Privacy versus intimacy: Social interactions in Norway

Abstract

Based on 71 semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with Turkey-originated migrants who live in Norway, this article discusses whether and what kinds of differences Turkish migrants in Norway perceive in the notions of privacy and intimacy between the Turkish and Norwegian contexts, and the implications of this perceived difference for their social interactions in Norway. While many of them value the social recognition of the right to privacy in Norway, they also think that avoidance of asking personal questions creates barriers in establishing close relationships and intimacy. For them, this contrasts with Turkey, where even strangers can easily ask personal questions or make comments that violate others’ privacy, but where people can easily establish warm, close, and deeper relationships. While they think that Norwegians are generally distant and reserved in interpersonal relationships, they find them more distant in their relationships with non-Norwegians. They think that the suspicion towards and fear of foreigners goes together with Norwegian people’s preference to interact with people who are very similar to them. Based on the experiences and comparisons of these migrants who have lived in (at least) two country contexts, this article discusses the relationship between privacy and intimacy as one where the expansion of the former weakens the latter. Considering privacy as a process of boundary regulation where individuals control how much contact they will maintain with others, culturally induced differences in expectations about where to draw that boundary creates barriers in communication between individuals who were socialized in different country contexts.