MASTER'S THESIS 2016 – FINAL EDITION
- 2. Abstract
The present dissertation explores the perceptions and structural expectations of shoppers at Danish
home and furniture retailer JYSK. The aim is to present a nuanced and empirically grounded
understanding of the experiences and structural expectations of shoppers, and through a combination of
ethnographic interviews and observations the study attempts to explain the polarized gap between the
understandings of what a hyggelig shoppingtrip is for my informants.
The study found several conflicting understandings of hygge as well as multiple coexisting 'contracts'
between JYSK and its customers, revealing a conflict of cultural values which are practically being
negotiated on the salesfloor. Whereas one group of informants the conveniencebased informants
appeared to systematically place more emphasis on convenience as a way to experience hygge, another
group of informants the moderationbased informants found the exact opposite the absence of
atmosphere and convenience to be hyggeligt for them.
The study thus explores the different often conflicting definitions of hygge which seem to coexist and
operate simultaneously – often in contradiction with each other, to assess whether the meaning of hygge
itself is being renegotiated. These results were achieved and demonstrated, methodologically, through a
Batesonian frameanalysis of systematically gathered interviews and observations of shoppers at JYSK.
The study also sheds light on the growing relevance of business anthropology, not only in providing
valuable businesscentred insights about consumers, but also its additional capacity to contribute to
current issues and debates in anthropological theor y.
Keywords: Frameanalysis, JYSK, perceptions, hygge, structural expectations, Danish cultural values,
atmospherics, ethnography, denotational shifts, shoppingexperience, environmental influences, symbolic
battlefield, social classes.
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- 6.
The aim was to explore how shoppers at JYSK organise their perceptions and expectations of
what a hyggelig shoppingexperience means for them, during their visit to JYSK.
It became clear to me in the field that the feeling of hygge was the most common and widely
used way for my informants to describe how they had perceived their shoppingexperience as
well as varying parts of the atmospheric or environmental surroundings (e.g the music, staff etc).
I was struck by how often I would hear the word hygge, which was often many times per
interview, which made me focus more on the concept of hygge, its practical usage by my
informants, as well as how, when, and why it was used by my informants to describe to me how
they felt or how they perceived various parts of their shoppingexperience.
It turned out, that hygge was not remotely experienced in the same way by all my informants,
and it became clear that I needed to further explore how my informants experienced their
atmospheric surroundings during their shoppingtrip in relation to their use and construction of
hyggemood.
Using a Batesonian frameanalysis, I therefore started to look at how my informants
constructed, deconstructed as well as evaluated their experiences of the environment in relation
to hygge and how they often seemed to do so very differently from one another.
To some informants, for example, the framework of hygge could only be created or maintained if
the atmosphere lived up to certain high atmospheric criteria such as for example specific music
playing, convenient and precise instore communications, or employee service. To the opposite
group hygge was a feeling that could only be maintained under radically different sometimes
exact opposite and comparatively very moderate atmospheric circumstances.
As a result of uncovering the two diverging understandings – or competing – 'versions' or
understandings of hygge, the study went on to explore, how different informants practically
perceive—and negotiate between—core Danish cultural values, such as “moderation”,
“informality”, “egalitarianism” and “middleclass life”; and I explore whether these values cancel
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- 8. For many informants, hygge appeared to play a central role when it comes to describing,
defining, and understanding their experience, because, regardless of how they perceived their
surroundings, hygge was the most common way for informants to try to establish a common
measurement of understanding in relation to their experience.
However, it soon became more complicated when I tried to understand what exactly my
informants meant by hyggelig.
The results in the first finding show that two competing – even conflicting 'versions' of hygge
appear to coexist simultaneously when my informants were asked about their
shoppingexperience and how they perceived the atmosphere of JYSK.
The moderationbased framework and the conveniencebased framework emerged as the
two dominant versions of a hyggelig shoppingatmosphere.
Finding II
As a result of the frameanalysis of informantexperiences in the previous section, it emerged
that two dominant 'versions' – or guiding structural frameworks of a hyggelig
shoppingexperience were used to 'map out' how two different 'contracts' could coexist between
JYSK and my informants, namely the moderationbased contracts and the opposing
conveniencebased contracts.
In this second finding, I continue to explore the most fragile parts of the frames, the parts where
the Fregean “denotational shift” may occur in the experiences of my informants, and where their
frames of experience may break.
Results in this finding show how a group of informants increasingly appear to reject former
values and former 'versions' of hygge such as “moderation”, “informality” and
“priceconsciousness” and instead valued and expected an added atmospheric element of
convenience.
The finding also sheds light on the various strategic sacrifices that all my informants had to
make when deciding to shop at JYSK as opposed to other places, and lastly offers a historical
comparative analysis of the contracts of the original JYSK customers of the 1980s and 1990s
and my contemporary JYSK informants whom I met and spoke to on Vermlandsgade.
A comparative historical analysis between the earliest JYSK customers and my contemporary
informants found several diverging tendencies, which not only led to problems for my
conveniencebased informants in experiencing hygge, but also revealed a potential value
conflict concerning how hygge was defined, negotiated and what it practically meant for my
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- 9. informants when they were navigating the storeenvironment which may serve to emotionally
alienate informants (from both groups) from JYSK and founder Larsen over time, potentially
causing the contract between JYSK and its customers to weaken or break.
Finding III
Hygge has in anthropological literature often been described as something only the Danish
middle class could obtain.
On the basis of my findings, I argue that hygge, as a historically informed and culturally
idealised social construct, may be starting to add a new layer to its layers of meaning as a result
of how different social groups perceive it in relation to their changing surroundings, such as
those experienced on the salesfloor of JYSK in this fieldwork.
I therefore highlight the difference between how it is commonly understood in social and
anthropological discourse, and how it is practically used and understood by my informants in the
field showing how my study is related to and contributing to the anthropological heritage of
empirical studies.
The dissertation consists of three parts as follows:
Part I: The context of the study
In this part I introduce the contextual setting my study builds on.
In the first chapter, I will describe the emergence of the JYSKcompany, the personal
involvement of founder Larsen, and describe how his own ideals and values were instrumental
in the shaping of JYSK.
In the second chapter, I will move on to discussing several core Danish cultural values, such as
“moderation”, “informality”, “egalitarianism” and “middleclass life”, all values which Larsen
believed in and which helped him create a business enterprise catering exactly for those values
in “ordinary” workingclass Danes.
In the third chapter, I turn my attention to the theory on the organisation of perception and
experience, and describe and review the most useful tools which can help to understand how
attitudes and perceptions are gradually formed over time, and how there are structural principles
which govern our experience of the world.
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- 10. In the last chapter of the first part, I discuss the emergence and role of business anthropology
and describe a few theoretical problems with the analysis of frames which have been pointed
out recently.
Part II: The analysis of the study
In this part I begin by introducing the shoppingexperiences of my informants. I listen to their
attitudes and perceptions of the physical, the ambient and the social environment of JYSK.
Using a Batesonian frameanalysis, I systematically catalogue their experiences and structural
expectations, in relation to their experiences and structural expectations of hygge.
Thereafter, I present the convenience and the moderationbased frameworks of experience
and the resulting ‘contracts’ that constitute their relationship with the JYSK company.
I compare and contrast the contemporary contracts with the original contract between JYSK and
its first generation of customers in the 1980s and 1990s and map out several commonalities and
also differences. I then turn my attention to the phenomenon of hygge itself, its many symbolic
meanings and social and cultural associations, and I interpret this as evidence of a classbased
struggle to earn the right to control its meaning.
Lastly, I reflect upon the socalled ‘sceneeffect’ and discuss what its potentially distorting
effects may be on my collected data, and I also evaluate the role and potential of business
anthropology in relation to being able to contribute to current issues within contemporary
anthropological theory.
Part III: Framework and Methodology
In this part, I begin by reviewing the methods concerning the process of datacollection.
