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The Impact of Religious Identity and Orthodox
Christianity on Ethical Consumption
Vasileios Vranas
Abstract This research reviews the literature relating to the impact that religious
identity and orthodox Christianity have on ethical consumption. Ethical products and
services are increasingly becoming more widespread among consumers but still
science has not explored all aspects concerning this specific behavior. This paper
outlines the existing knowledge about the connection of ethical consumption and
religious identity through literature review and case studies. Finally, with the use of a
citation matrix and diagrams the research gap in the literature is identified and a
number of suggestions for further research are made.
KeywordsEthical Consumption, Religious Identity, Orthodox Christianity, Decision
Making Process, Moral Development
Introduction
The present study is about the impact of religious identity on ethical consumption. To
illustrate this impact orthodox Christianity was chosen as one of the extant religious
identities. Ethical consumption means purchasing products or services that have been
produced in an ethical way or it can also mean not buying or actively boycott those
goods that do not mach the moral beliefs of consumers. Ethical consumption is the
final part of the decision making process and it can be influenced by many and
different stimuli such as the religious identity of the consumer. The term Religious
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Identity is here used also to denote atheism and agnosticism as a stance. This
clarification is important because in the literature there are numerous studies only
about ethical consumption and religions, mainly about Catholicism, Islam and
Judaism, but not enough literature about other beliefs such as Buddhism or Hinduism.
Most importantly, there is a scarce research on religious identity and no research
about atheism and skepticism in ethical consumption or even in consumers behavior
in general. As a result of this observation this thesis demonstrates orthodox
Christianity as a religious identity that has not been studied in marketing and
management at all. So this thesis has a research questions to answer: what do we
know about how religious identity and orthodox Christianity impacts ethical
consumption. It has to be mentioned that there is not enough literature in journals
about orthodox Christianity and ethical consumption and as a result of that, books,
internet blogs and web pages are used but all of these sources have credibility
although they are not from Journals because all the opinions mentioned in those
sources are from orthodox priests, archpriests and theologians who are expressing the
orthodox Christian doctrine. Finally to answer the research questions this thesis
utilizes the literature review method to identify the variables explored and content
analysis to construct a matrix, presenting the frequency of the examined variables in
the literature. Furthermore the findings are diagrammatically presented to illustrate
what researchers have done up to now in the fields of religious identity, orthodox
Christianity and ethical consumption and identify the research gaps.
Ethical Consumption
Before entering into research we have to make clear what do we mean by the term
ethical consumption and what is the difference with ethical consumerism. The use
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of the terms ethical consumerism and ethical consumption are being used a lot in
recent years and often those two meanings are used in the same way. In the literature
almost no official distinction has been done despite the fact that many writers have
used both terms. The etymology of the words consumerism and consumption may
enlighten us. So according to the widely accepted encyclopedia of the 21 st century
Wikipedia consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the
systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever
greater amounts. As far as consumption is concern according to Bee Dictionary the
etymology of the word means the utilization of economic goods to satisfy needs.
Although it is easy to find a definition for consumerism or consumption, finding a
definition for ethics is hard. What is ethical varies from person to person and in the
literature there are so many attempts to describe ethics from Plato and Aristotle to
Nietzsche and Sartre. In Emanuel Kants philosophy for instance justice dominates
his ethical theory or in Arthur Schopenhauer the landmark of ethics is compassion.
Contrary for Friedrich Nietzsche compassion means denying the gift of life and
believes that ethics is a bad look for all things . Philosophers through centuries
have given so many definitions and most of them reject its other so in order to
understand what ethics mean in general we will just satisfied our selves with a brief
definition from a simply online dictionary. So ethics descriptively refer to some codes
of conduct put forward by a society or normatively refer to a code of conduct that,
given specified conditions, would be put forward by all rational persons. After all
the different definitions above about consumerism, consumption and ethics we
will give our own definition of ethical consumerism and ethical consumption. So
according to what is mentioned above ethical consumerism could by characterized as
the desire to purchase goods in favor of the current codes for good and bad of
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society, based on the common sense of rational people. On the other hand ethical
consumption is the satisfaction of needs by using economic goods in a way that the
present codes of society about good and bad are not violated. As far as this research
is concerned, our study will stay focus in the aspect of ethical consumption trying to
find the impact that religious identity and orthodox Christianity have on that kind of
consuming behavior.
