received
by the village craftsmen. Svend Lauritsen, throughout
the year, chasticed me because I did not have an identifiable
skill, and he made it clear that what I was doing had no
social value. He acknowledged my education by saying,
”Knud, why don't you become an accountant and do the taxes
for people. Here is something useful." If I did not have
a recognized craft skill, I served no useful function
according to Svend.

Jens also gave me lessons on what it took to be useful
and a valued member of his (and mine) exchange network.
My field notes for one such occasion provides an example

of his feelings for those who "cannot" work.

Field Notes, 5—16—75

we then talked about the land
next to Jens' garden. It had be—
longed to Bernt Madsen, but now
belonged to the kommune. Jens thought
the kommune was going to make the
lot into a municipal parking lot,
and wanted to remove some old oil
barrels he had standing on the lot.
These barrels were heavy and I
offered to help.

He smiled and said, "No Knud, I
better get someone used to working,
someone who has work clothes.”

"I have work clothes Jens" I said.

 

 

 

 

139

He smiled again, and said, "I'm
going to ask Svend Lauritsen,
he's used to working.”

I wish I had my tape recorder

there to record the wonderfully
subtle and indirect way he was giving
me messages. I cannot mistake the
messages, and the whole afternoon

was insulting — the words themselves,
the way they were spoken, were biting.
Yet, his body was relaxed, leaning

on the hoe, as he stood talking.

He was not threatning. He was giving
me the same smiles as always.

His feelings on my capacity to work
are settled, and there are no
arguments to the contrary I can

use to convince him otherwise. It
is fact to Jens, I cannot work by
his standards.

 

I was fortunate to be a member of a native and high
ranked crafts family since such an acknowledgement of my
different skills would normally mean total exclusion from
the exchange network. They expected I had the family skills,
but they were disappointed. It is a matter of status
discrimination on their part for I have helped and per—
formed skillful work with metal, including welding that I
thought matched Jens' in skill.

It appears that Jens ( and by implication his network

 

partners) had been giving me a status based on a combination
of my family history (nativity), my father's skilled trade,

and my ability to provide services when asked. Since not all

1A0

exchanges between skilled craftsmen are skilled services,
and I had not provided real evidence of a craft skill, the
network members had assumed I had a traditional skill. That
is, I was on probation until enough evidence had been
collected regarding my usefulness to the established network.
Just prior to Jens' rejection of my offer to help, he
had seen me with several college instructors from Koldby.
After that, he and his wife Sofie expressed great interest
in exactly the nature of my skills, and what I was doing in
Fynby. I explained carefully again about my project,and
it reinforced Jens' new notions of my status in the village.
The consequent comments by Jens ( quoted above) made it
clear he was seeing me as a teacher of sorts, and I could
not expect the same status I had previously enjoyed. This
was despite the fact that I had displayed the blacksmith
skills with which he and his network partners were familiar.
There was no rejection of me, they would not do that
since I was still a native - son, but their exchanges with
me changed. From then on, help with menial tasks was
appreciated, and never refused; I received the same beers,
lunches, and ribald jokes as before my status change.
The group began to approach me with requests for typing,
writing and composing letters to officials, and acting as
mediator between them and government officials, and I became
the teacher—son—of—the—blacksmith at parties given by the

network members. I received exchanges of free car repairs,

 

 

lAl

appliance maintenance, meat, and many other services for
help given to the group. It was, considering their changed
perceptions of my status in Fynby, a smooth transition from
probationary and somewhat equal partnership to a marginal,

but still involved, exchange partner.

A. Skill and Service Exchanges

The most obvious requirement for participation in a
service exchange is skill. The participant should be an
apprenticed worker or journeyman in a craft, and publically
recognized as such. Manual laborers do participate; but
the exchange is unequal, and the laborer pays more for
participation (in the form of time and physical exertion)
than his trained counterpart.

A good example of the unequal position of manual
laborers in service exchange is Thorvald Anderson. Thorvald
is a Fynby native. He is now thirty years old, and completed
the seventh grade in school. He did not acquire a craft skill.
Thorvald is well — liked, and until recently a member of an
active and established service exchange network. For several
years Thorvald would be out helping others at least three
to four times weekly. He would help Jens dig his garden in
the spring and fall, plant in the late spring, and do other
general labor around Jens' house. In return, Jens installed
a furnace and all the plumbing in the house Thorvald was

building. Without Jens and his skills, Thorvald would never

 

 

 

be able to afford his home. The unequal partnership has
been used as a lever by the skilled members of the network
for more services from Thorvald than at times seemed
warranted and fair.

Thorvald became involved with a woman and her two
children while I was in Fynby. .The woman and'her children
moved into Thorvald's new house, and as a result his free
time as a bachelor became somewhat restricted. Because of
her complaints about his continual absence from home, he
refused to help Jens and others of the network several
times in one month. This was enough for censure, and a
few weeks after that, he was excluded from the exchange
network by both Jens and Svend Lauritsen with many complaints
about his irresponsibility.

Such refusals would not normally be grounds for
exclusion. Participating craftsmen do this quite often.
Craftsmen are polite and conSiderate of each other, see
their time as valuable, and make great attempts to not
infringe or make unreasonable demands on each other's time
and skill.

In fact, it is skill and fear of infringement on that
skill that keeps many of the service exchanges operational.
I noted that all of the home workshops of craftsmen in the
village reflected their particular crafts. Jens' home work
shop was a duplicate of the one he had at his place of work.

The same pattern existed for all of the craftsmen in the village.

 

 

143

When I asked Jens why he did not have tools to
do repair work on his car, he said it was not necessary.

I also asked why he did not do some of the light carpentry
or masonry work in the home as he was capable of doing it
with little effort on his part. Jens responded that that
would be an insult to his friends who did such work, meaning
those with whom he regularly participated in service exchanges.
"If Mads should come and see I had finished the tiles in

the kitchen without calling him for help, he would think I
was mad at him." Jens explained that Mads expected to do
such jobs; they always do such jobs for each other. If

Mads needed some welding or plumbing completed, he would
always come to Jens.

If one has exchange partners with specific skills, it
is expected that one does not do such jobs without consulting
or asking the partner.

Demonstrated skill is necessary for continual partici—
pation in a service exchange network. Having an accepted
skill is bargaining power in the network, and the skilled
individual has a say as to when and how he will provide

his services, and to whom he will provide it.

B. Skill and the Pig Exchange

A craft skill is also an important factor determining

participation in pig exchanges, and provides the only

 

. 1AA

exception to kinship as a means of gaining access to pig
exchanges.