I discuss my role as a passive participant observer in my field as well as the main source of
empirical material, which is the classic ethnographic interview. In this regard, I also consider
principal ethical concerns and in relation to this: The issue of consent as well as how to
responsibly manage interpersonal relations in the field.
I then move on to reflecting upon the topic of datatreatment. This includes theorybuilding,
treatment of rawdata, and my decision not to translate the data from Danish into English.
Lastly, I consider contemporary debates on framing and I discuss the emergence of business
anthropology and evaluate its relevance to the anthropological perspective. I also discuss the
emergence of the classhabitus and consider the problems of studying issues relating to social
class in an egalitarian society, where most Danes objectively would consider themselves as
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- 12. Part I: The context of the study
Chapter 1: The Rise of JYSK in the history of Danish
DiscountRetail
In order to understand the context that my fieldwork takes place in, I want to describe 'The rise
of JYSK'.
For this purpose, I have chosen to make use of founder Lars Larsen's own selfbiography
“Go'daw Jeg hedder Lars Larsen og jeg har et godt Tilbud!” (transl. “Hi! My name is Lars Larsen
and I have a good offer!”) which he published in 2004.
The reason for this is, although it is his own private account of the rise of his own enterprise,
that it is simultaneously a book which was sent out to all Danish households (appx. 2,4 mill.
households at the time) and therefore can be seen as a relevant cultural artefact which many of
my informants may be familiar with in one way or another.
Hence, although the publication could be viewed as a 'tactical marketing or PRstunt', it is also
itself a 'story'—or a collectively shared cultural vision—which has influenced the views, opinions
and structural perceptions that my informants have come to form of not just JYSK, or Larsen
himself, but also of the social, ethical, moral and cultural values, among others, which gradually
shaped his growing enterprise.
According to Danish newsmedia Berlingske Business (2004), the selfbiography by Larsen is
the mostread of its kind in Denmark. Over 800,000 Danes have already read the whole book.
And twice as many (1,6 mill.) have read “parts of it”, or “plan to read it”.
Studies conducted by the independent research institute for market and opinionanalysis
SONAR have shown that “62% of those, who have read the book, left school before the age of
twenty” (ibid. 2004).
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- 13. Notably, however, these statistics have been formed by selfreporting, which itself can be
questioned in relation to how these numbers correspond to how many people have really read it
to finish. I will discuss this issue more in the chapter on methodology; however, I still use the
book of Larsen as a pool of information about my chosen field.
Lars Larsen himself does not find it strange that many Danes without a long education have
read the book and was quoted responding: “We champion [low] prices here at JYSK so our
customers typically come from the lower end (...) [of Danish society]”. Instead he found it
interesting that the book was read by many who do not normally read.
In the last section of the chapter, I explore what kind of 'first generation' customers (or his
earliest customers) would historically visit JYSK, what their structural expectations to their visit
were, how much they were willing to sacrifice whilst on the hunt for the best possible bargains.
This information I will make use of later in the study's analysis, to compare and contrast it to
what the contemporary customers in 2015 expected from their visit to my field at JYSK on
Vermlandsgade.
The Beginnings of JYSK
On the first of August 1979 on Silkeborgvej in Aarhus founder “købmand” (transl. 'businessman')
Lars Kristinus Larsen followed his “tovlige” (transl. 'crazy') idea and opened his first ever JYSK
Sengetøjslager.
It was the first of over 100 stores to be opened in Denmark and over 2,200 worldwide, as of
today’s writing, in more than 37 countries. It was also the beginning of a piece of Danish
enterprise history with a young man from Thy on the Western coast of Jutland, who, with his
intimate understanding of the Danish especially the Jutlandish mentality came to champion the
early concept of discount (albeit a slightly modified version of Discount), and who is now
famous for the concept of “det gode tilbud” (transl. “The good offer”) (Larsen 2004:44).
This concept hit a nerve within the Danish mentality because it in many ways mirrored the core
Danish values discussed in the preceding sections such as “moderation”, “ordinariness”,
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- 14. “modesty” as well as the cheapest deals the home and furniture market had ever seen (Linnet
2011).
The name, “JYSK Sengetøjslager”, according to Larsen, was supposed to signal as much as
possible of what he, himself, stands for: His stores are meant to be “warehouses” without fancy
interior decorations or expensive installations, just simple, plain and functional in essence: Here
one can find the cheapest deals for a good price – because customers have “the unique
opportunity to buy straight from the warehouse” (Larsen 2004:45) without additional costs from
any middlemen or “grossister”.
Larsen was personally deeply involved in the opening of the first 50 JYSKstores in Denmark,
and throughout his focus was simple: The location had to be cheap, yet convenient for the
customers, have plenty of storagespace, and inside the stores everything must be functional.
However, importantly for Larsen, and this is where his own homemade discount concept
departs from our traditional understanding of the discountconcept, was the idea that staff had to
be highly trained and knowledgeable about the products in order to be able to deliver all the
help and expertise that the customers could want (Larsen 2004:42).
The customers loved his simple, yet convincing, concept, and at almost all of his early openings
in Jutland and even Sealand from the year 1981 onwards, people were forming long queues
down the streets before the stores had even opened their doors. It was a massive success, and
people quickly began to cherish Larsen, who by many (incl. Larsen himself) was seen as almost
synonymous with JYSK (Larsen 2004).
After the first 50 stores had opened, Larsen himself had limited time to personally participate in
the openings like he had done earlier, and instead he spent much of his time doing what he
says he does best: Travelling the world (“indkøbsrejser”) (initially Portugal, then later—and still
currently—countries such as Brazil, Thailand and China) in search of the “best offers” available
at the factories or productfares where he would buy merchandise in bulk before shipping it back
to Europe (Larsen 2004).
Larsen was often portrayed as identical with his business in many ways, not just by himself but
also by the Danish media (Larsen 2004). He became renowned for refusing to fly 'first class' on
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- 15. his many trips around the world, but instead opted in for what he called “monkey class”, and he
would encourage that his team share rooms in “modest” hotels instead of everyone getting a
luxury hotelroom each (Larsen 2004:81). He thought of this as wasteful and “unnecessary
luxury”, and this 'philosophy' is very closely related to the archtypical Danish values of
“modesty”, “moderation” and “hanging between high and low” which I will discuss later (Linnet
2011).
Larsen became known for championing important Danish values in his concept and many of his
customers loved this.
Many workingclass Danes could relate to him being “downtoearth” and “human”, just another
person that they – as ordinary Danes could relate to (Linnet 2011:28).
Larsen himself was raised by his widowed mother who taught him to cherish these Danish
values (his father had passed away just before he was born). Throughout his youth, he says
that he always identified himself indeed as “hanging in between high and low” of society (Linnet
2011:28). He often spoke about his experience as a child where he was invited home, as
“Slikmutters søn” (transl. “Son of the owner of the towns sweets shop”) to some of the elites of
the society of his day (transl. “hjem til borgerskabet”): Barrister Lind, Butcher Kristensen, Baker
Andersen, Veterinarian Jørgensen, Ford dealer Mortensen, Doctor Belter... etc., while he was
also not afraid to visit his schoolfriend “Svend” at the local “fattighus” (transl. “poorhouse”).
The Values of JYSK
Larsen considers the Danish people to be “masters of hominess” (Larsen 2004:146). Nobody
else in the world have such intimate knowledge of the home sphere of life, interiority and cosy
decorations etc. than do the Danes.
He often thinks of JYSK as essentially exporting Danishness and Danish values around the
world through his stores (Larsen 2004:146).
On his first ever opening of a transatlantic store in the American state of New Jersey, he, for
instance, invited a copy of worldfamous Danish author H.C. Andersen along with animated
figures of Vikings along to the opening.
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- 16.
Larsen and JYSK have always been viewed as one and the same thing by many Danes (Larsen
2004:117).
