Search results

Denmark is officially the happiest nation on Earth, so when journalist Helen Russell finds herself spending a year in rural Jutland, she decides she'll do all she can to uncover the secrets of the Danes' happiness. But will the long, dark winters and pickled herring take their toll?

Since their modern inception in 1896, the Olympics have grown in size and stature to become one of the most important mega-sport events. However, unlike other mega-sport events the Olympics has its own value-laden philosophy of "Olympism", advocating sport as a vehicle for social change. This paper utilises Eric Batstone's (1988) three-fold power schema of disruptive potential, labour scarcity and political influence to explore the impact of London 2012 on the power of the British unions. To achieve this, it draws on a comparative study of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and the Musicians' Union (MU). Based on findings generated from interviews and secondary-data analysis this paper will argue that the collective bargaining results of unions in the run-up to and during the 2012 Olympic Games were a reflection of the individual unions' pre-existing power – those that had more disruptive, labour scarcity or political power prior to the Games were able to win more benefits for their members, whereas those with less were either less successful or did not succeed at all in their negotiations. In addition, when evaluating the power sources, an "Olympic factor" can be observed, which produces a differentiated impact on the power resources of the unions.

The recent debates about the underclass and social exclusion have focused attention on the social networks of the unemployed. However the research in this area has largely failed to take on board the gender dimension of sociability. Using survey data this paper compares the patterns of sociability of unemployed men and women. It is argued that women's more home-centred social activity and their stronger neighbourhood and kinship links means that their social networks are less vulnerable to unemployment than men's. It is found that women's previous pattern of labour market participation is critical in building up a social network which is resistant to unemployment. However a social network that is external to the labour market may also have some negative implications. An absence of friends in employment could lead to a detachment from the world of work. The networks of unemployed men and women are found to feature a much higher than normal concentration of unemployed members and are deficient in employment contacts. Contrary to underclass predictions this does not lead to a reduction in employment commitment but it does have repercussions for the availability of support and access to job information.

Die britische Journalistin Russell zog mit ihrem Mann berufsbedingt nach Jütland. Während "Lego Man" das Arbeitsleben in Billund kennenlernte, spürte Russell dem dänischen "Glücksphänomen" (die Dänen gelten als das glücklichste Volk der Welt) im Alltag nach. Selbstironisch im Stil von Marian Keyes berichtet sie über die dänischen Traditionen, Feste und das Phänomen "Hygge" (Gemütlichkeit), den Rückzug der Dänen ins traute Heim während der dunklen Jahreszeit. Sie schildert Freizeitaktivitäten, Ess- und Trinkgewohnheiten, den ungezwungenen Umgang mit Sexualität, die Einstellung zu Kindern und vor allem das Vertrauen in den Staat. Zu einzelnen Themen interviewt Russell Experten, um diese dann auch nach ihrem persönlichen Glückslevel zu fragen. Das Fazit der Recherchen besteht in 10 wertvollen Tipps für Nicht-Dänen, wie dieser Level angehoben werden kann. - Informative und unterhaltsame Ergänzung zu Titeln, die primär Geschichte, Politik und Wirtschaft behandeln, wie zuletzt Claudia Knauer: "Dänemark" (ID-A 18/15). "Alles wegen Dänen" von Elmar Jung (ID-A 28/13) lag zum Vergleich nicht vor