The United States and Sweden share much in common from a cultural perspective, including the values of democracy, egalitarianism, and self-sufficiency. Many Americans have immigrated from Sweden and a similarly sizeable number of Swedes originated in the United States. Despite the similarities between the two nations and cultures, they retain distinct cultural differences. During the 1950s, when America was fighting the spread of communism and socialism was associated with communist principles and practices, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ôàpublicly proclaimed that Sweden, with its cradle-to-grave socialism, had the highest alcohol and suicide rate in the world and a very low economic growthö (Phillips, 2000, p. 1).
Despite this proclamation, since the 1950s SwedenÆs suicide and alcoholism rates have declined considerably and the economy is solid. Second in wealth in the world and with much less of an unequal income distribution than the U.S., Sweden no longer resembles the picture painted of it by American leaders in the 1950s. Phillips (2000, p. 2) maintains it never did, ôThis socialist country never did have a suicide, alcohol, or mental illness problem that was statistically worse than the U.S.ö In fact, Sweden and the U.S. continue to exhibit a number of similarities and always have. Despite the similarities between these nations; however, the cultures of Sweden and America remain highly distinct across a number of measures, from decision-making and perception of gender roles to attitudes on foreign policy and toward social welfare. This analysis will discuss a number of cultural differences that exist between the United States and Sweden.
Before exploring a number of cultural differences between the United States and Sweden, it is relevant to look at Geert HofestedeÆs cultural dimensions model that posits as a measure of cultural similarity or difference five aspects of culture: power distance index, indiv...