As mentioned, this is because he managed to connect to the values and the worldview of the
“ordinary” Dane, the modest “middleclass” Dane who simply wanted a good deal – without all
the unnecessary presentations, “formality” and statusseeking decorations. He managed to
connect to the archtypical Danish corementality of “middleclass lifestyles”, “informality” and
“egalitarianism” which themselves are built on hundreds of years of continuous
meaningbuilding (Linnet 2011:31).
In 1987 a new form of media came to Denmark, TVcommercials. Larsen had followed the
spreading of TVcommercials across Europe and realised that this “TV halløj” (transl. “TV stuff”)
could be a useful tool for his own business. Given that he, already at the time, was seen by
many as identical with his business, it “was in the cards” that he himself, “KØBMANDEN”,
should be the symbolic front figure of JYSK in these new TVcommercials (Larsen 2004).
Over time, his personal status became that of a “national icon” through his famed television
appearances, where he, personally, stood in front of the Danish people during prime sending
time and pitched his good deals starting off with the quintessentially JYSK phrase: “Go'daw –
Jeg hedder Lars Larsen og jeg har et godt tilbud!” (Transl. “Greetings – My name is Lars Larsen
– and I have a good offer!”) (ibid. 2004).
Danish audiences could easily “connect” or emphasise with this simple, clear, message, and
despite competitors in the industry having to spend hundreds of thousands of Danish kroner on
“fancy, hightech, stateoftheart” TVcommercials, he was the one that the Danes would
remember (Larsen 2004:114).
As the Danish trade union magazine “Fagbladet” wrote in 1987 “Han går rent ind” (transl. “The
audience accepts his message”). According to Larsen, profits rose 1520% in the entire area
which TVSyd covered.
The JYSK Consumer Expectations in the 1980s and 1990s.
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- 17.
After having described the Rise of JYSK and many of the cultural values surrounding its
emergence, I want to look at the typical JYSKcustomer at the time during the rise of the
company.
The typical customers of JYSK, whom Larsen describe, and whom JYSK catered for in its
earliest of days, I argue, can be described as the same type of ”ordinary Danes” whom Linnet
(2011) and Löfgren (1987) speak about. Linnet describes the ordinary, workingclass Danes, by
character, as very priceconscious and often showing great willingness, perseverance and also
pleasure in the search for a ”good bargain”.
There was a strong symbolic significance attached to deciding to shop at JYSK, because those
who did showed that they were ”priceconscious” and would ”make do” with slightly
lesser—although acceptable—quality (although Larsen sometimes states that his merchandise
is of top quality).
This view echoes his own values and attitudes of, for example, not needing fivestar hotel
accommodation and firstclass travel (Larsen 2004). There was no need for ”fancy and
unnecessary excess” which in many ways corresponds to Larsen's own personal views that
”luxury” was a form of ”unnecessary waste” (Larsen 2004:81).
Many of Larsen's stores were strategically located outside of citycentres, on more costeffective
locations, and although this was—according to himself—a bit of ”an experiment” (it being a very
unorthodox placement for a big furniturestore at the time), he felt a suspicion that many Danes
would be ”willing to travel far” for the best bargains (Larsen 2004:44) – just like he himself
showed great willingness to travel far away around the globe in search of the best offers.
As long as the stores were easily accessible and had good parking opportunities, the location
was perfect, and this also made it possible to make bigger sized stores which could house more
merchandise (ibid. 2004).
Overall, Larsen's concept was simple and easytolearn, and many customers felt that he in
many ways was like one of them, and indeed both Larsen and his own firstgeneration
customers did have many social, cultural and moral values in common.
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- 19. Chapter 2. Danish Cultural Values and Consumption Practices
The following chapter will present a sociohistoric review of the formation of several core Danish
values, including the phenomenon of hygge, that, despite of being a construct of hundreds of
years of meaningbuilding, still, in many ways, captures central aspects of what it means to be
Danish today, according to Danish social anthropologist Linnet (2011).
The aim is to give a contextual understanding of the cultural values which I argue are negotiated
at the JYSK shopping arena where my fieldwork took place, and as such function to give an
understanding of why and how these values are important in relation to the analysis of my data.
Hygge is an example of a highly regarded Danish value, which, over time, has become a ”social
phenomenon” that virtually all contemporary Danes can relate to, and its importance as an
idealised ”national icon” is ubiquitously experienced among native Danes in everyday situations
(Linnet 2011:38).
The deeper meaning behind the word hygge, as mentioned, is a product of centuries of
meaningbuilding, and ever since its initial appearance in the Old Norse language it has served
as a dynamic vector of cultural and social meanings which were formed as a direct result of the
continuous relationship between the Danish nation, the surrounding world and finally, its people
(ibid. 2011:38).
Using the emic Danish understanding of hygge, the aim of this chapter is to situate the study
thematically within the broader sociohistorical context of Danish middleclass consumption
practices and Danish cultural values which have been found to be historically rooted as a trait in
Scandinavian culture and everyday life (Linnet 2011:21).
Hansen (1980) found that hygge is not itself an implicit cultural value, but rather ”it represents
implicit cultural values such as balance and moderation” (Hansen 1980 cited in Linnet 2011:23).
Disagreeing, however, I argue that many Danes are not aware of the many social, cultural,
ethical, economic and even religious complexities behind its creation, and thus I find that the
word itself, in everyday life, has come to represents a distinct cultural value by itself. Its
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- 20. everyday ”ritualistic” and ”habitual” usage is ubiquitously understood within contemporary
Danish society as a potent carrier of ”normative meanings” and ”cultural assumptions” among
native, middleclass Danes (ibid. 2011:23).
The processes of meaningbuilding of hygge are rooted in—or are the complex product
of—environmental, historical, economic, religious, and political conditions which over time have
come to account for the presentday emic understanding of the practice of hygge (ibid.
2011:40).
According to Linnet (2011:22), the etymological origin of hygge emerges from the Norwegian
language and before that from Old Norse. For many hundreds of years, the notion of hygge has
been rooted in the egocentric threeclass system, with the ego representing the middleclass
worldview of ”hanging between high and low” (Liechty cited in Linnet 2011:24; Faber 2008).
The word, which also stands for a desirable form of social interaction, captures rudimentary
Danish cultural values concerning “egalitarianism”, “sociality”, “the home”, middleclass lifestyles
(including its implicit codexes for patterns of consumption, for example, why go on holiday to
faraway, exotic places, when camping at home with the family can be even better?
Hygge, I agree with Linnet (2011), simultaneously acts as a ”vehicle for social control”, because
it inaugurates its own ”hierarchy of social attitudes”, and furthermore it implicitly contains a
negative stereotyping of any social classes, apart from themselves (the Danish middleclass), as
unable of creating or facilitating hygge (Linnet 2011:21).
As such, hygge in many ways is comparable to other “egalitarian producing mechanisms” such
as meatsharing, mocking, witchcraft/sorcery accusations or gossiping found in the
anthropological record, for instance seen among the !Kung herdsmen of the Kalahari Desert in
Namibia, because it acts as an encoded social practice that also aims to control anyone who
have 'gotten too big for their boots' (Weston 2011; Douglas 1963).
Such principles similarly aim to establish – and maintain an egalitarian social order in which
feelings of pride, prestige or other statusenhancing feelings are being considered dangerous
and a threat to the social cohesion of the group (Weston 2011).
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- 21. For this reason, I agree with Gullestad (1992:174) that hygge can be viewed as a form of
“interclasscritique” of the “fine people” of the upper social strata, according to the principle of
'equality as sameness' (Linnet 2011:36).
Historically, the meaning of the presentday hygge appears to show a ”structural continuity” with
the eighteenthcentury meanings rooted in a powerstruggle between the aristocracy and the
bourgeoisie or the socalled 'ordinary Danes' of the day: The peasants (Linnet 2011:31).
