CH4 Flashcards
LO 4-1 Explain what is meant by the culture of a society. LO 4-2 Identify the forces that lead to differences in social culture. LO 4-3 Identify the business and economic implications of differences in culture. LO 4-4 Recognize how differences in social culture influence values in business. LO 4-5 Demonstrate an appreciation for the economic and business implications of cultural change.
Culture
Is rooted in values and norms and it evolves over time.
Culture is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.
Cross-culture Literacy (is important for a bussiness success)
The knowledge and understanding of different language, respect for foreign customs and traditions.
Values
Shared assumptions about how things ought to be.
- Provide the context within which a society’s norms are established and justified.
- Invested with emotional significance.
- Often reflected in the economic systems of a society.
Norms
Social rules that govern people’s actions.
Determinants of Culture
The values and norms of a culture evolve over time.
-Religion
-Political philosophy
-Economic philosophy
-Education
-Language
-Social structure
Social Stratification
All societies are stratified on a hierarchical basis into social categories, or social strata
- Individuals are born into a particular stratum, which affects life chances.
-Trait of society.
-Carries over into next generation.
-Generally universal but variable.
-Involves not just inequality but also beliefs.
-Affects business operations
-Class consciousness
-Makes it difficult to establish a competitive advantage in a global economy
Caste System
Social position determined by family.
Class System
Form of open social stratification.
-Position can be changed through achievement or luck.
Religion
Concerned with the realm of the sacred.
4 dominant religions:
- Christianity
- Islam
- Hinduism
- Buddhism
Ethical system
Most are the product of religions.
Christianity
The world’s largest religion.
- Economic implications of Christianity:
-Max Weber, Protestant ethics, and the spirit of capitalism.
Islam
The world’s second largest religion.
- Economic implications
-Many pro-free enterprise principles, protection of private property, concern with social justice-
- Prohibits the payment or receipt of interest.
Hinduism
Practiced primarily on the Indian subcontinent.
- Economic implications:
- Hindus are valued by their spiritual rather than material achievements.
- Promotion and adding new responsibilities may not be important, or may be infeasible due to the employee’s.
Spoken Language
- Language structures the way we see the world.
- Countries with more than one language often have more than one culture.
- Chinese is the mother tongue of the largest number of people.
- English is becoming the language of international business.
