Chapter 3 Terms Flashcards
4 Main manifestations of culture:
- Language
- Religion
- Social Structure
- Education
Informal institutions:
Institution represented by cultures, ethics, and norms
Ethnocentrism:
A self-centered mentality by a group of people who perceive their own culture, ethics, and norms as natural, rational, and morally right
Culture:
The collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another .
− Includes language, religion, social structure, and education
Language (Lingua Franca)
- Lingua franca: A global business language
- English-speaking countries contribute the largest share of global output.
- Countries sharing a common language will find it easier to do business with each other.
- Recent globalization has called for the use of one common language.
Religion
- Religion is a major manifestation of culture.
- Approximately 85% of the world’s population reportedly possesses some religious belief.
- Knowledge about religions is crucial, even for non-religious managers.
Religion Practitioners:
- Christianity (1.7 Billion)
- Islam (1.6 Billion)
- Hinduism (1 Billion)
- Buddhism (500 Million)
- Social structure:
The way a society broadly organizes its members
- Social stratification:
The hierarchical arrangement of individuals into social categories (strata) such as classes, castes, and divisions within a society
- Social mobility:
The degree to which members from a lower social category can rise to a higher status
Education
- Education is an important component of culture.
- Education can be used to maintain social stratification or to break down social barriers.
3 Ways to Understand Cultural Differences:
- Context
- Cluster
- Dimensions
Context:
The underlying background upon which social interaction takes place
- Low-context culture:
A culture in which communication is usually taken at face value without much reliance on unspoken context
Examples of High Context Cultures:
China, Korean, Japanese, Arab
- High-context culture
A culture in which communication relies a lot on the underlying unspoken context, which is as important as the words used
Examples of Low Context Cultures:
German, Swiss, Scandinavian, American/Canadian, Spanish
Cluster:
Countries that share similar cultures
Civilization:
The highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have
5 Hofstede Dimensions of Culture:
- Power Distance
- Individualism
- Masculinity
- Uncertainty Avoidance
- Long-Term Orientation
- Power distance:
The extent to which less powerful members within a culture expect and accept that power is distributed unequally
- Individualism:
The idea that an individual’s identity is fundamentally their own
- Collectivism
The idea that an individual’s identity is fundamentally tied to the identity of their collective group
- Masculinity:
A relatively strong form of societal-level gender role differentiation whereby men tend to have occupations that reward assertiveness and women tend to work in caring professions