Religious Identity
According to Babiniotis, identity is all the features that determine in a unique way
someone or something. It is in other words what makes a person to be different from
another but also some times there is a collective identity that is expressing more than
one people. That means identity is used in two linked senses, which may be termed
social and personal and there is no necessary linkage between social identity and
personal identity. Religion is part of humans identity and in this point it must be
cleared that as long as this study is concern, by religious identity we also include
those who do not believe in any God or they are skeptical about it.
Orthodox Christianity
Christianity is the biggest religion in the world with more that 2.000.000.000
followers and exists more than 2000 years. Christianity has many different versions
from Catholics and Orthodox to Protestants and Jehovahs witnesses. Although the
followers of Christianity recognize the same founder, Jesus Christ, the history divided
Christians in many Churches, which differ in their organization and also in the
interpretation of the Gospels. To this point we are interested only in Orthodox
Christianity, which is also known as Eastern Orthodox Church.
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Ethical Consumption
Ethical consumption means the whole set of issues and considerations that might
impinge upon the purchase decision and the list of those issues is certainly growing as
new issues such as technology become introduced into purchase decisions.
Consuming is a mode of action in which people make use of consumption objects in
a variety of ways. One of these ways is the ethical way in other words, the ethical
consumption. On the one hand, ethical consumption might be defined in relation to
particular objects of ethical concern. In this sense, consumption research defines a
variety of issues as ethical, including environmental sustainability, health and safety
risks, animal welfare, fair trade, labor conditions, and human rights. On the other
hand, this focus on consumption as a means of acting in an ethical way toward
particular objects of concern extends across various forms of practice, including
shopping, investment decisions, and personal banking and pensions. The diversity of
objects and practices that might constitute ethical consumption is underscored by
considering the diversity of organizational forms that might be defined in this
category. These include ethical trading organizations; lobby groups; fair trade
campaign organizations; co-operative movements; consumer boycott campaigns; and
no-logo antiglobalisation campaigns. Even this short list indicates the high degree of
overlap between organizations, the diversity of strategies and issues adopted, and the
variability of scales at which ethical consumption activities operate. Ethical
consumption is becoming more and more widespread among consumers whose
purchasing behavior is changing rapidly. Consumers now are aware of their ability to
force corporation to adopt more social-friendly policies. The augmentation of
information received by people in the 21st
century and especially through internet
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gave the ability to consumers to the exact procedure that have been made to a product
before it shows up in the supermarket shelves. From raw materials to the working
conditions of the company staff, consumers can judge if the products development
stages mach to their ethical beliefs. So, does ethical consumption, have the power to
change the way corporations function? The answer would be yes, because numbers
show us that ethical market is gaining ground. For-instance, by typing ethical
consumption in Google (in December 12, 2011) more than 20.500.000 references
show up. Moreover in the UK, ethical market was worth 43.2bn in 2009 compared
with 36.5bn two years earlier and that was an increase of 18% with the sector of
clothing and cosmetics being the leader having and increase of 29% during the same
period of time. Those rates are indicating the need of the market for moral products
or services and that implies the existence of ethical companies. Despite that need,
consumers still believe that corporations are not using ethical practices. According to
a research by Financial Times, consumers in five of the worlds leading economies
( UK, USA, France, Germany and Spain believe business ethics have worsened in the
past five years (2002-2007) and in the same time they believe that brands with
ethical claims on environment policies or treatment of staff and suppliers, for
instance would make business more answerable to the public. It is obvious that
ethical consumption is an upcoming force that is about to change the world of
corporations as we know it, although there are some who believe that it is just a trend
which is about to end with the economic crisis that is now a global phenomenon.
According to the Ethical Consumerism Report of 2010 though, the growth in ethical
consumerism continues to outstrip the market as a whole and that came as a surprise
to those who thought ethical considerations could be the first casualty of an economic
downturn. However despite the rise of the ethical consumption, there are many who
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believe that moral purchasing is not a big deal because either it is not a strong enough
action to change the way corporations work or it is done just for hedonistic reasons.
