Unit 3: Social, Cultural, Religious & Ethical Attributes Social Structure

Uncertainty avoidance describes how different cultures accept or cope of uncertain situations.

Individualism vs. Collectivism focuses on relationships between individuals and groups in the workplace.

Masculinity vs. femininity focuses on the relationship between two genders and their work roles.

USA, Canada and UK are high in individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and high masculinity. Sweden and Denmark are examples that are low in uncertainty avoidance, and low masculinity.

Religion

Religion is a system of shared beliefs and rituals that are associated with the sacred. There are 4 major religions in the world: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Christianity

It is the most widely practiced religion in the world. Around 20 percent of the world population is Christians. Christianity grew out of Judaism. Christians believe in one god. The religion is divided into 3 main branches: Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant.

Islam

Islam is the second largest religion in the world with more than 1 billion of believers. Islam dates back to 610 AD. Islam constitutes majority in more than 35 countries. Major principles of Islam include honoring and respecting parents, respecting the rights of others, being of pure heart and mind and dealing justly and equitably with others.

Hinduism

Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world with about 0.75 billion of believers, most of them are concentrated in the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is originated in the Indus Valley in India more than 4,000 years ago making it the world’s oldest major religion. Unlike Christianity and Islam, its founding is not linked to a particular person. It does not have officially sanctioned sacred books like Bible or the Quran, but there are holy writing like Bhagavat Gita and Ramayana. Hinduism considers cow as a gift of gods to human race.

Buddhism

Buddhism was founded in India in 600 BC by Siddhartha Gautama, an Indian prince who devoted his life to reach spiritual perfection. Today 300 million of the world’s population belong to this religion and has followers in China, Korea, Japan, India, Nepal and other countries. Siddhartha became known as Buddha. Buddha offered Eightfold path to transformation of suffering, which emphasizes right seeing, thinking, speech, action, living, effort, mindfulness and meditation.

Other denominations such as Jainism, Judaism, Sikhism and Confucianism can be found in Asia and Europe.

Jainism is a minority religion with only 5 million followers mainly in India describes a path of non-violence for all forms of living beings.

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices and presents itself as a relationship between people of Israel and God. It is the oldest monotheistic religion in the world dating back to 3,000 years. It has about 15 million followers majority settled in Israel and United States.

Sikhism believes in one immortal being. The religion is based on teachings of 10 gurus. Most of Sikhs are located in particular area in India called Punjab.

Confucianism was founded in the 5^th century BC by Confucius. Until Communist revolution, it was the official ethical system of China. More than 200 million people still follow the teachings of Confucius. It teaches the importance of attaining personal salvation through right deeds.