65° - 01.09.1967, Blaðsíða 24

children?” or “Why did you beget children?”
caused some astonishment, but such question as,
“What is happiness?” were baffling to most.
Since the interview took about two hours,
means had to be found to hold the respondent’s
attention. This was done by having many of the
questions humerous, and by arranging them so
that a non-committant question followed a very-
personal one. Also, questions were arranged so
that the respondent would not get any hints from
the previous as to his respective answers. This
arrangement, plus the newness of social research
in Iceland accounted for most respondents’ reply-
ing, “It was very enjoyable,” and “If you ever
do another research in Iceland, you know where
to call.”*
It would not be realistic or possible to evaluate
the results of this survey at this time; neverthe-
less, some trends have already appeared, and the
ones that seem most interesting and astonishing
will be briefly mentioned. It must be stressed,
however, that these are only hypotheses with no
scientific support; the results obtained after these
questionnaires have been evaluated may emphasize
other trends.
Hypothesis 1. Reykjavikans do not want to live
close to their kin, absolutely not in the same
house, since they feel that the presence of their
kin will limit their growth ond independence.
They feel that “a fjord should separate kinfolk”
so that fondness can develop between them. Sur-
prisingly, however, many of the respondents
actually lived close to their kin, even in the same
house.
2. Reykjavikans tend to interact more with
their maternal kin although that is not the rule.
There is no apparent sociological reason for this,
although one might argue the point psycho-
logically.
3. The rule that “no one is to eat before father
sits down” is rapidly vanishing, and perhaps
implies that the respect for the Icelandic man’s
status is disappearing.
4. Parents take a great interest in their child-
ren’s education, but they don’t discuss it much
with them. They also feel that their children
should completely determine their own education.
5. Most Reykjavikans very seldom if ever dis-
cuss with their mates the number of children they
are going to beget.
*E<1. note: The researcher’s engaging personality, sin-
cerity and selflessness must also receive credit for the
success of his interviews.
6. Most Reykjavikans were not “planned”. The
majority of them “just happened to be born”,
whereas a large number were pure mischance.
7. The length of time of breast feeding has
diminished greatly. Interestingly enough, the
nursing time does not appear to have shortened
from sociological reasons (as in many other west-
ern socities), but from physiological reasons
(lack of maternal milk), which might imply that
tensions and worries have increased vastly.
8. Reykjavikans over age 30 became engaged
as a result of infatuation or love, whereas those
under 30 became engaged because a) it is fashion-
able, and b) the other partner was infatuated.
9. Reykjavikans got married for the following
reasons, and in that order: a) to have their own
home, b) to beget children, c) pregnancy, d)
status symbol, 5) infatuation or love for mate.
10. The time of marriage is determined by a)
a place of their own to live in b) the first child’s
baptism c) if the future couple live with either’s
parents and there is a younger brother or sister
who wants to have his or her fiance move in, the
parents “pressure” the couple to get out, as the
time has come for the younger ones to get better
acquainted and cohabit where the future couple
now live.
11. Reykjavikans love children, want to do
everything for them and give them anything but
time. This factor may account for a) the super-
individualistic ego-orientation of Icelandic society,
and b) the extreme materialism of Icelandic
society.
12. Reykjavikans who remain unmarried their
whole lives or most of their lives and do not co-
habit with the other sex usually have some sib-
lings that also remain unmarried. There is also a
direct relation between length of nursing and
marriage, i.e. those that remain unmarried usual-
ly have been nursed longer than 18 months.
13. Those who remain single are often the old-
est or the youngest in the family. If the father
dies when the children were young, the oldest
took care of the family, but the youngest child
tended to remain with the mother in her old age.
14. The family size in Iceland has decreased
greatly in the last 25 years, not only because of
the use and knowledge of contraceptives, but be-
cause people don’t want to be tied down their
whole lives by children.
15. Reykjavikans above 20 usually have not
been told about sex by their parents, but the
younger generation is sure it will tell its children.
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