Chapter 4 differences in culture
A closed system of social stratification in which social position is determined by the family into which a person is born, and change in that position is usually not possible during an individual's lifetime
caste system
The most rigid system of stratification is a
caste system
A cultural mindset develops consistent with people's behavior over time. But things happen sometimes to cause people's behavior to -----, and so culture evolves
change
In a country such as the United Kingdom or India, however, the relative lack of class mobility and the differences between classes have resulted in the emergence of
class consciousness
refers to a condition by which people tend to perceive themselves in terms of their class background, and this shapes their relationships with members of other classes
class consciousness
Historically, ----- were an important aspect of British culture, and for a long time, firms operating in the United Kingdom found it difficult to achieve cooperation between management and labor.
class divisions
a less rigid form of social stratification in which social mobility is possible; A system of social stratification in which social status is determined by the family into which a person is born and by subsequent socioeconomic achievements; mobility between classes is possible; It is a form of open stratification in which the position a person has by birth can be changed through his or her own achievements or luck
class system
Rituals and symbols are the most visible manifestations of a culture and constitute the outward expression of -----
deeper values
----- is a reflection of a philosophical value system that emphasizes individual freedom
democratic free market capitalism
People who violate folkways may be thought of as ------, but they are not usually considered to be evil or bad
eccentric or ill-mannered
Interestingly, Macau has had a better experience with the Chinese takeover due to the ----- that preceded the handover from Portugal in 1999, resulting in a much better partnership between China and Macau
economic difficulties
On the other hand, research by economists Robert Barro and Rachel McCleary does suggest that strong religious beliefs, particularly beliefs in heaven, hell, and an afterlife, have a positive impact on ------, irrespective of the particular religion in question
economic growth rates
The proposed relationships may exist, but their impact may be small compared with the impact of
economic policy
They are likely to have better
education, health, standard of living, and work opportunities
Values are not just abstract concepts; they are invested with considerable -------
emotional significance
Values provide the context within which a society's norms are -------
established and justified
A set of moral principles, or values, that is used to guide and shape behavior.
ethical system
Culture can and does -----, although the rate at which culture can change is the subject of dispute (how easy or often do we change habits?)
evolve
Increased globalization has meant an increased number of business relationships across countries and cultures, but not necessarily an ------
increased cultural understanding to go with it
In many western societies, the ----- is the basic building block of social organization
individual
Macau is being positioned as a ------ in China's relations with Portuguese-speaking countries
key diplomatic player
Mores are often so important that they have been enacted into ----
law
The class system in the United States is ----- pronounced than in India, the United Kingdom, and China and mobility is -----
less greater
Florence Kluckhohn and Fred Strodtbeck's values orientation theory of culture states that all definitions of culture must answer a ------, that the value-based solutions are limited in number and universally known, and that different cultures have different preferences among them
limited number of universal problems
For example, cultural factors may have---- the costs of doing business in Japan and may help explain Japan's rapid economic ascent as an industrialized and competitive nation in the world about half a century ago
lowered
An antagonistic relationship between ---- and -----, and the resulting lack of cooperation and high level of industrial disruption, tends to raise the costs of production in countries characterized by significant class divisions
management labor classes (ex: UK-British society)
Social rules and guidelines that prescribe appropriate behavior in particular situations
norms
are the social rules that govern people's actions toward one another
norms
Meanwhile, the Taiwanese culture, a blend of Confucian Han Chinese and Taiwanese aboriginal cultures, is often at ---- with mainland China.
odds
The values and norms of a culture do not emerge fully formed. They evolve over time in response to a number of factors, including prevailing
political and economic philosophies, the social structure of a society, and the dominant religion, language, and education
However, it is hazardous to make sweeping generalizations about the nature of the relationship between ---- and ---- and business practice
religion ethical systems
Most of the world's ethical systems are the product of ----
religions
Folkways also include ----- and ------ behavior
rituals and symbolic behavior
Mores have a much greater significance than folkways. Violating mores can bring ---------
serious retribution, ill will, and the collapse of any business deal
You may recognize how your own personal cultural values and norms are hard to change. The same goes for the culture of a society, which evolves when large population segments in a country or region adopt values based on common ways of behaving, which change only ----
slowly
The extent to which individuals can move out of the social strata into which they are born
social mobility
In American society, the high degree of ----- and the extreme emphasis on ----- limit the impact of class background on business operations. The same is true in Japan, where most of the population perceives itself to be middle class.
social mobility individualism
All societies are stratified on a hierarchical basis into social categories—that is, into
social strata
Hierarchical social categories often based on family background, occupation, and income
social strata
The basic social organization of a society; how a society is organized in terms of its values, norms, relationships that are part of the society's fabric
social structure
While a society may be equivalent to a country, some countries have several ------, and some societies embrace more than one country
societies or subcultures
Group of people who share a common set of values and norms
society
Often, a caste position carries with it a
specific occupation
Culture is not ----
static
In the 1870s, anthropologist Edward Tylor defined culture as "---------."
that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and other capabilities acquired by man as a member of society
Also supportive of a finite set of human values, Geert Hofstede, a Dutch expert on cross-cultural differences and international management, defined culture as "--------."
the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another
Mores, to use extreme examples, include laws against
theft, adultery, incest, and cannibalism
A good example of a folkway is people's attitude toward
time
Like the UK, the United States has its own -----, ------, and ----- classes
upper, middle, and working
Abstract ideas about what a society believes to be good, right, and desirable; ideas about what a group believes to be good, right, and desirable. Are shared assumptions about how things ought to be
values
Some scholars have theorized that the most important business implications of religion center on the extent to which different religions shape attitudes toward ---- and ----- and the degree to which the religious ethics affect the ---- of doing business in a country.
work entrepreneurship costs
Instead, what we find is that throughout the colonial era, Hong Kong's citizens developed a distinct ----- that seeks to be recognized as a unique culturally based ------
"Hong Kong identity" "national identity."