Verner Eriksen provides a typical example of a village
craftsman gaining access to such exchanges. He is a
mechanic in a shop in Husby and regularly repairs the
cars and tractors of a village farmer after the shop's
normal closing hours. The farmer is given a bill for Verner's
services, and the amount of meat used as payment is

determined by the sholesale slaughterhouse price of the

 

meat — the amount the farmer receives when he sells his
pigs to slaughtering firms. The exchange between Verner
and the farmer is not recorded, and there is an 18% savings
realized in the form of non — paid taxes which is shared

equally by Verner and the farmer.

 

These exchanges are in some cases ad hoc transactions,
the product of circumstance and exposure to potential
networks while performing one's trade. Because of the
temporary nature of such exchanges, the exchange partners
rely on existing market values of their respective products.
The craftsman receives the equivalent of his normal fee, and
the provider of the pig receives the equivalent of the
going price of the pig. There is little if any bargaining
or negotiations during the exchange, and if the arrangements
are not satisfactory, there are no obligations for future

exchanges.

 

1A5

D. NATIVITY AND EXCHANGE

Native status has always been important in structuring
interaction in these villages, but it is only with the
recent advent of new settlers that it functions to separate
large groups within the village. Nativity is especially
important to those villagers who View the new wave of
migration to Fynby with alarm, and fear the invasion of so
many unknown people. Nativity, as a dimension for rank
differentiation is invoked when a villager has no knowledge
of the other criteria used for ranking each other.

Nativity reflects known social standing and long — term
friendship with villagers. A native is one you can trust.
For example, when Anna Nielsen purchased her color tele-
vision, she had to purchase it from ”Radio” Hansen. Hansen
was born in Fynby, thus "we have to support our own." New
settlers, lacking the nativity status cannot expect
membership in local service exchange networks.

Another example of the importance of nativity is Mads
Petersen who was the mason in Fynby until a back injury.
Mads is the preferred choice for any type of masonry work,
although there are three other masons in the village. While
these three masons are active in their trade, they are new

settlers, and none are known to be members of permanent

service exchange networks. Mads is the "village" mason,

 

 

 

1A6

and he is the one people will contact for masonry work.
In fact, it is mandatory for Jens and others of the same
exchange network to go to Mads; going elsewhere would
disrupt the network, and reallignment of partners would
then be necessary.

Peter Johansen, a retired farmer, waited nearly eight
months to build his home so he could engage Mads to do

the brick laying. It was with Peter's home that Mads

 

injured himself and then changed crafts. There were other
masons available, but Johansen wanted Mads since Mads was
of Fynby. Johansen could give no other reason for his
choice than, "Why, Mads is a good bricklayer, he was born

here.”

A. Nativity and Black Exchanges

Many of the new settlers find it impossible to engage

in black exchanges with villagers who are natives or who have

 

lived in the village for many years. Aksel Kristiansen,
for example, found it necessary to build a friendship and
later an exchange relationship with the village butcher
(himself a settler and excluded from many exchange networks)
to obtain meat illegaly.

Because of such isolation, new villagers who actively
try to engage in black exchanges among themselves are, to

some extent, only partially successful. Many new settlers

1U?

obtain meat through family and kin who have farms; others
obtain free pigs from family members, and then raise

them with the help of several other settlers by sharing
the cost of the feeding. Another type of exchange among
new settlers is the sale of articles at a discount to
friends. For example, many work for business concerns in
a nearby city, where wholesale plans are possible for
employees. These employees purchase articles needed by
friends from their employers, and then sell them at cost.

As can be seen, the above exchanges by new settlers are
not entirely illegal, and do not qualify as black exchanges
though they are modelled after the black exchange. Basically,
it is those skilled craftsmen having network affiliations
with others in the village who possess access to illegal
or black exchanges of services or valued commodities. New
settlers who are skilled can and do engage in black exchanges,
but their participation in such exchanges in the village
and with established networks is minimal. In general,
black exchanges within the village are not possible for new

settlers unless they possess kinship ties or a craft skill.

B. Nativity and Helping Behavior

The study defined helping behavior to include acts
of giving a hand, borrowing, and lending. Specific categories

of these activities were developed and tested. Nativity

 

 

1A8

does not appear to influence who helps whom; restrictions

on helping behavior comes in the form of neighborhood
separation. There were differences, however, in the relative
number of established helping networks existing between natives

and settlers. These results were:

Table 2“: Year of Arrival or Birth in Fynby and
Number of Established Helping — Networks

 

 

 

 

Year of Arrival Number of Established Networks
or Birth Reported
O 1 2 3 A Total
1970 — 1975 5(36)' 3(21) 2(1A) “(29) 0(0) p 14
1950 — 1969 “(27) 5(33) “(27) l( 7) 1(7) 15
1885 - 1949 2( 9) 5(23) 8(36) 6(27) 1(5) 22

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Numbers in parentheses indicate percentage of total
subjects for specific years of arrival or birth in
Fynby.

The average number of networks for new settlers is
1.36, for those settling between 1950 and 1969 it is 1.33,
and for those settling prior to 19A9, it is 1.95. The
differences between the two group of later settlers are not
significant, and a correlation between specific year of
arrival and number of networks reported is less than .05.
The greater average number of networks for the natives
is significant, and indicates the persistence of established
networks for those villagers raised in the traditional
system and still remaining in the system. Data on service

and food exchanges indicated how difficult it is for

 

 

 

 

149

settlers to establish such network relationships in villages
such as Fynby.

These results indicate greater established relationships
for helping among natives; and since neighborhood is an
influencing factor, the relationships for helping are
greater among natives who are also neighbors. Such a trend
is most likely due to greater proximity over longer periods
of time, and there are indications that settlers are also
becoming greater help givers and receivers to each other.
Settlers, however, will most likely not equal natives in
frequency of helping activities in the future since most
settlers work outside the Village. Working outside the village
involves greater time away from neighbors and fewer opportuni-
ties for helping. Settlers also do not have a common history
and have fewer things in common than natives since many
come from greatly varying regions in Denmark.

To summarize: settlers are not as active in helping
activities as natives; and while such helping activity will
undoubtedly increase in the future, it is unlikely to

approximate the frequency of helping;activities of natives.

 

150

C. Nativity and Visiting

Visitation data reflects informal evening visits for
coffee and cake since such visits appear to be the norm.
Nativity influences visitation in much the same manner it
Vinfluences helping behavior; natives appear to visit more
frequently than settlers. There was no real difference in
location of those visited by natives and settlers, though
no one settled prior to 1925 listed any visits to families
in the new section. This pattern is most likely due to
age differences since those settling prior to 1925 are by
now aged and have established relationships with others of
their age.

