Religion, social class, and entrepreneurial choice

Fascinating

While considerable concern has emerged about the links between religion and economic growth, little is actually known about how religion and social class impact the decision making of individuals. Using institutional theory and social dominance theory, this paper examines the influence of religion and social class on individuals' occupational choices. Based on a large-scale database from India, this paper finds that while some religions are relatively conducive to self-employment, some others have a negative impact on self-employment choices. Furthermore, individuals belonging to social classes that are lower in the social hierarchy are less likely to be self-employed. The role of both religion and social class in influencing the likelihood of choosing self-employment suggests an important link between religion, social class, and occupational decision-making.

Highlights

• We examine the role of religion and social class on occupational choice.

• We find that religions like Islam and Jainism are more favorable for self-employment.

• We find that Hindus are less likely to be self-employed compared to others.

• Individuals belonging to social classes lower in the social hierarchy are least likely to be self-employed.

The following regression models are estimated to link occupational choice with religion and social class:

equation(1)

Y=α+β₁*Religion+β₂*Education+β₃*Demographics+β₄*Wealth+β₅*Location+β₆*Industry+ε₁Y=α+β1*Religion+β2*Education+β3*Demographics+β4*Wealth+β5*Location+β6*Industry+ε1

equation(2)

Y=c+δ1*SocialClass+δ2*Education+δ3*Demographics+δ4*Wealth+δ5*Location+δ6*Industry+ε2

Let me quote the operative paragraph in here

While India is rich in diverse religions, some of them, such as Islam and Jainism, are more conducive to self-employment. The institutional profile associated with Islam strongly supports entrepreneurial activity. For example, Islamic banking models, based on the Koranic principles of risk sharing (Khan, 1996), may encourage even risk-averse Muslims to become self-employed. In Jainism, principles of self-reliance and benevolence to business (Caillat, 1987) give rise to an institutional profile that is conducive to self-employment. By contrast, Hinduism inhibits self-employment by shaping an institutional profile that is not conducive to self-employment choices. The normative pressures on Hindus to choose occupations based on the caste of their birth (Hutton, 1946), and the cognitive beliefs that do not support proactively changing thestatus quo ( Singer, 1966 and Tripathi, 1992) may discourage self-employment in Hinduism.

Although Christianity is associated with an institutional profile that is conducive to self-employment, it does not have a positive effect on self-employment in the Indian context. This result may be attributed to the large number of individuals from the Hindu backward classes converting to Christianity (Henderson, 2002). Thus, the estimated effect of the Christian religion in India shows the mixed effects of prior learning and new beliefs particularly with regard to the normative and cognitive dimensions of the two religions. The estimated effects of Buddhism and Sikhism show that the followers of these two religions are not different from Hindus when it comes to their self-employment choices. These results are attributable to the close relationship that Buddhism and Sikhism have with Hinduism. The founders of both the religions were Hindus and, Buddhism, in particular, shares many of the Hindu values and beliefs (

Maybe as public policy, the Indian government may want the Hindus to convert to Jainism. Or Islam. But as the example of Christianity shows, this will not work as despite conversions to another religion, they are still not being self employed.

Curious, eh?

Did the Jains cause casteism in Tamil Society?

I got this reference this week.

I quote:

Like any other human being, the average Tamil also functions at the intersection of many
overlapping identities. In spite of the persistence of a  linguistic identity over two
millennia, and a self-conscious Tamil nationalist political movement of the 20th century
which argued against caste differences among Tamils, for many Tamils of today, caste is
a significant, if not the primary, identity still.

One of the results of this caste identity is that many Tamils who are members of the Scheduled Castes or Dalits feel alienated from the interests of the Tamil Nationalist movement. Many Tamil nationalists like Pāvāṇar (1992: 169) held that the early Tamil society did not have a birth-based hierarchy. But Classical Tamil texts which are the earliest sources for information on the early Tamil society do employ words which are traditionally interpreted as ‘low caste person’ or
‘outcaste’. These words include ‘pulaiyaṉ’ (base or low-caste man’, ‘outcaste’), “pulaitti”
(the feminine form of ‘pulaiyaṉ’), ‘iḻiciṉaṉ’ (outcaste, low or  uncivilised person),
‘iḻipiṟappiṉōṉ’ (person of low birth, outcaste) and ‘iḻipiṟappāḷaṉ’ (synonym of ‘iḻipiṟappiṉōṉ’).
 