While nation-states are often studied for their "," in reality they may contain a single culture or several subcultures
"national identity," "national character," and even "competitive advantage of nations,"
In some way, this means that the relationship between culture and country is often
ambiguous
Generally, culture evolves as
behaviors of people become ingrained and coded in their values and norms
Individuals born into a stratum toward the top of the social hierarchy tend to have
better life chances than those born into a stratum toward the bottom of the hierarchy
Although all societies are stratified to some degree, they differ in two related ways:
1) First, they differ from each other with regard to the degree of mobility between social strata. 2) Second, they differ with regard to the significance attached to social strata in business contexts
Alternatively, as noted earlier, class consciousness may be reemerging in urban ----, and it may ultimately prove to be significant in the country
China
Overall, social stratification is based on four basic principles:
1) Social stratification is a trait of society, not a reflection of individual differences. 2) Social stratification carries over a generation to the next generation. 3) Social stratification is generally universal but variable. 4) Social stratification involves not just inequality but also beliefs
The opening case on -----highlights that deep cultural differences exist in what many would consider to be a region with a very similar cultural background, i.e., Greater China
China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan
is the most widely practiced religion in the world with some 2.20 billion followers
Christianity
Although the social structure consists of many different aspects, two dimensions are particularly important when explaining differences:
1) The first is the degree to which the basic unit of a social organization is the individual, as opposed to the group, or even company for which a person works 2) The second dimension is the degree to which a society is stratified into classes or castes
Among the thousands of religions in the world today, four dominate in terms of numbers of adherents:
Christianity with roughly 2.20 billion adherents, Islam with around 1.60 billion adherents, Hinduism with 1.10 billion adherents (primarily in India), and Buddhism with about 535 million adherents
The emphasis on individual performance has both beneficial and harmful aspects:
1) the emphasis on individual performance finds expression in an admiration of rugged individualism, entrepreneurship, and innovation 2) Individualism also finds expression in a high degree of managerial mobility between companies, as our "personal brand" example illustrated earlier, and this is not always a good thing
Routine conventions of everyday life; actions of little moral significance; they are social conventions that deal with things like appropriate dress code in a particular situation, good social manners, eating with the correct utensils, neighborly behavior, and so on
Folkways
United States= Japan=
-individualism (entrepreneurship) -Group: mutual self-help and collective action
one argue that individualistic societies are great at creating ----- while collectivist, or group-oriented, societies are better at the------ (taking the idea to the market)
-innovative ideas -implementation of those ideas
The opposite of the time-conscious Americans, Germans, Dutch, and Scandinavians, businesspeople in many ----, -----, and ----- cultures view time as more elastic
Arabic, Latin, and African
A system of values and norms that are shared among a group of people and that when taken together constitute a design for living
Culture
----- and ----- are often the core reasons the U.S. political leadership uses when justifying the country engaging in various parts of the world, in some way, as the "global police" force.
Freedom security
Norms seen as central to the functioning of a society and to its social life; refer to norms that are more widely observed, have greater moral significance than folkways, and are central to the functioning of a society and to its social life
Mores
A system of shared beliefs and rituals concerned with the realm of the sacred
Religion
----- form the bedrock of a culture
Values
the business success in many, if not most, countries require what we call
cross-cultural literacy
understanding how the culture of a country affects the way business is practiced; understanding of how cultural differences across and within nations can affect the way business is practiced
cross-cultural literacy
Since then, thousands of definitions have been offered by diverse experts from many cultures—in other words culture actually affects how different people define ----- itself!
culture
is a complex phenomenon with multiple dimensions and multiple levels always worthy of study
culture
a relationship may exist between
culture and the cost of doing business in a country or region
Many mores (and laws) differ across
cultures
Although----- define the way people are expected to behave, violation of them is not normally a serious matter
folkways
These norms can be subdivided into two major categories:
folkways and mores
An association of two or more individuals who have a shared sense of identity and who interact with each other in structured ways on the basis of a common set of expectations about each other's behavior
group
Human social life is
group life
Barro and McCleary looked at religious beliefs and economic growth rates in 59 countries. Their conjecture was that
higher religious beliefs stimulate economic growth because they help sustain aspects of individual behavior that lead to higher productivity
In this chapter, we make a case that it is important for foreign businesses to gain an understanding of the culture that prevails in countries where they do business and indeed that success requires a foreign enterprise to adapt, at least to some degree for most products and services, to the macro (overall) culture of its ---------
host country as well as to dominant subcultures within the country