Nativity also appeared to influence expectations of
return visits and of notifying one's intended hosts of
visits. New settlers are the most informal with none
claiming it necessary to call prior to visiting. Older
settlers and village natives were divided on the issue,
saying it depends on such circumstances as distance to
intended hosts, duration of visit, and visits involving
preparations of food by the hosts. These differences were not
apparent when data was computed by age of subjects.

It is apparent that natives have established specific
norms for visitation that prescribe the nature of visits
made. Natives are more formal, wanting the conditions of the

visit clear prior to actually visiting.

 

 

 

151

These differences between natives and settlers do not
influence who visits whom. There are age differences, with
visits commonly made to one's age cohorts, but such
differences do not reflect differences in nativity status.
Visitation is influenced predominantly by the factors of

skill, neighborhood, and kinship, and not nativity.

E. NEIGHBORHOOD AND EXCHANGE

My earliest memories of life in Fynby is filled with
fears of Specific sections of the village. I was raised
in the New Street area by the blacksmith shop, and knew
the area intimately. By age 9 I had seen all of the village,
but still feared going to both the southern and northern
areas of Fynby. We, as a family, never associated with
families from these areas; the people living on Mill Street
were strangers consisting of the veterinarian, physician,
windmill owner, and a collection of unskilled laborers
working the farms north of Fynby.

Such neighborhood patterns are not immediately obvious
today for there are visitations and interaction between
villagers of various areas. The stores have closed or
moved to different village sections, and villagers have to
go to other sections to shop. Children are more mobile since

the village now has only one school, and the children freely

 

go to homes of friends in other sections. However, I

still felt some of the old neighborhood influences during
interview discussions about exchange, and tried to analyze
data from the neighborhood perspective to see if such dif—

ferenCes still influences interaction.

A. Neighborhood and Helping Behavior

The establishment of helping networks is influenced by
neighborhood location. The results are significant, and a
correlation based on actual street location of subjects
requesting help with individuals giving help was .A2. Two
old sections of the village, consisting of areas located
on New Street and Mill Street, are the most active. The
new central section of the village also has a high level
of helping networks, whereas the border areas are surprisingly
inactive.

Over 51% of the reported requests for help through
established networks were initiated by people living in the
old section of the village, and over 66% of the reported
givers of help were also located in the old section. Indeed,
35 (“1%) out of a total of 81 reported helping incidents
through established networks in the village were between
individuals both living in the old sections. The neighbor—
hood distribution of network activity is due to 1) long
standing and active network activity between residents of

New Street east (most of whom are natives), 2) kinship

 

_;—

153

ties between several families of New Street east and
New Street west, and 3) a distinctly isolated and long
standing network activity of the isolated residents of Mill
Street north (all of these settled in the fifties).

An interesting observation is that the residents of
the new central section account for nearly 45% of reported

requests for help in the questionnaire sample. This same

 

section accounted for less than 16% of the reported help-
given in the same set of helping incidents. When a resident
of the new section goes for help, it is to the old section
A2% of the time, and to the border area 32% of the time.
Observation and data results indicate these requests for
help by the new section residents are not reciprocated. The
residents living in the old section only go to the new
section 5% of the time, and to the border section 12% of the
time.

What is apparent here is a difference of perceptions.
New section residents reported many established networks
from the old and border areas of the village. Residents
of the old and border areas do not report established
networks from the new section. The discrepancy is obvious
during social events in the village - few border and old
area residents are present at such social events in the new
section. The result is a diminution of established networks

in these areas since new area residents are not fulfilling

154

established obligations for such network activity by
inviting old area residents to their social events.

To summarize: neighborhood location is a major factor
influencing the establishment of helping networks between
families. Length of residency does not appear to be an
influencing factor for such network establishment, though
the special status of village nativity increases the chances

. for network membership.

B. Neighborhood and Service Exchanges

Data indicates that service exchanges (including the
black exchange) occur predominantly within defined
neighborhoods, though specific individuals do act as
mediators between various neighborhoods of the village. For
example, the neighborhood of Mill Street north contains

the following eight families:

1. Erik Rasksten, electrician
2. Bent Larsen, painter

3. Jsrn Olsen, laborer and small farmer

A. Niels Larsen, windmill owner

5. Edna Jensen, retired widow

6. Lars Olsen, laborer and former baker
7. Anna Ulrich, nurse's aid

8. Anna Rasmussen, retired widow

Families 1, 2, 3, A, and 6 are frequent exchange

155

partners, though Jdrn Olsen and Niels Larsen are becoming
marginal members due to Jsrn's lack of skills and Niels'
accumulation of wealth. I interviewed all of the families
in these exchange networks, and found that only one re—
ported exchanges outside the neigthrhood. Families 5, 7,
and 8 were not involved with any exchanges since they

did not have many of the access factors discussed in the
result section (they were women without husbands).

Mill Street north is an isolated sub — section of the
northern end of the village, and the exchanges that occur
there are restricted to those neighbors residing in the
immediate area.

The above neighborhood pattern is also observed within
the sections of New Street in the old sections of Fynby.

In each of the two sections of New Street, there were one or
two families bridging neighborhood boundaries.

Neighborhood boundaries are clear in an example of a
black exchange between Mads Petersen (of New Street) and an
electrician from another village. Mads, at the time he
was building an addition to his home, needed an electrician
to do the wiring. Erik Rasksten, an electrician of Mill
Street north, was not consulted. Mads did not feel he could
engage in a black exchange with Erik, and said, ”it is not
something I would ask Erik to do." Several other families
in this area reported it necessary to pay Erik in full for

his services despite the fact that Erik does involve himself

156

with black exchanges within his own section of the village
and with residents from other villages. Mads, and others
in his area, make arrangements for black exchanges with

electricians and other craftsmen from other villages.

F. ECONOMIC WEALTH AND SOCIAL DEFERENCE AND EXCHANGE

The above five dimensions of differentiation criteria
limit exchanges to individuals or groups sharing these
criteria. It is a complicated system, further complicated
by two additional dimensions of economic power and social
deference. I did not systematically collect data on these
two ranking dimensions; but observations in the village
certainly allow for summary statements regarding their
functioning to further limit the potential exchange partners
available to individuals living in Fynby.

People having such characteristics as wealth, titles,
land, or professional skills receive deference from
villagers. These are not discrete variables easily measured
or cumulated to give single scores for status, nor are they
all present in those commanding deference in the village. They
are, however, present in some combination and serve to isolate

specific segments of the population.