Several times in Danish history, Denmark found itself losing large territories to foreign powers,
and to emotionally cope with these losses, ordinary Danes of the time began to focus on the
positive aspects:
They have not lost it all – they still have each other, and they still possess the ability to enjoy
each other’s company (ibid. 2011).
Schwarz (1980:4 in Linnet 2011:37) found this to be a central aspect of the Danish national
identity, and several popular Danish sayings such as ”hvad udad tabes, skal indad vindes”
(transl. “What is lost to the outside, must be won on the inside”) reflect this deeply rooted
collective national mentality.
The selfimage as 'small, but significant' became a way to imagine and romanticize the Danish
national character, and associated desired values began to build up around this notion of the
'underdog': The idealised focus on interiority, moral superiority, moderation and authenticity
became ways for people to make sense of—and justify—their disadvantaged economic and
territorial situation (ibid. 2011:37):
The 'ordinary Danes' may not have had any political, economic or military power, but they had
verbal and social power to resist their oppressors (Weston 2011).
From early times, the elites of Danish – and even Scandinavian society were depicted as
having a “shallow”, “superfluous” and “inauthentic” social life with little intimacy and little
emotional involvement between family members (Löfgren 1987 in ibid.; Linnet 2011:31),
because all their efforts were imagined to be directed toward personal enrichment.
According to Hastrup (1992 cited in Linnet 2011:31), envy has always been perceived as a
”dangerous force”, not only within Danish society, but also within the wider realm of
Scandinavian culture.
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- 22. Interiority and Exteriority: Materialistic Shelters of Morality
In this section I will move on to discussing how the home has become an idealised Danish
symbol of “safety”, “moral superiority”, “informality” and a form of romanticized ‘inner sanctum’
where hygge is commonly experienced through ritualistic social practices, such as playing
games, joking or watching a movie etc. (Linnet 2011:23).
Danish novelist Jeppe Åkjær noted the analogy of a little child who is hygging inside the womb
of its mother as a form of ”archhygge” (Åkjær cited in Linnet 2011:32), all while the whole world
outside is in flames.
A central Danish cultural dynamic is revealed between the inside social space of the womb (or
analogously, the familyhome) and the compromised outside space which is not only seen as
dangerous but also morally inferior compared to the safety and selfproclaimed moral
righteousness of the inside realm (Linnet 2011:32).
The home came to represent a sacred—and sheltered—form of ”safe habitat” only for trusted
likeminded peers (ibid. 2011:22), a place where 'special rules' apply and where individuals from
similar social backgrounds are free to congregate and practice hygge all whilst experiencing an
intimate form of ”emotional closeness” (ibid. 2011:24), within a confined physical space, and
where active efforts must constantly be made to repress any signs of difference or social
distinctions (ibid. 2011:24; Goffman 1959).
The home – although itself materialistic in nature is also a sacred symbolic shelter against the
profane realm of the outside world (Durkheim 1912; Linnet 2011; Bille 2012). The outside world
is imagined to be dominated by marketforces, empty values, pretensions and snobbery. In the
outside sphere, people are qualitatively different from one another in terms of worth, status and
prestige, but on the inside realm, everyone is thought to be equal (Linnet 2011:32). Outside, the
forces of the market determine who belongs where in the social hierarchy of Danish society.
Inside, there is no social hierarchy.
Similar instances of egalitarianproducing mechanisms found in contemporary Danish society
are the socalled “Jante Law” drawn up by DanishNorwegian author Aksel Sandemose
(18991965).
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- 23. Its ten rules serve to bring anybody who has gotten too big for his/her boots 'back down' again.
Like hygge, it seeks to keep the ordinary middleclass individuals under control, punish and
sanction any deviant behaviour or thoughts that become too aspiring or pretentious for what is
considered socially acceptable behaviour (Linnet 2011:33). This stops any hierarchical relations
from forming and keeps everyone on an even playingfield.
Practices of Consumption Rooted in Historically Idealised Values
Given the cultural and social idealisation of hygge among the Danish middleclass, acts of
consumption became a practical means to facilitate the feeling of hygge, but only if certain rules
were followed. Hygge is thought to be unattainable by higher (or lower) social classes due to
their perceived focus on excessive and “conspicuous consumption” practices that only serve to
create a ”symbolic distinction” (Linnet 2011; Bourdieu 1977; Veblen 1902). According to the
middleclass worldview, such distinctions do not really exist and are thus merely symbolic
(Linnet 2011:26; Bourdieu 1977).
Hygge, as the highest, most revered, and most civilized form of socialization, was henceforth
monopolised by the ordinary middleclass Danes. This explains why the middleclass attitudes
to, for example, getting a new phone, when the old one is still working, would be considered
unnecessary and wasteful. Or why going on a simple holiday in a caravan can be just as good
as going on a cruise.
Advantageous social skills that enable or facilitate hygge, such as telling stories, joking and
keeping up an attitude of ”making do”, are essentially all that is needed for hygge in the Danish
middleclass mentality (ibid. 2011:27).
The quality of social interaction known as hygge is, for the reasons discussed above, a highly
esteemed form of social interaction that can be created through social activities such as
consumption, but it can also be facilitated through thoughtful (yet inexpensive) interior designs
and decorations.
23
- 24. Constructing hygge Through Design
In the previous sections, I described how hygge is designed socially, by being dependent on the
presence as well as continuous participation of a 'certain kind' of people. In this section I will
review physical and ambient means, by which hygge can be created.
In order to create a hyggelig atmosphere, certain physical and ambient criteria must be fulfilled.
Hygge is quintessentially ”antithetical to excess”, so the room (which itself must be small and
intimate in size) must be thoughtfully decorated, perhaps with dim moodlighting from candles or
from a cosy fireplace (forms of lightning that are too bright would not be considered hyggelig
because they lack intimacy) (Bille 2012; Linnet 2011:34).
The reason why hygge is hard to facilitate in a large open space or in a room with an open door,
is that the shelteringeffect begins to fade, because of the risk of anyone uninvited entering to
disrupt the framework of hygge (Bateson 1972; Goffman 1974:345). This applies particularly to
someone who is unable to create hygge, as it is commonly thought about people from the upper
or lower social classes because of their perceived moral inferiority (Linnet 2011:31).
Danish anthropologist Mikkel Bille (2012) found that Danes often use the lightning in a room to
help create the right conditions for hygge. Dim, indirect and local moodlightning from a hooded
PHlamp, for example, he argues, physically makes the room feel smaller and also creates a
form of emotional intimacy between participants. The lightning therefore acts as a symbolic
marker for “informality”, “sincerity” and “trust” and thereby helps sheltering the participants from
the threatening and morally inferior outside realm.
Candles, but also lamps, preferably with a dim yellow glow, are well suited for this purpose (Bille
2012; Bille & Jørgensen 1996; Linnet 2011:34) – as opposed to bright white light which is
perceived as too intense and cold.
All this helps foster a “safe” and “private” egalitarian social atmosphere which is required for the
creation of hyggemood (Linnet 2011:36; Bille 2012).
24
- 25. With regards to the decorations and material objects, it is important that neither of these
symbolize any prestige, achievements or wealth (Linnet 2011:26). Objects such as fine arts,
handpainted portraits, diplomas, trophies or other displayed awards thus cannot feature as part
of the room's interior decorations, as they are believed to merely intend to display or emphasize
symbolic distinctions between people. “Lowkey”, yet thoughtful decorations—preferably
handmade—are an ideal way to create a hyggelig interior.
Inexpensive sparklingwine may be served with a homecooked meal (ibid. 2011:2627). This
would be considered ideal, because homecooked meals signal that the host values
inexpensive, but welltasting, food over expensive catered food with too much emphasis on
exclusivity and presentation.
Practically, this is a very fine balance to strike for the host.
Based on this review, I conclude that several Danish cultural values, which I have discussed
above, have played a prominent role in shaping my informants’ valuessets about consumption,
including when, why and how often one is expected to consume, but also where consumption
must ideally take place.