In these texts, ‘pulaiyaṉ’ is used to refer to a bard, a drummer, and a
funerary priest; ‘pulaitti’ is used to refer to a priestess, a washerwoman, and a basketmaker; ‘iḻipiṟappiṉōṉ’ is used to refer to a funerary priest; ‘iḻipiṟappāḷaṉ’ is used to refer
to a drummer; and ‘iḻiciṉaṉ’ is used to refer to a drummer and a cot-maker. These usages
seem to suggest that the above-mentioned professionals were considered to be outcastes
in the Classical Tamil society. The Tamil nationalists have not satisfactorily explained
how these usages could be reconciled with their idea of a casteless Tamil society.  On the
other hand, scholars such as K. K. Pillay (1969) and George Hart (1975a, 1975b, 1976,
and 1987) have suggested that the concept of untouchability and hence the notion of caste
were already present in the Classical Tamil society.

When the Classical Tamil texts are analyzed using information from the fields of
philology, linguistics, religion, anthropology, and epigraphy, however, we find that Tamil
social history is inextricably linked to Jainism. The notions of untouchability,
occupational pollution and caste were not indigenous to the Tamil society and the word
‘pulaiyaṉ’ which later came to mean ‘a polluted man’ originally meant ‘a man who
causes auspiciousness/prosperity’. It will be argued in this essay that, ironically, the nonviolence principle of Jainism was an inadvertent catalyst in the development of violenceridden untouchability among the speakers of Dravidian languages. 
Jains have made fundamental contributions to Tamil literature and grammar.
Zvelebil (1973: 137) considers Tolkāppiyaṉ, the author of the  core of the oldest extant
Tamil grammar, the Tolkāppiyam, to be a Jain who belonged to the pre-Christian era. 
Jains also authored major post-classical literary works such as the Cilappatikāram, and
the Cīvakacintāmaṇi as well as many didactic works. While the contributions of Jains to
Tamil literature and grammar are widely recognised, the influence of Jainism on early
Tamil society has not been understood well till now because the Classical Tamil texts
have not been studied from an inter-disciplinary perspective.

I did not know that Jainism had such a strong influence on Tamils. I always thought the influence of Jainism was more in the North of India and to learn that it extended down south was a new thing to me. One lives and learns. To the email, which I responded,

interesting research paper, although for an empirical positivist like me, the logic was lacking in some rigour. But I found it amusing that the Jain concept of 7 hells was used as a theological basis for casteism. But the author did not take the argument forward, if the concept of bad actions lead one to hell and that cycle of rebirth means you are born in a lower caste to expatiate the sins, then pretty much every other religion is the same, bad actions make you a bad man and hence a lower caste..

bit of a logical stretch there

1/3rd of Germans are part Hindu

heh.

Over a third of Germans believe in life after death, a new survey revealed on Saturday.

Around 36 percent of Germans said that they believed life continued beyond the grave when asked earlier in April.
Considerably fewer were those who said that they definitely did not believe that they would live on. For those 28 percent of Germans, death was the end.
A further 22 percent said they would live on through their offspring and in the memories of their friends and family according to the survey, which was published in the Bild daily newspaper on Saturday.
The number of Catholics who said they believed in life after death was 10 percent higher than among members of the Protestant church. At 49 percent, nearly half of those asked who were Catholic were gearing up for eternal life, opposed to just 39 percent of Protestants.
Ironically, fewer Germans who aligned themselves with the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said they believed in the afterlife than those who voted for the Green Party or the Pirate Party.
Around 35 percent of CDU voters said they believed in life after death, in comparison to 40 of Green Party voters and 39 percent of Pirate Party voters.

Given that belief in rebirth is one crucial element of Hinduism, and Jainism and Buddhism, it was amusing to read this. Go figure. See? I told you we are all Hindus

Let us fragment our societies further

Here we go again. The government, in this case, Indian government, did the right thing, but forbidding any teaching of religion. But Jains want to teach their children about their religion and thus are going minority status. Let us further fragment our society.

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