157

Teachers and professionals living in the village
constitute the largest group of individuals receiving
respect and deference from villagers. Large landowners
and those with inherited titles and wealth are not normally
in contact with villagers and really represent a different
social world that is not directly relevant to village life.

Anna Nielsen provides an example of varying actions
and attitudes regarding these elite groups. When younger,
Anna handled all book keeping for her husband's blacksmith
shop. She sent bills to customers and dealt with them
when they came to pay. One of their major customers was
a count who had business with the shop several times weekly,
and usually paid for these services four times yearly.

When the count came to pay, he was ushered into the formal
office where her husband, freshly washed and clothed,
handled the business personally. Wine and fine cigars
were reserved for the count, and all comments directed to
the count were preceded with formal titles and appropriate
bows.

Anna relayed stories of the count and his visits to
the shop with awe, and her eyes glowed with the excitement of
the memories. Today, the count's son has no such contact
with the village; he is only seen driving from his farm
to the city in his black Mercedes.

Such reSpect is still present, though the awe and

158

ceremony is gone. Groups formerly commanding respect

have become isolated, never developing the criteria (skill,
kinship, etc) and attitudes necessary for successful inter—
action with villagers; and, in fact, many do not have the
desire to interact directly with villagers.

Teachers constitute the largest of the elite groups
living in the village. They are isolated from village
exchanges despite their residence in the village since
interaction between these teachers and villagers is limited
to school affairs during the school hours.

The result of such isolation is often resentment by
both the teachers and the villagers. The teachers resent
villagers, especially craft skilled villagers, because they
are excluded from the benefits these skilled individuals
can offer. A secretary at the Universitet af Odense,
whose husband earns over 200,000 Kroner yearly, complained
bitterly about the inequity of the social system in the
Villages: "These damn craftsmen have cars, color television
sets, and large new homes which are well furnished. We have
to struggle on with our old television set and our ten year
old car. Do you think we could ever get black money (meaning
services and commodities)? No, you can be sure we are charged
full prices." Villagers resented this family in return
because of their free summers and their cottage, and their

varying hours of work at the school. "If they want more, they

159

can work for it like the rest of us." was the typical comment

regarding this family.

Economic wealth is another rank difference criteria in
the Village, and nearly always excludes individuals from
village exchanges. When Lars Holdsted became manager of the
large laundry in Fynby, he lost his friends and old
exchange network. "They won't deal with me because I wear
a suit and tie, and now drive a Volvo. If I go around the
street in work clothes and wooden shoes they are angry,
and believe I am pretending to be like them. There is no
way I can win. Let me tell you Knud, if you finally get it
so you have a little money, you will soon find how lonely
it can be here.” Lars was at a loss, he did not know how
to overcome his isolated position in the village. Four years
ago, he tried by running for the village council, but was
soundly defeated with less than 5% of the vote. The janitor
at the Kommune office won by a wide margin.

This second group of economically well — off included
at least half a dozen isolated village families. All of these
families were excluded from exchange of services and
commodities, and were required to pay full retail price for
all commodities purchased in the village. Non - cash exchanges

are impossible for these families.

160

CHAPTER VI

CONCLUSION

Exchanges in Fynby are influenced by no less than
seven dimensions of stratification. There is no apparent
consensus on any set of dimensions to give Fynby a sense
of community, neighborhoods a sense of identity, and
individuals a sense of belonging. In reality, Fynby is
a Village in name only, a collection of small groups
bounded by specific and limited interaction.

Neighborhoods are at once sources of cohesiveness
and isolation. Neighborhoods afford greater contacts and
opportunity for develOping like attitudes and values, but
they also divide the village into groups that become
partly self — sufficient and independent from other village
neighborhoods. Neighborhoods increase the range and
frequency of interaction with those in proximity, but in
Fynby did not really preclude interaction with other, non-
neighbor villagers. Some interaction, in the form of skilled
services or special articles not available in one's own
neighborhood, was necessarily found in other neighborhoods

since craftsmen and stores were not confined to one neighborhood.

161

Neighborhood boundaries served to limit interaction in
the form of visitation and helping to those living close
by.
Historically, Fynby has had four distinct neighborhoods.
These were:
1. The region on Mill Street extending north
from what is now Southstreet.
2. The central region including New Street and
the southern end of Mill Street.
3. Red Oak Street
A. High Birch - a set of houses extending south—
west of Fynby and physically isOlated from the village

by a small farm.

Neighborhood location is one criteria for ranking
individuals and families. It is an old and traditional
division of the village population and has existed for
as long as the oldest members of the village can recall.
The neighborhood criteria influences most of the helping
behaviors by limiting the number of others an individual
will ask forhelp to those living in his immediate neighborhood.

Mill Street north is the most obvious of these
isolated neighborhoods. The families of this section
pride themselves on their close — knit relationships and
believe the ready and willing help given here is non -

existent in the rest of the village. "Let them take care

163

of themselves down there (in the village)” Lars Olsen would
say each time we talked. The village, of course, is not
so different; people do help each other in their own
neighborhoods.

The photographic presentation (see methods section)
was the most dramatic expression of neighborhood isolation.
Older settlers and natives from all neighborhoods refused
to comment or recognize the homes in the new central section.
Anna Nielsen's comments on the photographs of the new
section were, "This is mystical. Where are these photographs
from?" and "That is the church (in the background), but
what are these houses (new homes)?”

Neighborhood location also influence service and black
exchanges. People from one section do not normally have
the opportunity for such exchanges with other sections,
and many would not consider approaching villagers from
other sections for such exchanges. Mads Petersen, for
example, is an "old section" resident who contacted an
electrician from another village for a non — cash exchange
rather than approach the electrician living in the Mill Street
north section. Neighborhood location, however, do not in-
fluence exchanges between established networks other than
making access to these exchanges more difficult for new and
potential member living in the new sections of Fynby.

Within these neighborhoods are other ranking criteria

which further limit social interaction. These criteria

 

 

(u

1614

are gender, skill, nativity, economic status, and social
status. As noted above, women are presently excluded from
nearly all exchanges of services or valued commodities. They
represent an isolated segment of the population whose inter-
action is determined by the friendship and exchange relation-
ships of their husbands. Only wives of male exchange
partners appeared to have exchange relationships with each
other in the form of morning coffee visits. Exceptions

are based on kinship, childhood friendship, and common
membership in the Housewives Association, but these exceptions
are few.