All this information is symbolically read as signals which inform the world about one's inner
cultural values, and in the next chapter I will discuss how these signals about consumption and
cultural values are created, dispatched and communicated via psychological frameworks in the
social world (Bateson 1972).
25
- 26. Chapter 3. On the Organisation of the Frameworks of Perception
The concept of framing has, ever since its introduction in 1972 by English Anthropologist, social
scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist, Gregory Bateson, widely
been used in various disciplines ranging from sociology (Goffman 1959; Goffman 1981) to
psychology, psychiatry (Watzlawick, Helmick & Jackson 1967; Telles Ribiero 1994), systems
theory, linguistics, media and communication studies (LeedsHurwitz 2014; Tannen 1993) and
anthropology (Frake 1977).
The versatile and pragmatic use to understanding and exploring aspects of social
constructivism, reality and meaningbuilding in different contexts have, for instance, been of
great use within the discipline of psychiatry to develop, what Bateson himself referred to as an
“epistemological base for psychiatric theory” involving family therapy, schizophrenia and
psychotic discourse (Bateson 1954/1972:7).
It is clear that, although Bateson is unanimously credited with originality of the concept, it is also
widely recognized that CanadianAmerican sociologist and writer, Erving Goffman, and others,
have since made important contributions to the theory of framing in social construction theory.
In his “Frame Analysis”, for instance, Goffman elaborately and conveniently extends the basic
model of Bateson's frames into his own dramaturgical model, and the result is a complex, yet
rich network of designs, fabrications, outofframe activity, insidetheframe activity, anchoring,
keying, and perhaps most importantly – the building and breaking of the frameworks of
experience (Goffman 1974).
Goffman is widely recognized for his ability to link micro and macro sociology, isolate structural
(cognitive) frameworks of understanding and analyse the tools we use to create social meaning.
The concept of framing has since evolved into an essential instrument when it comes to
addressing and attempting to understand the realities, meanings, perspectives and values of
individual social actors who are constantly being influenced by a wider social and environmental
context (Goffman 1974; Goffman 1959).
26
- 27. Meaningbuilding, meaningsharing and meaningconflicts are thus some of the essential
keywords in the theory of framing.
I have chosen to make use of Bateson (1972) and Goffman (1974) in relation to my data
because of their suitability in dealing with informants’ perceptions, meaningbuilding and
meaningsharing, and I believe the tools these authors offer are ideal in doing so.
“The first step in defining a psychological frame might be to say that it is (or delimits) a class or
set of messages (or meaningful actions)” Gregory Bateson (1972a, 46)
Frameanalysis – or framing – is the pragmatical study of semanticcommunicational indicators
of contextual meaning (Bateson 1972; Goffman 1974).
It is about what constitutes the frame, about what it delimits or excludes, as well as what it
contains and for what reasons this may be.
Psychological frameworks can exist on several levels; the most obvious and important are
known as primary frameworks, because they immediately define – or delimit the context from
what is outside.
They provide context to a finite province of meaning (Bateson 1972; Goffman 1974:21).
Secondary frameworks are what the situation is also, and there are always several competing
frameworks at play, acting within their own logic as well as occasionally overlapping, or trying to
influence, or even break each other (Bateson 1972; Goffman 1974:345).
Framing is also the act of collectively negotiating as well as cocreating meaning within and
between groups of social actors (Bateson 1972).
It is about negotiating reality collectively.
I believe Goffman (1974) is right in his idea that meaning can never reside alone but must be
backed up and be constantly confirmed and reconfirmed by the internal surroundings in order to
be sustained and maintain the semantic structure of the framework (Goffman 1974).
27
- 28. According to Bateson, the context of a situation (séance, ceremony, hygge etc.) determines its
meaning (Bateson 1972).
It does so though adding, removing and negotiating meaning in the endless signs and
constellations of signs that delimits that situation (Goffman 1974).
I share the opinion with Bateson (1972) and other symbolic interactionists, such as Goffman
(1974), that meaning is never 'natural'—or constant—but socially constructed and
reconstructed, and it is naturally very fragile for the same reason (ibid. 1974:439). The context
of a situation is coinfluenced and codetermined by the intentionality of the interlocutors.
Individual pieces of 'information' are strategically dispatched as signs, hints, marks, codes,
ciphers, or gestures, as symbols, as vectors of social meaning, and therefore, in combination,
convey (or frame) the meaning or context of a situation (Bateson 1972).
FrameBreaking – The Denotational Shift
The meaning of an object, gesture or symbol is always guarded by a surrounding framework of
finite meaning, which, also itself, however, is constantly fragile and vulnerable to changes.
Psychological frames have to provide an answer to the question of “what is going on here?”,
and when they no longer do so, the frame has been collapsed and substituted for another
(Goffman 1974:345). The new frame now denotes the answers to the above stated question.
Meaning, for Bateson (1972) and Goffman (1974),is always rooted in the context. Like a
complex and everchanging puzzle, the whole picture (or its meaning) only emerges after one
is able to see, not just one, but many of the pieces grouped together forming a recognizable
pattern.
Each individual bit of information thus only makes sense in a wider context (Bateson 1972;
Goffman 1959; Goffman 1974; Douglas 1979).
”The discrimination between map and territory is always liable to break down, and the ritual
blows of peacemaking are always liable to be mistaken for the ”real” blows of combat. In this
event, the peacemaking ceremony becomes a battle” Gregory Bateson (1972:182)
28
- 29. Bits of information inside the frame are typically of the same semantic kind and therefore stand
in stark contrast with bits of information coming from outside the frame (Bateson in Engler &
Gardiner 2012:9; Goffman 1974).
If too many bits of information are of a different nature, or kind, than those around it, they will be
an inconsistent force within the frame and threaten to transform or break it (Goffman 1974:439).
It is critical that whatever is inside the frame, is information of a fundamentally different kind,
than what is outside. Outside signals that enter the frame gradually pollute the picture and
thereby slowly alters the context (Bateson 1972). At some particular point—the denotational
shift—the threshold is reached for what essentially alters the context of the matter
fundamentally, and the framework of meaning and experience is broken. The context that was
is now gone what before was a peaceceremony has now become a battle, and a new one has
been preliminarily reinstated, until it too will be challenged and eventually broken (ibid. 1972;
Engler & Gardiner 2012; Goffman 1974:439).
The concepts of inclusion and exclusion are thus essential elements in frameanalysis and the
study of meaning (Goffman 1974).
After having introduced the concept of framing in social discourse, the following section will
present theories of how cultural ideals, via social ”rules” and psychological frameworks, are
produced and reproduced (or coproduced) practically in all social interactions between social
agents and objects in the field (McCracken 1986; Goffman 1974). The following section will also
highlight useful analytical instruments used to understand culturally idealised values or
”blueprints” for how thoughts and behaviour are both performed and experienced by individual
social actors in the course of everyday microlevel facetoface social interactions (McCracken
1986:72; Goffman 1974; Goffman 1959).
The Relationship Between Personal Identity and Social Identity
An important consequence of socialization is the gradual development of a character or persona
that reflects the wider social group (Bourdieu 1984; Goffman 1959; Cooley 1922). Social and
cultural values are gradually being internalized by individuals and provide background
29
- 30. information that will inform and guide the individuals in terms of positioning their identityprojects
or governing the outcome of social interactions (Goffman 1959).
As described in Chapter II, hygge, for instance, became one such potent vector of Danish
idealized cultural values.
It is a primary framework that provides the initial answer to the question: ”What is happening
here?” The answer: ”We are hygging” is enough background information for the native social
actors to understand the primary frameworks that define the context or nature of the situation
(Bateson 1972; Goffman 1974).
