Flexibility, flamboyance and frivolousness, in other words a lack of frigidity, have been core values in Danish society for many years, coming forth especially as a distancing from Germany and as a result of the '68 movement going berserk.
i need to move to denmark.
It's not so much that they needed to drink to be outgoing and act extroverted the way an introvert might. Rather, drinking made it acceptable for them to behave that way because everyone came out of their shells more when they drank. It's an excuse to let their repressed, more outgoing natures, out of the box.
agree with this. it's an excuse to get around the social value of being reserved.
Weber said:
Yes, there's a magic correlation between northernness and inhibition that has no exceptions. Oh wait, it must be the cold. Now it's scientifically proven.
actually... haha...
it does seem like a general pattern though. certainly it has exceptions, but overall, it seems to work out. swedish society (i have not yet traveled within denmark) is more outgoing than finnish, definitely, but i can't say it holds a candle to spanish. there's still more of a cultural emphasis on reserve. the swedes i've known can throw excellent parties but they are not likely to throw themselves all over you like a lot of spanish people i've known. it's not a necessary law and it doesn't fit everyone, but it is an interesting occurrence, in particular because it is mirrored on the east coast of the the states. the further south you go, in general, the more overtly sociable people are.
and actually, when i lived in finland we discussed this exact phenomenon in a cultural sociology class i took - the theory was really that colder places in general are less conducive to small talk (makes sense, who really wants to stand around and chat about nothing in particular when it's -30 out?), and areas that were more isolated for longer periods of time (in the general development of europe) tend to be more introverted. less people around, less cultural values centered around sociability.
or alternatively, in america, northern society industrialized first and there was much more competition, as well as being of mostly protestant descent - germans in the midatlantic, english, french, dutch higher up = whose society emphasized restraint, while the south had a later influx of irish catholics (though so did northern urban areas, of course) and many african americans - and the culture itself was slower-paced and less individually competitive (cooperation for agriculture plantations) - so valuing more sociability makes sense in a lot of ways.
but like you alluded to, these are just theories, of course, and there are plenty of exceptions.
what i'm really curious about is how much of introversion/extraversion - MBTI I/E, not just sociability - is genetic. but that's rather tricky.