The Nordic region is famed for its high standards of welfare and public service, labour market flexibility, education, freedom, trust and not least happiness. From a global perspective, in many ways the region occupies a somewhat elite status at the top of the global social ladder, in spite of the challenges they face in coping with diversity. In stark contrast, India, even with the exponential growth in its economy in recent years, is still home to some of the most poverty stricken regions of the world, with over 90% of the active labour force in unorganized work and without any social protection. The major cities have poor yet improving infrastructure, which, coupled with stark cultural, religious and ideological differences, challenge Nordic privileged migrants’ conceptions of time, space and human interaction.
The aim of this chapter is to investigate how Nordic privileged migrants encounter and navigate the social system in the Indian mega-cities Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. The analysis takes into consideration how Nordic shared values like trust and equality are negotiated in locations where there are stark cultural and environmental differences, investigating how these negotiations affect their daily life and ultimately their freedom, as well as how the outcomes differ among them. The paper is based on the qualitative analysis of 29 interviews and questionnaire data collected from knowledge workers and their partners from Northern Europe, eight of whom were from Finland and eight from Denmark, who have moved to India because of either their own or their partner’s job. The findings indicate that while the Nordic privileged migrants encounter similar challenges in Indian mega-cities, there are both similarities and dissimilarities in the way navigate and negotiate those challenges, possibly as a result of the combination of having shared Nordic values, and possessing different levels of human (economic and cultural), social, and erotic capital (Hakim 2010).