Now the question is, what is the relationship between such collectively idealized values such as
hygge and then people's everyday behaviour? How do idealised roles of society 'trickle down' to
become practically recognisable in terms of simple gestures, attitudes, manoeuvres and so forth
(Mead 1913; Goffman 1959)?
With this in mind, we can see that the way the question is formulated, about how culturally
idealised values— such as hygge—can ”trickle down” into normative or ritualistic everyday
social behaviours, causes confusion: It is indeed not as if society is an externally existing entity
that social actors are removed from, but rather, there is no external society (Mead 1913;
Goffman 1959).
Within the sociological perspective of symbolic interactionism, society is nothing but interacting
individuals (1959).
This means that all social values are passed on from individuals to individuals and from
generation to generation and are hence not ”trickling down” from an external society to us. This
means that all members of a social group—such as the Danish society—to a substantial extent,
have internalized the same basic sets of culturally idealized values (except for deviants)
(McCracken 1987; Bourdieu 1977; Bourdieu 1984).
Psychological Frameworks: Negotiating The Definition of Reality
30
- 31. Social values are part of a wider social reality, and the way this reality gets perceived by
individuals is via a complex and continuous process of collective negotiation of the
circumstances.
”Under what circumstances do we think things are real?” William James 1869 ”Mind” cited in
Goffman 1959:2)
The frameworks of understanding in symbolic interactionism are psychological frameworks
which define that situation.
A framework unifies meaningful social and cultural context onto otherwise seemingly
disorganised acts of behaviour, comments, cues, looks, ciphers, gestures or remarks (Goffman
1974; Bateson 1972). It unifies all these individual cues into becoming unified by a governing
principle (Goffman 1959:22). It brings order into chaos and establishes a hierarchy of values
and background understandings for everyone involved (Bateson 1972).
The primary frameworks are equal to the initial answer to the question: ”What is happening
here?” (ibid. 1958:25). Stated more precisely, primary frameworks of a situation provide the
most fundamental background information which actors need to recognize or establish a stage:
”Is this [social situation] an interview, a movie, a shopping trip, an arrest, a dream etc.” (Bateson
1972:186187)? Though often, the definition of the situation is too complex to fall under just one
such definition, and sometimes a situation is overarched by several, perhaps competing, or
conflicting, primary, and secondary frameworks.
The structures of experience are, like the fabric of reality, very fragile social constructs that need
constant support to be sustained for very long at a time (Bateson 1972). They are constantly
under threat, being challenged by competing frameworks which are trying to overthrow them
(Bateson 1972).
This powerstruggle is an affair that social actors face every day of their lives in social
copresence (Goffman 1974).
Each social agent holds a significant amount of power in his or her hands to shatter the
defences as well as the ego of another actor or to break the frameworks that define themselves
or their situation (Goffman 1959). The 'winner' earns the rights to further his own
31
- 32. identityprojects, values, and, ultimately, define reality; and the loser is forced to internalize the
potentially traumatic sociopsychological consequences of a bad or insufficient public
performance.
”The important thing about reality [...] is our sense of its realness in contrast to our feelings that
some things lack this quality” (Goffman 1958:2).
This brings us back to where we started this section: It is about the battle to earn the right to
define the situation.
This right can only be won by putting up a convincing public performance (Goffman 1959;
Goffman 1974).
The loser has to accept that someone else is able to take charge of the situation and of reality.
In moments of sociality, or moments where at least two social actors come together in
copresence, they have to coproduce the frameworks that define reality (Goffman 1974;
Goffman 1959).
Each social actor will experience a personal version of reality internally, but through his actions
he can export his personal vision about reality to his surroundings.
The inferior social actor is forced to accept that he has to psychologically import another's
perspective of reality. This idea is known within sociology as the Thomas Theorem: The theory
posits that ”If men define their situation as real, it is real in its consequence” Sir William Isaac
Thomas, 1928.
Reality, like society—or culture—is not an external phenomenon; it is an internal
sociopsychological construct that has to be projected outwardly from individual to individual.
32
- 33. The Danish PHLamp – An Example of a Symbol with Many Perceptions
A Danish PH Lamp
A gesture, or physical object, is always embedded with strategic meaning (Law & Mol 1995;
Goffman 1959; Mead 1913; Bateson 1972), and just like reality has to be collectively negotiated,
so too, does the meaning of gestures, objects and cultural artifacts.
A Danish PHlamp, for example, is a simple lamp, at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it is
a symbol that stands for or denotes a whole series of social and cultural meanings (Douglas
1979; Bateson 1972; Bille 2012; Goffman 1974).
It has, for instance, become a national Danish symbol, for one. It has become known for
representing Danishness and it is famous for creating a special kind of light, which many Danes
consider hyggeligt (Bille 2012).
However, the light itself, which the lamp casts, also stands for a special kind of moodlightning
which represents the Danish values of hygge, “informality”, “egalitarianism” and “emotional
33
- 34. intimacy” or a form of interpersonal bond, etc., values which many Danes cherish and thus find
contribute to the framework of hyggemood (Bille 2012; Linnet 2011; Bateson 1972).
Outside of the Scandinavian context (even outside the Danish), however, the light and the same
lamp has an entirely different collective social meaning. In the Arab world, for example, the light
represents Allah, and Muhammed is denoted by the lamp (Bille 2012:3). The light here
symbolises “clarity, truth and authenticity”, while darkness represents “evil” (ibid. 2012:3).
Danes practically use lightning to make rooms feel smaller, whilst many Arabs use lightning to
make them feel bigger (Bille 2012). Small rooms in Denmark symbolise intimacy and hygge,
whilst bigger rooms in much of the Arab world symbolises “high social status” and “prestige” (he
who has a bigger receptionroom, must also be very popular and important) (ibid. 2012:3).
The PHLamp, however, is also a statussymbol within Danish society. It has become an iconic
symbol of “prestige” and has been designed by famous Danish artist Poul Henningsen (Linnet
2011).
The irony, of course, is that the very same lamp, albeit the light cast from this particular lamp, is
commonly regarded as reinforcing “egalitarianism”, “informality” and “moderation” values in
order to facilitate hygge (Bille 2012), whilst simultaneously being a material object with an
intention to signify social distinctions (Bourdieu 1977; Douglas 1979; Linnet 2011:21).
Not all Danes can afford an authentic PHlamp, and this is why it has become known as a
statussymbol of the uppermiddle class or the upperclass of Danish society.
For this reason, the PHlamp serves as an example of the relativity of values, and it shows how
complex and occasionally contradictory values, objects, and symbols can work.
34
- 35. Part II: The Analysis The ShoppingExperience at
JYSK
In the first part of the analysis, the emphasis is on the way in which my informants practically
make use of the word hygge, or indeed fail to do so, in order to describe to me their perceptions
of their atmospheric surroundings which they experienced on the salesfloor at JYSK.
How a hyggelig atmosphere looks and feels to them, the pragmatics it takes for them to create
it, maintain it, and ultimately what it takes to break them, and why some informants
systematically have difficulties in or even cannot experience it in the first place.
Through a Batesonian frameanalysis of the structural expectations and practical semantics of
my informants the chapter will explore, how two different versions of hygge appear to dominate
and coexist among my informants, the moderationbased framework and the
conveniencebased framework, revealing a widening gap between how different informants
practically perceive and negotiate the store's atmosphere in relation to the feeling of hygge.
The second part of the analysis will go on to look at how different 'contracts' appear to exist
between JYSK and its customers: It will look at the moderationbased contracts as well as the
conveniencebased contracts and explore their individual strengths and weaknesses, in
addition to any potential overlaps between them.
The chapter also investigates the sacrifice that all informants—in one way or another—have to
make, when they decide to visit JYSK, and question why some informants continue to shop at
JYSK despite them not being able to find or create hygge in the environment during their visit.
On the other hand, other informants will have to make an altogether different kind of strategic
sacrifice which concerns the price of the merchandise and its quality, along with other
atmospheric components and convenience.
