Branding.

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moving from being a citizen to becoming a consumer of social products offered
by private companies. The welfare states of Scandinavia are thus increasingly
supplemented by user charge. With pragmatic liberalism as the reigning
zeitgeist in the Scandinavian countries, the individual has been given
greater responsibility over his or her personal life.
Focused leisure time and the family as stakeholders
Surveys in the past decades have finally proven that people in balance with
themselves are better qualified on the labour market. And, most important
of all, more productive. Given this evidence, it has increasingly been acknowledged
that the family is one of the company's most important stakeholders.
The companies that work consciously to improve this matter fare better.
Fresh surveys show that it is possible to increase productivity by as much as
a third by creating optimum conditions for the individual employee. The
result is a far more flexible framework.
Having a family isn't a matter of course, but having children is increasingly
seen as a right. It is a part of our personal evolution, and common sense besides.
Our society is threatened by increasing expenses to a generation of seniors
that live longer and longer. For this reason, insemination and adoption have
ceased to be severe expenses for the individual and has become exceptions to
the rule of more user charge. At the same time, heterosexual couples no longer
have any unofficial stamp of approval as being the best-suited parents. No rational
proof has been given to show that one type of family is better than others.
The old boundaries have vanished. The majority tries to treat leisure
time, working hours and family life as a holistic construct - though naturally
with the individual as the nexus. Leisure time activities thus serve a purpose
that can strengthen the individual in his or her diversity of abilities. Leisure
time and vacations are thus for the majority often structured around a goal,
e.g. cultural background or further education. Stimulation and learning are
the primary navigation parameters in a complex world.
The type of travel that best suits the individual of 2013 AD is - along with
the Grand Tour - camping life, which has experienced a true comeback after a
period with a rather worn image. Flexible, unbounded and cheap, it lives up to
the demands of the time for individual needs and value for money. Hence, the
pre-packaged trip is no longer the preferred type of vacation for Scandinavians.
Analogously, night schools experience a renaissance as places where individuals
can broaden their horizons and test themselves in hitherto unfamiliar situations.
And the possibilities are manifold, since virtual reality allows you to visit
Japan one night and the future the next. The combination of on the one hand
individualisation and on the other hand rationally determined needs pulls
towards a mode of living where the individual gets full value from each square
metre. Technology and refined processing of materials optimise the components
of construction, which become intelligent in order to adapt quickly to the
individual's personality and self-chosen mode of expression. The rooms of the
dwelling become multifunctional. The technology is there for that purpose, and
there are no limits to individual activity in a technological wonderland.
Private cars are seen as a human right. Tests are being done at approaches
to major cities with special rails onto which the cars can go, after which
computers take control for a while and brings the car rapidly and safely to
town. This system combines the freedom of action of the personal car with
the train's quick, unhindered transportation to the city centre.
Sub-politics in the civil society
The development in the later years has shown that the national borders continue
to be challenged by the global economy. The national political systems
have lost influence to the big multinational corporations.