Aspects of the ideal life

can be found in a few other responses as well is that of famous people. It seems that respondents tend to think that celebrities who were born or have lived in the area bring some surplus value to their living environment in the eyes of the others.

One respondent from the region of Archangel wrote, “I’m not proud, because the town does not correspond to my view of a town which is worth living in”

(Ru,1056,AUn,m,80). This is important, since it crystallises the negative sense of place and also the idea of migration alacrity in this respect. The local opportunity structure and attitudes have to be suited to individual needs in order for the place to be seen as “worth living in” and for a positive sense of place to be able to develop. This individual(istic) aspect could be summarised in terms of the following attitude: I am not willing to adapt on local conditions; I’d rather find a new place of residence.

It can be said that young people taking part in the survey are behaving in an individualistic way when planning migration. However, this kind of ethos of

“rather finding a new structure” may also be a consequence of the individualistic principle, according to which a person is responsible to oneself one’s own personal happiness. That principle is taught by society and that principle is guiding young people not to trust local opportunities. On the contrary, young people trust themselves and they have a belief that since the surrounding environment cannot be changed, they have to change the milieu and to migrate.

This way of thinking may also have roots in dissatisfaction with political means: politics should be a way to influence and change one’s living environment, but if it is not working, or young people are not heard, they fall into the ethos of “finding a new structure” in order to have a good – or ideal – life. This usually equals migration.

7.4.3 Aspects of the ideal life

Respondents’ opinions about their possibilities for an ideal life⁷⁴ are good indicators of their sense of place, as these opinions are developed on the basis of subjective experiences and connections to the place. When orientating towards the future and setting their goals, young people evaluate their living environment on the basis of their own conception of their individual possibilities to create an ideal life within the local conditions and opportunity structure. The personal experience of place plays a key role in this evaluation process. Possibilities for an ideal life are fundamentally buried in the personal place experience and place attachment. In this research the ideal life is taken as a reference to issues

74 The bases for the use of the concept of the “ideal life” here have been empirical observations and the development of research questions during the data collection process for the author’s previous study (Soininen 1998), in which young people living in remote areas were interviewed about their everyday life and operational models in the countryside. In these interviews the concept of the “ideal life” emerged directly from the data, where one respondent referred to an ideal life as an indicative thing in a person’s life politics. That sparked an interest in asking about the ideal life and investigating its possible connections with out-migration and opinions about current residential areas. Most of this section is based on the author’s article published in the journal Young (Tuhkunen 2002).

142 embedded in the life political goals and finally in connection to the sense of place.

Young people involved in the survey were asked if they think that it is possible for them to experience an ideal life in their home district (question # 36 in questionnaire). I asked this because I wanted to find out if the concept of an ideal life is linked with migration plans, and also what kind of image the Barents Region has in respondents’ eyes vis-à-vis their possibilities of having an ideal life relative to local realities in their home district. Answers generally reflected a view that possibilities for an ideal life are relative to public space and matters which are beyond a person’s direct influence. In general, respondents’ opinions about their possibilities to have an ideal life in their home district seemed to be quite conditional. Among older respondents in particular, few simply said yes or no; their answers reflected a predominant ethos of the “if-world”.

The possibility to have an ideal life was clearly seen as dependant on local realities and opportunities coming about, e.g., through local decision making.

This “conditional situation” means that respondents’ sense of place is weak in the positive direction and strong in the negative direction; and that they are not ready and willing – and, because of their personal goals, perhaps not even able – to adapt to the local environment as it is. Younger respondents, however, reacted more directly to the question about the ideal life and were able to speak out in more secure terms than the older respondents. This may be a consequence of absoluteness in opinions which tends to be usual, at least to some extent, among young people. For some respondents “no” as an answer was so clear that it was followed with the rhetorical question, “Are you kidding?” (Ru,815,ApUn,m,79).