35
- 37. Chapter 4: Introducing The Moderation and the
Conveniencebased Frameworks
In the first chapter of the analysis, I will compare and contrast the moderation and the
conveniencebased frameworks. I will introduce the concepts through a comparative
description of how each structurally shapes the attitudes, perceptions and experiences of my
informants regarding the atmosphere at JYSK.
The aim, through the Batesonian frameanalysis, is to establish “under what circumstances”
some informants are able to experience, or build up a mood of hygge during their visit – and
explore why some informants struggle to do so (James 1869 cited in Goffman 1959:2).
In this chapter I will show how price appears to be an attractive element to both frameworks, but
simultaneously discuss why the conveniencebased informants still seem to find it difficult, due
to their comparatively higher structural expectations, to build up an experience of hygge. The
moderationbased framework, on the other hand, appears to be more tolerant and accepting of
the atmosphere and is far more likely to find its various components in accordance with their
perception of hygge.
The purpose of the chapter is to provide a presentation of the implicit structural rules and
characteristics that govern or guide both groups of informants' experiences in the field at JYSK
Vermlandsgade in relation to the establishment of the traditional understanding of hygge (Linnet
2011; Bateson 1972).
Finding I Diverging Understandings of Hygge in the Atmosphere of JYSK:
The Critical Point: Hygge or NonHygge?
With hygge being the main analytical lens, or instrument, to semantically measure and organise
the diverging shoppingexperiences of my informants, I begin the analysis with an analytical
introduction to the concept of framebreaking (Goffman 1974:345; Bateson 1972;181) which is
37
- 38. the precise point in their experience where the denotational shift in meaning occurs. Where one
psychological framework becomes another or where the reality of hygge or nonhygge is at its
most fragile point – the moment just before one reality is substituted for another.
”The important thing about reality [...] is our sense of its realness in contrast to our feelings that
some things lack this quality” (Goffman 1958:2).
The hyggeframe produced at JYSK by my informants reveals information about itself by
revealing exactly what it is not (Bateson 1972:179), the point at which hygge discontinues,
where the inside of the frame starts and the outside begins (Engler & Gardiner 2012:27). The
notions of inclusion and exclusion are central to frameanalysis (Engler & Gardiner 2012;
Goffman 1974;201). When a conveniencebased informant, for instance, expresses his dislike
of the store due to it being too densely packed with goods, it is a simultaneous indication of
what to alter in the physical surroundings in order to make it more likely for hygge to arise in
accordance with the rules (Goffman 1974). In the case of conveniencebased informants, that
critical point seems to be the price.
"Der er jo nogle meget stærke priser...men jeg ville bruge noget mere tid, hvis butikken var
rarere at være i, det bliver presset fordi at der skal være for mange ting på for lidt plads" – Male
age 30.
The above statement is indicative of the precise “strip” of information from the “arbitrary slice or
cut from the stream of ongoing activity” (Goffman cited in Davis 1975:599) which forced the
informant to have to negotiate between what, to him, is more important: Hygge or price.
Logically, there are two things which could make him stay for longer: 1) If the atmosphere was
more hyggelig (which for him and other conveniencebased informants is conditioned by
convenience) and 2) If the products were even cheaper, at which point his tolerance threshold
of the frame would also gain a further degree of elasticity (Goffman 1974:439).
Some informants demonstrate a degree of reflexivity about the prices versus the level of
convenience, and about exactly what they can or cannot expect – and hence are forced to
sacrifice because of the pricelevel, but nonetheless still feel dissatisfied when they are not
offered any help.
38
- 39. "Hvis man går og surfer lidt rundt, så har jeg aldrig oplevet, at der kommer nogen og spørger
om de kan hjælpe mig med noget. Så i Deres oplevelse skal man først henvende sig? I min
oplevelse. Men det kan også være fordi at jeg kommer på tider hvor varene skal være så billige
og så kan der jo ikke være halvtreds ansatte vel. Så det kan være, at hvis jeg kommer her på et
tidspunkt, hvor at der er mange andre, at de så har travlt ved kassen." Female age 60
One of Goffman's (1974) great endeavours, via frameanalysis, was to try to elucidate precisely
how far the frameworks could stretch out—or how much they could endure—before they
collapsed (Goffman 1974:36), and to detect the most critical vulnerabilities of importance to
JYSK when it comes to understanding what customers can endure, what they cannot, and
where, in terms of the nature of their experience, the critical line is drawn. In the case of JYSK
these vulnerabilities appear to be the price—for both groups of informants, but for many
conveniencebased informants, price may be one of the only reasons for shopping at JYSK.
"Altså, man betaler jo for det man selv finder, der er jo ikke rigtigt nogen service vel, men det er
jo også nogle billige varer de har" – Female age 50.
Mother: "Her er måske lidt grimt, men her er jo også meget billigt – så der er jo grænser for
hvad man kan forlange. Her er også lidt rodet, ik’?” (To daughter) . Daughter: "IKEA er jo også
billige, men der synes jeg at der er pænere end her". Mother agrees: "Her er sådan lidt
syntetisk, ik’'" Mother and daughter age appx. 16 and 40.
Statements such as these suggest that, as long as JYSK are cheapest on the market, the
typical conveniencebased informant will likely continue to be willing to sacrifice hygge (and
implicitly convenience) for the cheapest bargains. But the precise moment, a competitor
displays a better, cheaper, or otherwise more valuable offer, the line of tolerance could swiftly
be crossed.
The vulnerabilities and ambiguity of the conveniencebased contract with JYSK are therefore
much weaker and less elastic and resistant than the moderationbased contract, which is not
incited by just price alone, but also by the emotional closeness and loyalty that will develop over
time between JYSK and these informants due to several, repeated, positive and hyggelige
39
- 40. shoppingexperiences at the store that will be forged over time (Goffman 1974;439; Bateson
1972). This finding is a further hint, that hygge, by itself, must be a goal for JYSK to create for its
customers, because the shortterm benefit of a hyggelig environment is that the customers will
stay for longer and buy more merchandise.
Recent studies on retailing have found evidence that hiding the offering (sending the customer
on 'a hunt'), or putting a quart of milk at the back of the store, just creates irritation for the
customer and a desire to leave the environment, often without making any purchases – or
without a good experience (Sorensen 2012:39), which arguably affects the impression of the
stores' image negatively.
Although moderationbased informants occasionally appear to enjoy the 'hunt', the effects for
conveniencebased informants are detrimental to their experiences as well as their perception
of JYSK.
The Instore Music – Positive Experiences
Starting with one part of JYSKs atmosphere that many informants addressed: the instore music
that the store played during opening hours. The volume, the sound, as well as the quality of the
music varied greatly around different parts of the store which caught the attention of many of my
informants who experienced it in a variety of different ways. To some, it was perceived as
hyggeligt, to others it was the opposite, and to others again it did not appear to influence their
experience because they reported not consciously paying attention to it.
To the moderationbased informants the instore music was largely positively perceived as
contributing to a hyggelig experience or shoppingcontext. Their lower expectations even meant
that some of them did not even need the music to experience hygge, but its presence did
nothing to disrupt their framework of the atmosphere as hyggelig (Bateson 1972).
“Ej det gør da oplevelsen meget hyggeligere, meget rarere – du ved – så er der lige sådan en
sang som man godt kan li' og sådan noget, det er da festligt. Jeg skal bare over og købe nogle
kedelige håndklæder (laughter). Female age 30
40
- 41. The informant above, I categorize as moderationbased because she explained how the music
contributes to making the shoppingexperience more hyggelig. To this informant, the music was
perceived as adding—or indeed symbolising or denoting—something “festive” to what she
experienced as an “otherwise dull” atmosphere with boring products (Bateson 1972).
"Altså, jeg ved, at hvis der er andre steder som spiller det, så giver det en vis stemning, men det
er ikke noget som gør, at jeg vil købe mere, men det giver bare en god stemning, i stedet for at
der er stilhed. Så giver det lidt mere liv" – Male age 40.