Nativity also influences social interaction within the
neighborhoods. Population data indicate new settlers are
concentrated in the new sections of Fynby, but they are
also evenly distributed in the old sections of the village.
In the old section of New Street, for example, are two
families who settled in 1973. None of the older settlers or
natives in this section listed any type of exchange with
these two families other than a friendly greeting on the
street. Because of the number of new settlers in Fynby, the
cohesiveness of the neighborhood sections is rapidly
disappearing, and there are no real alternative forms of
interaction acceptable to the older settlers and natives.

Economic wealth appears to automatically exclude families

from exchanges and each neighborhood has families isolated

_—

165

because of apparent wealth. In many cases these families
were at one time acceptable and enjoyed active interaction
with their neighbors.

Skill, or lack of skill, can also influence exchange
behaviors within the neighborhood. With the rise of the
social standing of the skilled craftsmen comes a tendency
to concentrate their exchanges with other craftsmen. Un-
skilled laborers and professionals living in the neighborhood
are excluded from most exchanges with craftsmen except helping
behavior. These unskilled families do not appear to compensate
for their social isolation by increasing their interaction
with other unskilled families. Typically, interaction for
these families becomes limited to kinfolk living in other
sections and villages, and their immediate neighbors.'

Finally, professionals such as teachers, engineers,
and higher level government workers are excluded from
neighborhood exchanges. They are respected and given deference
in most social situations, but they are also seen as
different and not expected to participate in village affairs.
These families inherited their social status from the ”old"
stratification system, and find no real possibilities for
gaining access to present village exchanges and exchange
networks. They have nothing of value to offer villagers though
many make attempts to initiate exchanges of services and
commodities.

It appears that Fynby is a village of disassociated

166

neighborhoods and these neighborhoods are themselves
disintegrating. There are so many criteria for dif—
ferentiation with no consensus on any one set of differen—
tiation dimensions to give individuals a sense of belonging,

or neighborhoods a sense of identity.

APPENDIX A

SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRES

I O

10.

11.

12.

13.

EXCHANGE NETWORK QUESTIONS

Navn
(name)

Fddested Man: Woman:
(birthplace)

Aar fedt Man: Woman:'
(year of birth)

Uddannelse Man: Woman:
(education)

Hvor arbejder du nu? Man: Woman:
(Where are you now working?)

Hvad aar blev 1 gift?
(What year were you married?)

Hvor kom du fra den gang i blev gift? Man: Woman:
(Where did you come from at the time of marriage?)

Hvad bestilte dine foraeldre? Man: Woman:
(What did your parents do?)

Hvor bor jeres foraeldre nu? Man: Woman:
(Where do your parents live now?)

Hvor bor jeres barn nu? Hvad bestiller de?
(Where are your children now living? What do they do?)

Hvad aar flyttede i til Fynby?
(What year did you move to Fynby?)

Hvorfor flyttede i til Fynby?
(Why did you move to Fynby?)

Var det vanskelig at faa mennesker at kende, den gang
1 flyttede til Fynby?

(Was it difficult to get to know people at the time
you moved to Fynby?)

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

168

Er der nogen i har kun begyndt at bessge 1 de sidste

par aar? Hvem?

(Is there anyone you have just begun visiting in the last
couple of years? Who?)

Besdger du nogen, naar du gaar ud og handler? Hvem?
(Do you visit anyone when you go shopping? Who?)

Hvor keber du... ’Hvordan betalt? Kommentar
(Do you buy...) (How do you pay?) (Comments)

aes (essS) V

grensager (vegetables)

bred (bread)

maelk (milk)

ost (cheese)

ked (meat)

kylling (chicken — here meaning poultry)
andet (other)

Har i gris slagted? Hvor keber i grisen?
(Do you have a pig slaughtered? Where do you buy the pig?)

Hvem slagter den for jer?
(Who butchers it for you?)

Paa hvilken maade betaler i for grisen?
(In which manner do you pay for the pig?)

Beholder i alt kddet selv, eller deler i med nogen? Hvem?
(Do you keep all the meat, or do you share with anyone?
Who?)

Har i nogen gange kdbt noget for huset, igennem en ven
eller arbejds plads? Hvar var det?

. (Have you ever purchased anything for the house through

a friend or place of work? What was that?)

Hvis det var igennem en ven eller arbejds plads, var det
saa mulig at kebe det 'billig'?

(If it was through a friend or work place, was it then
possible to purchase it wholesale?)

Hvis nogen hjelper jer med at k¢be 'billig', venter han
saa noget fra jer for den hjelp?

(If someone helped you with the purchase, does he then
expect anything from you for that help?)

 

2H.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

169

Er det mulig at kebe andre ting, saadan som vaerktej, paa
den samme maade?

(Is it possible to buy other things, such as tools, in
the same manner?)

Har i kebt saadan ting? Hvad var det? Hvem hjalp jer med
det?

(Have you purchased such things? What were they? Who
helped you with this purchase?)

Har i nogen gange laant? Fra Hvem? Laaner De saa noget
fra jer? Hvad? Venter De betaling for denne laan?

(Have you ever borrowed? From whom? Do they then borrow
from you? What? Do they expect payment for the loan?)

Plaeneklipper (lawn mower)

Redskab til haven (utensils for the garden?
traktor (tractor)

Bil (automobile)

Vaerktdj (tools)

Andet? (other?)

Hvis du laaner noget ud, venter du saa noget til gengaeld
for det laan?

(If you lend something, do you then expect reciprocation
for that loan?)

Har i nogen gange faaet hjaelp med... Fra hvem? Hvordan
sagde i tak for hjaelp?
(Have you ever received help with.... From whom? How

did you say thank you for this help?)

.Hdste (harvest)

Foder dyrne (feeding of livestock)

-Have arbejde (garden work)

Kersel (driving)

slagtning (slaughtering)

Reparation paa huset (repairs to the house)
Indkeb (shopping)

Madlavning (food preparation/cooking)

Bdrne pleje (child care/baby sitting)

Andet (other) '

Hvis nogen hjelper jer, venter De saa noget for den hjelp?
(If anyone helps you, do they expect something for that
help?)

30.

31.

32.

33.

3A.

35.

36.

37.

38.’

39.

A0.

170

Hvis du hjalp nogen, venter du saa at du kan spsrge dem om
hjelp naar du mangler det?

(If you helped someone, do you expect you can ask them for
help when you need it?)

Er det i orden at sperge om hjelp fra nogen, hvis du ikke
har gjort dem en tjeneste ferst?

(Is it in order to ask for help from someone, if you have
not done them a favor first?)

Er der nogen her i Fynby som du kunne altid spdrge om hjelp?
(Hvem?)

(Is there anyone here in Fynby that you could always ask

for help? Who?) I

Er det alle i Fynby, som du kunne sperge om hjelp? Hvem
ikke?

