…are varied and sometimes intense. 

But has it always been this way? How did they interact in the past?  Cultural historian Silja Laine tells the story of ‘Ryhtiliike’, one of the most influential and long-lived campaigns in Finland. 

The campaign began in 1949 when Finland was still enduring austere post-war conditions. In the light of the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki (1952), the campaign aimed to improve public behaviour and in general develop new etiquette for a new society that was more egalitarian, but also more commercial.