Similarly, the next informant qualifies as being moderationbased due to her experience that
the music was regarded as adding “life” or a positive “mood” to the context, thereby contributing
positively to building up their hyggeframework (ibid. 1972).
"Jamen [reckons the music is hyggelig] det er fordi, at så kan jeg fjolle rundt og synge med og
gøre folk pinlige. Jeg synes bare, at den tager en masse omkringliggende støj fra andre
mennesker simpelthen..." Female age 30.
Another female informant found that music makes the atmosphere feel less formal and, like the
male informant noted, more alive and vibrant. Danish anthropologist Linnet (2011) found that
the feeling of hygge is easier to achieve in an informal social context, which is consistent with
how these informants say they experienced it: The music was predominantly perceived
positively, as an informal incentive to “fjolle rundt” (transl. “be silly”). Informality and
'downtoearthness', according to Linnet’s (2011:23) traditional understanding of hygge, are
essential ingredients to be able to create the mood, because they are values which
metacommunicate—or denote—a sense of egalitarianism between everyone present (ibid.
2011; Bateson 1972).
These particular informants all seemed to be in a good mood when I approached them, and one
female was even humming along to the tunes on the radio before I intercepted her for an
interview.
This, I also find to be observable behaviour which is consistent with a “relaxed” and
“easygoing” informant, presumably experiencing the mood of hygge. Their psychological
frameworks are in many ways consistent with the way in which Linnet (2011) understands
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- 42. hygge as being able to find joy and happiness even in very moderate environmental
circumstances.
Although the soundquality was suboptimal (coming from lowquality speakers), and the volume
of the music varied greatly in different parts of the store, this did not seem to matter much to
these informants; they thought it was contributing to a hyggelig atmosphere nonetheless:
Female: "Ej, jeg synes at det bare er hyggeligt med noget musik. Altsaa det er ikke noget jeg
sådan savner, men hvis at det er der så synes jeg det er hyggeligt". Male: "Det er ikke noget
som at jeg tænker over vil jeg sige". "Genkender man melodien eller sangen eller hvis at man
synes at det er for højt såå.. (Interpreted: “tænker man over det”). Female: "Det skal jo så
målrettes til alle aldersgrupper” Couple age 50.
"Jeg synes ikke det er irriterende men det kommer lidt an på, hvad for noget musik det er, der
bliver spillet, men det er ikke noget jeg har manglet. Ville det kunne få Dem til at forlade
butikken? Nej, jeg ville ikke vende om og gå ud, for når jeg går ind i en butik, så er det som
regel med et formål eller fordi der er noget som jeg gerne vil ha, så går jeg ikke ud på grund af
musikken. Medmindre det er rigtig, rigtig irriterende" – Two Females age 20.
Some moderationbased informants, like the two informants above, did not expect music as
part of their shoppingenvironment at JYSK, but when and if it was there (and if they notice it),
they often felt that it was still a contributing factor (or at least not a detrimental factor) to
“creating” a hyggemood which some described as “comfortable” and “relaxing”. This suggests
that these informants would on other occasions be able to enjoy their shopping in a different
context entirely without any music at all. A further example, which is consistent with the idea of
Linnet (2011:2223), that the external conditions of hygge can be found in very scarce and
moderate environments and still contribute to building up a psychological framework of hygge
(Bateson 1972). For example, if the music is not of the best quality, or if it is the 'wrong' kind of
music being played, to these informants, it nonetheless still appears to contribute to facilitating
hygge.
"Nej, altså det synes jeg ikke (I asked if the music can get 'too much'), jeg kan godt lide
musik når jeg handler, specielt hvis at det er virkelig høj musik, fordi at jeg synes bare det
skaber en virkelig god stemning." – Female age 40.
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- 43.
"Det er meget hyggeligt med sådan lidt afslappende musik, det hører man jo tit i sådan nogle
store supermarkeder, hvor man har travlt. Sådan lidt afstressende musik, det havde ikke gjort
noget. Hvis der bare sådan var et lavt lydniveau så ville det ikke genere mig." – Female age 30.
Instead, what seemed to matter more to these informants was the cheap products that were
available at JYSK. The fact that some even stated that the music had to be “very, very loud”,
“extreme”, “too weird” or otherwise very disruptive for them to consider leaving the store as a
result of a bad experience, suggests that the 'elasticity' of their psychological framework of
hygge is very high and resistant to being broken (Bateson 1972; Goffman 1974).
“Altså hvis at det er stille og rolig musik så er det okay. Det skal bare ikke være sådan noget der
generer mig". "Ikke for meget gang i den, for underligt, for ekstremt, men jeg kan godt lide stille
og rolig baggrundsmusik.” Female age 40.
"Jeg synes ikke det er irriterende men det kommer lidt an på, hvad for noget musik det er, der
bliver spillet, men det er ikke noget jeg har manglet. Ville det kunne få Dem til at forlade
butikken? Nej, jeg ville ikke vende om og gå ud, for når jeg går ind i en butik, så er det som
regel med et formål eller fordi der er noget som jeg gerne vil ha, så går jeg ikke ud på grund af
musikken. Medmindre det er rigtig, rigtig irriterende" – Two females age 20.
As the above statements reveal, the “rules” or “premise system” of their frameworks are very
few and also subtly defined, and it thus takes a lot of counterproductive signs to disrupt their
experience, ipso facto because moderationbased informants do not hold high expectations
which could be more easily compromised by external symbolic influences (ibid. 1965:188;
Goffman 1974).
The Instore Music – Negative Experiences
Contrary to the moderationbased group, who were normally very tolerant toward the
instoremusic, to informants belonging to the conveniencebased group the effects of the
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- 44. instore music were often perceived negatively as either unnecessary, annoying or disruptive
and not as contributing positively to the atmosphere.
To many informants in this group, a framework of hygge was not structurally expected as part of
their visit to JYSK and was therefore much harder to achieve, let alone maintain.
"Nej, jeg synes at det [music] er rædselsfuldt. Jeg vil hellere gå stille og roligt med mine tanker.
Man havde ikke så meget musak i gamle dage, ved du hvad, hvis folk vil have musik så kan de
squ tage deres eget med. Så nej, det vil jeg gerne frabedes". Så De har det måske generelt
bedre hvis butikker slet ikke spiller musik? "Ja, men jeg går simpelthen, hvis det er et eller
andet som irriterer mig for så er det ikke mig, ej, jeg synes det er blevet for meget med alt det
der. Nej jeg skal bare have fred og ro sådan, at man bare kan samle sine tanker." – Female age
40.
Informants belonging to the conveniencebased framework, however, instead expected more
service and convenience and were thus overall more demanding of their shoppingexperience
as well as (what they perceived as disruptive) symbolic influences in their
shoppingenvironment. This meant that, under certain circumstances, they would consider
leaving the store due to their perception of various ambient influences (the music, for example)
being above the threshold of what their already fragile framework of convenience could tolerate
before it would collapse (Bateson 1972; Goffman 1974:345). On the other hand, the tolerance
levels of the moderationbased group appeared to be significantly higher, and nobody I spoke
to from that group told me that they had considered leaving the store for that reason alone.
Så musikken skal ikke være meget højere end det her? "Jamen der går jeg. Altså hvis det er
sådan noget, altså hvis der er noget jeg skal kigge efter og prøve og jeg skal være derinde
længe, og de spiller sådan noget høj musik så køber jeg mine ting et andet sted. Sådan noget
stille musik synes jeg er meget hyggeligt." Female age 40.
Before I started my fieldwork at JYSK I had no idea what 'musak' was, but I soon heard it over
and over again, and I began to wonder why so many people seemed to disagree whether the
instore music was “hyggemusic” or, on the polaropposite, “musak”. The music, alone, means
nothing, I soon learned.
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