lydnad

Lydnad is a Swedish noun that means obedience or compliance. It derives from the verb lyda, “to obey,” with the suffix -nad. The term denotes the willingness or obligation to follow commands, norms, or rules, and it can apply to individual behavior as well as expectations within institutions.

In everyday usage, lydnad describes submission to authority or adherence to rules, such as traffic laws or school regulations. The term is also used in the context of child-rearing and animal training; lydnadsträning refers to obedience training, aimed at teaching responsiveness to cues and commands in dogs and other animals.

Lydnad carries nuanced meanings. It can imply external compliance or internalized discipline, depending on the context. It is related to disciplin (discipline), but in Swedish lydnad often emphasizes obedience to external directives, while disciplin (discipline) more often refers to self-control and systematic training.

In social sciences, obedience is studied as a behavioral tendency to follow instructions from an authority. Classic experiments reveal how authority, context, and moral reasoning shape compliant behavior. Legally and institutionally, lydnad refers to obedience to laws and authorities, a foundational expectation in civil society.

Related terms include lydighet (obedience or dutifulness) and lyda (to obey). See also dog training, obedience in humans, and ethics of obedience.