(Is it everyone in Fynby you can ask for help? Who could
you not ask for help?)

Holder 1 avis eller blad med nogen andre? Hvem er det?

(Do you subscribe to a paper or magazine with someone?
Who is that?)

Har i gjort det i lang tid?
(Have you done that for a long time?)

Mener i at vi skal helst ringe ferst, fer vi besdger nogen?
(Do you feel we should call before we visit someone?)

I hvilken tilfaelde kan Vi besege uden at ringe fsrst?
(In which circumstances can we visit without first
calling?)

Hvis i besdger nogen, venter i saa at de skal komme naeste
gang til jer? Hvorfor er det?

(If you visit someone, do you then expect that they should
visit you the next time? Why is that?)

Hvem plejer i at besege? Hvor bor de? Hvor ofte?
(Who do you normally visit? Where do they live? How
often do you visit them?)

Hvilken klubber, grupper, eller forreninger tilherer I?
(Which clubs, groups, or associations do you belong to?)

41.

A2.

“3.

AA.

”5.

A6.

A7.

171

Kender i nogen der arbejder i kommune bestyrelsen?
Hvem er det?

(Do you know anyone that works in the kommune council?
Who is that?)

Har i nogen gange snakket med dem om et problem her i
byen? Hvad var det?

(Have you ever talked with them about a problem here in
the village? What was that?)

Hvad mode har i gaaet til over i Kommune Kontoret?
Hvorfor gik I? '

(Have you ever attended a meeting at the kommune office?
Why did you go?)

Hvad synes I om den offentlige hjelp nogen mennesker faar?
(What do you feel about the public assistance some people
receive?)

Er der andre maader mennesker kunne klare det uden saadan
hejlp? Hvordan?

(Are there other ways peOple could handle it without such
help? How is that?)

Har den offentlige hjelp, som vi kan faa nu, gjort naaget
til den maade mennesker hjalp hinanden ferhen?

(Has that public assistance, as we can now receive, done
anything to the way people used to help each other?)

Hvis I manglede hjelp, ville i saa gaa til andre end
Kommune Kontoret? Hvem ville I saa gaa til?

(If you needed help, would you go to someone other than
the kommune office? If so, to whome would you go?)

 

 

172

II. TIME UTILIZATION AND DAILY CONTACT FORMS

EN UNDERSQGELSE AF FORANDRINGERNE I LOKALSAMFUNDET

Forord

Vi har alle oplevet, at der er sket mange forandringer
omkring os i de sidste 10 aar. Nye huse er blevet bygget,
velstanden er oget og flere og flere mennesker har fundet det
nsdvendigt at aendre og tilpasse deres daglige aktiviteter
til disse nye vilkaar.

Denne undersegelse har til formaal at undersdge de
forandringer, der er forgaaet i Fynby, for om muligt at ku—ne
paavise nogle virkninger af disse.

Det er mit haab, at Studier af den art kan hjaelpe andre
til at forstaa, hvad udviklingen over en aarraekke har betydet
for smaa lokal samfund.

I Metoden bestaar kort sagt i at spsrge folk paa egen hvad
de fortager sig dagen igennem, hvad de laver, hvem de arbejder
sammen med osv.

Det er derfor jeg venligst anmoder Dem om at medvirke -
bl. a. ved at udfylde vedlagte skema nogle gange om ugen. Deres
svar vil blive behandlet absolut fortroligt, igen uden mig vil

komme til at hehandle skemaerne. Jeg er interesseret i lokal

173

samfundets aktiviteter og de menneskelige kontakter - ikke i de e

enkelte personers forhold

Instruktion til Skemaet

 

De vil kunne se, at jeg helt enkrlt sp¢rgerz Hvem
Kom De 1 kontake med i lsbet af dagen? Hvad foretog De dem?
Dernaest er der tilfsjet et omraade for kommentarer. Dette
bl. a. for at faa Oplysninger om kontakte og aktiviteten der

oplevedes som udsaedvanlig eller forskellig fra det daglige.
Skulle der paa baggrund af denne indledende frklaring
vaere brug for yderligere forklaring og hjaelp staar jeg til

raadighed.

Idet jeg paa forhaand takker for Deres

velvilje, forbliver jeg:
Med venlig hilsen

Knud Laurits Hansen

Hvem kom De i kontakt

med?

With
come

whom did you
in contact?

174

Hvad foretog De
dem?

What did you do?

Skema for (Date)

 

Kommentar.

Comments.

APPENDIX B

VILLAGE MAPS

 

175

MAP I. FYNBY AND ITS PUBLIC

.—~\fin

FACILITIES

-~\a—‘o

 

 

  

c Q"??- ~' I ‘ 7 1|
f - ' - A f . 1' . . "
‘ \ . J l ’ .I
. .55 3 2. a ~+
. .‘y _ . u' losseplads '
SJ .‘ '-
l l ..
1 ‘
I. 3“ h
FYNBY ’ I
_ ‘.
“.3
I! V
t‘ '
f
I]: ’ ‘ ; . “- ‘Q‘ t.
H '
I . 1
; 1 l? T
“ : I '. ~ ”L ‘
‘i o vandvark
..t ' 1"»
x
f.
'I D
"a. ‘1
L1

. “l J I

I -' u . t ‘J ‘ i “4 9 : .

. . - j. .1be amlmgshus

a. J 1.-

  

\ | v: ‘ , .' Lan‘ m
‘ . L L'.‘ H kirke
\ C n

 

 

  

I.”

- blbliot'ek',_ e

' 4 3’ ‘ “\- ‘- l‘ i" ' I'.’ . ‘
" ,.« . “‘ Lo 3 {’2 "l ‘klrkegardsudv.
' ‘ skal... ‘ ‘ t.“‘ :

grensningsanlaag
,.

