Finnish farmers are often characterised as fierce individualists, with a deep suspicion of anything which smacks of the kolkhoz, though they sometimes use this term in joke for collaboration among themselves. The well-known Finnish literary image of a man, a hoe and a swamp captures dramatically the idea of the farmer as an individual who relies on his own determination and capacity for long, hard work as he tames nature and transforms it to his will. These much-admired qualities are encapsulated in one of the most important Finnish key words, sisu, literally what is ‘inside’ a person, his ‘guts’ and inner strength. This image of the farmer takes for granted that he works within the context of a family in which his marriage is the pivotal relationship, but it tends to ignore or at least play down the idea of dependence on relationships beyond this narrow circle. Farmers often stress how their desire for independence makes it difficult for them to engage in fruitful co-operation with each other, and although they may express regret at this, they also clearly take a certain pride in such self-portraits.

Not surprisingly, the link between such images and the real world of historical and modern social interaction is quite complex. The images are not merely a reflection of that world, nor are they simply its negation.