Respondents living in smaller towns, in talking about the ideal life, focused their answers on career opportunities. They were thinking positively, however, saying that there an ideal life in their home region would be possible if one could have a career and get a reasonable salary there. At first it seemed that there was no hint of a sense of place in answers dealing with the ideal life and work as a prerequisite for it. Some answers, however, seemed to stress that bringing in jobs would be one way to develop the living environment. That connects their ideas to a sense of place, in that they felt a need to develop their neighbourhood and perhaps to attach themselves to the local living environment. It was also interesting that respondents tended to talk about interesting, challenging and meaningful job possibilities as a reason to stay. This can be seen, first of all, as an attempt to convince themselves that the living environment is possible to improve; secondly, as a way of carving out enough public space for them to be able to develop their own identities and capacities there; and finally, as a way of adapting to the local situation and making the best of it. On the other hand, some respondents said that though there would otherwise be sufficient circumstances for an ideal life in the area where they are living, it is still difficult to get a job – the crucial link is missing.

Also poor possibilities for education have been seen as a hindrance to an ideal life for young people living in areas which lack vocational training and chances for higher education. The data also showed that special occupational dreams can be seen as prerequisites to having an ideal life, for example in small municipalities, where available jobs are highly concentrated in certain branches

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of industry, or where the majority of openings are clearly regarded as either traditional male or female occupations (See also Soininen 1998, 28).

Respondents’ answers also included statements according to which young people evaluate their possibilities for an ideal life in terms independent of geographical location. Opinions belonging to this cluster were found among the answers of respondents from all nationalities and from all settlement types⁷⁵. According to these replies, geographical location is not a determining factor of sense of place and an ideal life: the possibilities for such lie within the person.

“Ideal life is possible in any town; the only requirement is a corresponding state of the soul” (Ru,680,PU,m,83). This answer, from a Russian respondent, well summarizes where this group of answers is coming from. These answers are not comparable with the themes in previous categories, since respondents were writing about persons mental abilities to create an ideal life. It became clear from Russian answers in particular that respondents had a mentality reflecting strong individualism as can be seen in the following answer: “Everyone is the maker of his own life” (Ru,661,PU,f,82).

The above quote illustrates well respondents’ feelings of just trust your self, not political practises. Some respondents here paid attention to the political matters and issues dealing with social structures when talking about the ideal life. These issues were again raised by Russian respondents in particular. It was said by a female respondent from Apatity that there are no possibilities for an ideal life there because, “it requires favourable social, economic, ecological and other conditions” (Ru,841,ApUn,m,78). In some Russian answers the home region was also regarded as a destitute place, which cannot offer an ideal life.

Some of the respondents blamed their government for the missing conditions for an ideal life. In the answers from the Nordic countries “blame” for poor or insufficient conditions in their home district was dealt out on a regional level;

whereas Russian answers in many cases laid the blame on national leaders.

Some respondents thought of the ideal life in relation to the micro level, however. They associated the future and positive features of their place of residence, such as clean nature, with a positive sense of place. These thoughts referred strongly to future generations. Many of the respondents wrote in their answers that it is important that nature is close, clean and safe. It was also frequent said that it is possible to live an ideal life in the North because it is a good place for raising children⁷⁶. This was stressed notably in Finnish answers.

Peacefulness and feelings of having a safe environment were also mentioned as factors in having an ideal life. Especially respondents from Russia had pointed out that an ideal life can be created through close relations to the relatives and family. On the other hand respondents from Sweden did not seem to share this view, since only couple of them dealt with relatives and friends in connection to the ideal life.

75 However, especially Russian respondents had opinions that deviated from the mainstream answers in this category. Their answers, were often more philosophical than those written by respondents from the other countries.

76 For example the following quotes from Finland demonstrate this: “It would be good to raise children here” (Fi, 1282, PP, f, 84) and “I want to see other parts of the world first and then settle down here to raise my children” (Fi, 1398, IL, f, 81).

144 A few respondents also questioned whether there is such a thing as an “ideal life” in practice, because life includes many obstacles and difficulties – i.e. life is always something of a struggle. There were also a few respondents, who had very pessimistic views of life, saying that the ideal never happens in real life, because the ideal is a situation where all needs are satisfied. One respondent from Russia even wrote: “What is ideal life? There are possibilities for life; not an ideal one. Life cannot be ideal” (Ru,1098,Pun,m,80).