1' It: ............ -. '2
................. . . . \ ‘-
4 :. -:..',."-_'..'. -. .:' .- .:, .......... . ' r l . . " x _‘ 5 u U \ . L ‘ ‘
I! :::: lg .md' 7 m ‘
. . '.'«"-"-'-:.';.°-.'.';.‘; :::: 5 p0 r t s p l a s‘
.\. (
( ‘
‘ f .3" I f
I
y. .r A,
i . :1 ,
. 4 ‘
.‘ g
j l
‘I A
1-,“ ..-l , _ __ .. ‘
1T , 1 1 ‘ __ .
. P,'
J ‘ .
i ..4 . g
I ‘ i b. ‘ l I I
. :1 ‘
/ . ; ,,
f . r ,1
, . r .
I: I‘ ‘I JI: & ‘

 

Skole/bibliotek = school and library
Sportsplads = sports field
Rensningsanlaeg = pollution plant
Kirkegaards udv. = church and cemetary
Forsamlingshus = hall

Vandvaerk = waterworks

losseplads = dumping grounds

 

176

MAP II. STREETS OF FYNBY
(to highway)

  
    
  
  
   

FYNBY

 

East Street

Green Street Mill Street

West Street
(to Husby)

South'Street
ew Street

 

(to farm land)

(to farm land)

 

 

 

177

MAP III. RESIDENTIAL SECTIONS OF FYNBY

   
   

FYNBY

Redoak
farm land

    

Industrial
Zone

000 = Old Section
é7é7é7 = Border Section

 

':;it#; = New Section

 

APPENDIX C

FOOTNOTES

 

 

 

178

l. The names of all individuals and villages are
ficticious since many of the exchanges studied are
illegal. Revelation of real names would subject many
of the Villagers to possible scrutiny of kommune
authorities.

2. The traditional village structure of Fynby has
altered due to l) the influx of a new population now
accounting for nearly 65% of the village pOpulation,
and 2) the introduction of numerous unfamiliar
occupations into the old village stratification system.
The result is an emergence of a new structure
characterized by a multiplicity of sources for strati—
fication.

My own observations in the village indicated the
presence of several status differentiated groups. The
most obvious of these is the independent owners of
business concerns. These owners are a group somewhat
separated from the normal day—to—day village inter—
action, and do not seem particularly interested in
joining or participating in either casual interaction
or exchanges of commodities other than the sale of
their goods. Such an exclusion of independent owners
of business is based on the apparent economic wealth
of these owners, and an inability of the owners to
provide goods or services valued in village exchanges.

A second division, nearly as obvious as the first,
exists between journeymen craftsmen and unskilled
workers. There are few exchanges between these two
groups, and exceptions are based on kinship ties.

There is also a status difference between new settlers
and village natives (natives include those who have lived
in the village for many years). This difference was
dramatically revealed in the native residents' refusal
to comment or identify pictures of homes located in the
new central section of Fynby.

Besides the above four status differentiated groups,
there are also status differences between villages
and other villages and kommunes. Fynby villagers, for
example, are often heard making derogatory comments
regarding the neighboring village of Husby. Husby
villagers are seen as cold and unfriendsly, and not
willing to extend common courtesies such as saying hello
in the street, or giving a hand when needed. My own

 

 

179

experiences in Husby does not bear out such criticism
by Fynby residents, though the feelings of Fynby
residents certainly structures and limits the nature
of their interaction with residents of other villages.

Finally, I observed differentiation of Villagers
employed by civil service offices in the kommune.
The exclusion of these employees are heightened by
their inadvertent involvement with land zoning,
increased taxes, and requirements for complete records
on economic transactions. Only old-time residents who
now work for the kommune, and who are in a position
to act as mediators between the kommune and the
villagers are considered members in good standing of
the community. Other government employees working
in the Kommune offices stand apart as a group,
finding most exchanges within Fynby closed to them.
Villagers feel they cannot trust these employees to
keep their exchange activities secret from the
kommune authorities.

3. The complex stratification system developing in
Fynby is unwieldy to many methods of study. Scales
for self-rating or rating of neighbors have to include
the specific context or situation for each label or
class used to effectively represent the nature of village
stratification. There are also problems with the
methods employed in questioning respondents, with
villager's readiness to answer and give desired infor—
mation, and with the scoring of answers in self-
rating approaches. It is doubtful, for example, that
Fynby residents would even answer such questions.

Systems for determing status position such as
devised by Warner and Hollingshead are not really
suitable for these villages since the criteria for using
a specific rank is dependent upon the type of social
interaction present (Warner, 19A9; Hollingshead, 1958).
Ranking by measurement of occupational prestige, for
example, depends upon respondents' knowledge of
the occupations rated, the meaning of specific job
titles to the respondent, and the particular hierarchy
of values held by each respondent. The complexity of
the stratification system, and the variability of ap—
plication of rank criteria in Fynby makes these methods
impractical.

Similar difficulties are present if we use the
various ”models” of stratification inthe study of Fynby,

_

180

models such as the Caste, Estate, and Class Model,
the Egalitarian Model, and the Continuous Model. The
Caste, Estate, and Class models depend upon variables
used as criteria of stratification to be discretely
distributed, and that is not the case for Fynby where
specific criterion used for status differentiation
appears to vary by the type of interaction.

The Continuous Model ”assumes that for any person
of a given status it is possible to find another as
near him in status as desired without equalling him"
(Svalastoga, 196A, p.546). This model would serve
for Fynby if all the dimensions of status differentiation
were known, but how would one handle situations of
status inconsistency such as a teacher ranking high in
one dimension or low in another? Even if one could
compute a composite score based on several dimensions
(for example, income, education, occupation, and
neighborhood), how would one apply such scores when
predicting or interpreting exchange behavior s in
different situations and between individuals of
different social classes? An unstated assumption of
the Continuous Model appears to be that there is a
general consensus on status differentiation dimensions
by the group or community studied. This becomes
difficult when the dimension applicable to any particular
interaction is dependent upon the nature of the interaction
and its social context. For example, a craftsman could
rate a teaCher either a higher or lower rank on the
occupational dimension, depending upon the particular
type of interaction he had in mind when answering the
question.

A. Mike Loukinen, in his study of a Finnish community
in Michigan, found a similar emphasis on helping. He
experienced a feeling he describes as being cared for

by a whole community while doing fieldwork. I had a
similar feeling during the initial phase of field work
as villagers came to ”freely" help a returning native -
son. However, as I assumed a place in Fynby, such
helping activities were never free, and I had the
distinct impression that all such help received from
villagers in a sense endentured me for the future. I
had to help when asked and to refuse more than a few
times (and with good reason) was taken to be rejection
of Fynby and its pattern of helping. So, in Fynby,
there was no real way of being partially involved; either
_one helped when asked, without exception, or if one did
not help when asked, one was not asked for help or given
help.

181

5. The urban planning authorities apparently make such
plans without regard to old village boundaries. The
planned integration of Husby and Fynby displays either
a willful disregard or plain ingnorance of the feelings
of villagers for each other. At any rate, the borg—
mester, when speaking about planned changes in this
area expressed no concern for traditional village
boundaries.

6. Many of the village farmers complained bitterly
because they could not find help during the planting and
harvesting seasons. Niels Husman repeatedly criticized
the young for their pecuniary interests, and many times
said, "They all want to know exactly how much they will
get for helping. No one wants to help anymore, and it's
because of this money thing. It's all money today.”

