Dutch culture

Culture is not something from the past or of backward peoples, but an important factor in our daily life and thinking, in the Netherlands as well as elsewhere.If we want to understand why the Dutch behave the way they do, why things in that country work as they do , it is necessary to deepen ourselves in their culture. By culture I mean the typical patterns of thinking and behavior of a certain group of people and the meaning they attach to it. You can also speak of mentality. All Dutch people share a number of values, moral principles, which they have acquired during their upbringing and which often unconsciously influence their way of reasoning. To some extent, these values ​​are different from most European countries. This is because in the Netherlands throughout history other social groups have left their mark on society than in many of the neighboring countries. Many of us, considering themselves modern people, tend to think that they have a neutral, uninhibited and free view of the world. Nothing is less true. Our view of the world is strongly coloured by value judgments that are typical for our specific culture. Like all other human species on Earth, we have been so deeply culturally conditioned from our earliest childhood on that our culture has become part of our personality. Only we are no longer aware of it at all. There are a fixed number of arguments and behaviors that the Dutch  consider logical and normal, but that are not at all normal in other European countries and the rest of the world. Reasoning such as “Everyone must decide for himself what he does” or “You should not think that you are more important than someone else” are based on values ​​that are generallyand strongly endorsed in the Netherlands, but do not exist in the neighboring countries, for example.

Does there exist a national culture?

There are scholars who doubt the existence of a national culture. They argue that there are so many differences among the people living in one country Dutch, so how can you capture them all under one heading? Different characters, different political views, regional differences, different social classes and differences in education. Those differences do indeed exist. And precisely because we are citizen od one specific ourselves, we mainly see the differences and not the similarities among our compatriots. Foreigners see these similarities much better between us and can explain in detail what kind of behavior is typical for the people of our country. So it depends on your point of view whether you see more the similarities or the differences. There is also something else. In my book on Dutch culture I also devoted a chapter to regional cultural differences. An average resident of the region Twente does not behave quite the same as an inhabitant of the Randstad, for sure. And an average Frisian is a bit different from an average Limburgian. On the other hand, we also know very well that those regional differences are increasingly fading, just as the regional dialects are gradually disappearing. Since the founding of the Kingdom of the Netherlands at the beginning of the 19th century, a process of unification has been underway, as a result of which the Netherlands is becoming more and more homogeneous culturally and linguistically. The mentality and language of the Randstad has increasingly become the norm. The same cultural homogenization takes place in other states with a strong central government and an economically dominant region.

Moreover, it is a misunderstanding to think that culture consists only of concrete views or behaviours. That’s just the outside, our culture has also a deeper layer. Deep within us we harbor a number of tacit assumptions, moral principles, ideals: values, things that we take for granted and so normal that we rarely think about them. But those values ​​do determine our view of the world and our judgment of whether something is good or bad, whether something is necessary or not. Our opinions and behaviour are often dictated by our values. We (almost) all share the same values ​​with our fellow countrymen. This means that we understand very well what someone else means, even if we do not always agree. This common culture is very much like our common language which we share with the people in our country. We can understand each other rather well by it, even though we speak it with a different accent and in a different style, and in this language we can express very different opinions.

Does our culture change?

Some scholars point to the great continuity of cultures. They believe that a certain mentality that is typical of a country can go back centuries and does not change so easily. But other scholars take the view that every day in the interaction between different people, the norms and beliefs in a society are being construed anew. They believe that a culture is not fixed at all and is constantly being renewed, that a culture is therefore very changeable. Who is right?

If you look at the concrete views, preferences and behavior of for example the Dutch, they have clearly been subject to change over the years. Society, economy, technology, political conditions and many other factors can change and in response our attitudes and behavior may change. In the period from 1960-1980, many social relationships and views in the Netherlands changed significantly. In my book on Dutch culture, however, I showed that the Dutch values ​​have not changed at all during that period. Anyone who equates culture with dominant social views and overlooks the deeper layer of values, is inclined to overestimate the change of a culture. On the surface, attitudes, perceptions, norms, and behaviors can change. In some periods this is faster and in others much slower. But the deeper layer of our values ​​does not change just like that. The current Dutch values ​​are still the same as those in 17th century Holland. However, we continue to interpret them in a new way that suits the changed social circumstances.