He rightfully blamed "the system”, and at the same time
contributes to it by refusing to pay for help with
produce. Such non-cash payments are restricted to close
kinfolk.

7. Some of the older settlers and natives who work in
the area can still be seen sitting ontheir tractors or
bicycles talking to each other during the day. New
settlers are seldom seen on the streets or in the village
shops.

8. Most villagers insisted that living in Fynby
provided them with a great number of opportunities for
doing favors, but at the same time they believed the
venne tjeneste to be something of the past. Margid
often said, ”I love living in Fynby, and would never
live in any other village. Here we can count on our
friends and neighbors for help." Mads and Margid,
however, reported no helping activities during the
interview.

 

9. The phrase "it was nothing" was similarly used in
Loukinen's community in Michigan, and the feelings
fenerated by such a response were similar. One must not
instill undue feelings of Obligation in others by
emphasizing the difficulty or importance of help given.

10. The fear of obligation as a motivation for giving
help was not fully explored in this study, although it
is an aspect of help giving that deserves further at—
tention. Interviews with older villagers gave the
impression that being obligated to others and having
others obligated to one self was the ideal of the

182

traditional village. It was mutual dependency built

into a traditional structure. The obligations to others,
to help others, is still an expressed ideal, though it

is no longer realized in a new and changing structure
which emphasizes individual efforts and mobility.

The ideal of mutual obligation is still valued and
practised by the established networks in Fynby. Many
of these exchange network members were so concerned
with the equal value of exchanged services or commodities
that they kept written records of their exchanges.

Hans Jeppesen and Niels Husman, for example, both have
farms, and depend on each other for help several times
weekly. Hans keeps a record of all help given and
received, and the length of time required for each
helping act. Each month he approaches Niels with these
records, and balances the ledger by paying or receiving
a cash amount based on the going hourly rate for farm
laborers.

Values on exchange content are often difficult to
determine because of the range of exchanges and the
frequency of exchanges are so great that it is impossible
for exchange partners to keep records. Loukinen

observed the same phenomenon in FinnRiver, and concludes
that the interference caused by the variety and frequency
of stimuli (in this case exchange acts) surpass the
information processing capacity of humans. Generally,

a notion of fairness is present in Fynby exchanges;

and as Mads Petersen reported regarding his exchanges
with Svend and Jens, ”we try to keep a balance."

Basically, the understanding between network members

is that anyone is free, and in fact, expected to ask for
help from other members. Once asked, a member is obligated
to help. It is a set of expectations that guarantee

mutual assistance with a minimum of specified conditions
for reciprocation. The established networks function

to assure the security of future potential exchanges in

a community seeing rapid change. Villagers are depositing
services in the network bank to assure freedom from

debt and to guarantee future drawing rights.

It is difficult to determine the means for setting values

on such exchanges in established networks, and it is
doubtful that exchange partners themselves are able to
determine such values. I questioned Jens about his feelings
regarding the value of specific services he provided

to Svend and Mads, and he was unable to see his acts as
having a defined value: "It is just something we do for

 

 

183

each other.” I had purposely asked about his
installation of furnace expansion tanks for Svend and
Mads since he had charged a monetary sum for such
installations elsewhere.

Despite the denials by Jens of the exchange value of
his services, it is obvious that services are valued,
and that some form of equivalent reciprocation is
expected. When Thorvald failed to meet his obligations
to the network, none of the skilled members hesitated
in recalling innumerable services they had provided
Thorvald, and for which he had not reciprocated. This
revelation was a surprise to me, and undoubtedly was
due to Thorvald's probationary status in the network.
Skilled members kept track of exchanges with Thorvald
to make sure he, as an unskilled member, fulfilled his
obligations according to some se t of value of
exchange content. The incident revealed a keen sense
of balance, though skilled members are probably unable
to list specific values of services given or received
from other members.

I propose that the established networks provide a method
for guaranteeing future assistance by allowing individuals
the opportunity to invest services and commodities into

a known group of individuals. Such an investment can

then be used to draw an unspecified number and type of
services when needed. However, such a proposal bears
futher study, and is presently based on observations

made only in Fynby.

ll. Villagers were not aware of their discrepant
answers even when these discrepancies were called to
their attention during interviews. In practise, they do

act out a balancing of the debts paid to each other
but they are verbally unable to express or explain the
dynamics of such acts of reciprocation.

I originally attempted to include questions on reciprocity
but the effort required severely detracted from my

main objective of studying social network patterns. In
many cases, when asked about their expectations for
returns from services or commodities given, subjects
responded with uncomprehending stares and long periods of
silence. My first impression was that villagers were
angered by such questions, but later, it became clear that
they did not really comprehend the nature of these
questions. Questions requiring abstraction of specific

 

 

‘18A

behaviors cannot be answered by many villagers. They
are not accustomed to thinking in abstract terms; and
in fact, all responses to questions about reciprocity
consisted of detailed act by act descriptions of
exchanges.

There are many possible explanations for such modes of
thinking, not the least of which is inadequate schooling
in language skills. Many villagers do not have the
vocabulary for such abstraction. For example, my
instructions to the "Time Utilization" forms were
written in simple though formal Danish, and were
thoroughly misunderstood. Relatives living in the village
honestly reported not understanding such instructions.
An inadequate vocabulary for abstraction is not the

only explanation for misunderstanding questions on
reciprocity, but it is certainly a factor.

12. We attended many parties given by new settlers.

When older settlers or native villagers were invited,

they came, stayed for a few minutes, and then left.

It is impolite to refuse such an invitadon, especially

when a party is often the means for repaying debts owed

for help received. Such a pattern was especially noted

in the Visits made by native border sectbn residents.

Here settlers often received much help with their house

and garden construction from older settlers and village
natives, but these natives would not consider going to

the settlers for assistance. It was a way of showing

a status discrepancy based on nativity, and natives
enhanced their status in the changing and growing village
by leaving settlers in a constant state of debt and
obligation for favors given. Some settlers realized this
and took advantage of the situation by asking for assistance
and never worrying about repayment. Most settlers,
however, were quite concerned about their inability to

even the debts and obligations, and so held much resentment
towards the native segment of Fynby.

13. Even preparatios for coffee and cake could be quite
elaborate. Among the older villagers the rule was for
several types of cakes, followed by cookies, ice cream,
and finally cigars. These cakes had to be eaten in

a given order, and we were politely lectured for not
following the proper order for consuming cakes. It

was a ritual not to be taken lightly.

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY SOURCES

 

 

 

185

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"I?AlllllllllllI