Also some believe that while mere exposure can activate concepts related to social
responsibility and ethical conduct and induce corresponding behaviors; purchasing
green products may produce the counterintuitive effect of licensing asocial and
unethical behaviors by establishing moral credentials. Thus, green products do not
necessarily make us better people. We are not saying that individuals do not bring
values and beliefs into the purchasing context but however, this is not to say that these
values and beliefs are not so immutable as to be more than one of many contributors
to the individuals consumption decision. That is why we view the notion of the
ethical consumer with suspicion. As far as green consumerism is concern
consumer actions alone will not be enough to conserve plants and animals. and
they may become even a catastrophic mistake . Consumers primary motive for
green consumerism can be expressed or manifested with numerous different selective
motives and behaviors and requires the consumer to have certain practical skills and
task knowledge.
Environmental Sustainability
Environmental sustainability seeks to improve human welfare and by protecting the
sources of raw materials used for human needs and ensuring that the sinks for human
wastes are not exceeded, in order to prevent harm to humans. In other words
environmental sustainability means the protection of the environment but to achieve
this, proper valuation of natural capital must be central to economic development.
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Not only people should protect the natural sources but also corporations must be even
more sensitive for nature because they use the most of its resources as raw materials
for their products. But although more and more businesses are adapting a value
based model and expanding their view to include all stakeholders, not simply
shareholders, if a decision does not directly create shareholder value, it will simply
not be made. . Corporations usually are interested in quick and direct profit and the
use of ecological methods in production process will bring long term results and time
is money in business. At this point researchers need to better understand the role that
corporations can play in dealing with ecological problems. Corporations stand to
benefit by moving toward ecological efficiencies, capturing emerging green
markets, gaining first-mover advantage in their industries, ensuring long-term
profitability, establishing better community relations, and improving their image.
Religious identity in the case of environmental sustainability can provide help. All
religions have a special concern about environment and this is not only in modern
religions. Religious beliefs and traditions historically, have taught us to perceive and
act on non-human nature in terms of particular human interests, beliefs, and social
structures. Through religious beliefs and laws we have socialized nature, framing it in
human terms. And to a great extent we have done so to satisfy human needs, abilities,
and power relations. Besides the dominant religions of East and West, we have
numerous indigenous beliefs and traditions that have been used as the basis for the
traditional coping mechanisms long before the rise of any of the religious beliefs. .
Health and Safety Risk/ Labor Conditions
By the term Health and Safety Risk it is usually described the work conditions of
employees. Those conditions may be dangerous for the workers and specific safety
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measures by the corporations must be taken. Many firms are developing new health
risk assessment procedures and risk management strategies to reduce risks and
contain costs. Health risk assessment is an analytic process that promotes the
systematic identification of the hazard attributes of a proposed activity and the
measurement of the potential adverse impacts on human health and the environment.
Many major corporations have embraced this wholeheartedly and pursue safer and
healthier workplaces as a corporate value. Frequently corporate values are identified
in writing and supported by the chief executive officer, some companies even going
so far as to produce reports, equivalent to the corporate annual report, addressing
safety and environmental health effects. Generally a corporation must follow nine
steps in order to maintain the safety of its employees:
1 Decide what could harm employees in their job and the precautions to stop it.
2 In an understandable way, explain how risks will be controlled and tell who is responsible
for this.
3 Consult and work with employees and their health and safety representatives in protecting
everyone from harm in the workplace.
4 Free of charge, health and safety training employees need to do their job.
5 Free of charge, provide with any equipment and protective clothing it is needed, and ensure
it is properly looked after.
6 Provide toilets, washing facilities and drinking water.
7 Provide adequate first-aid facilities.
9 Have insurance that covers employees in case they get hurt at work or ill through work.
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All steps must be taken into serious consideration by all corporations not only for the
safety of their employees which is the major concern but also for the safety of their
sales because by the time ethical consumers know that the working conditions in a
corporation are bad they will stop purchasing as a result of that.
Animal Welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals. The term
animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a
debate on animal ethics and animal rights. Welfare is measured by indicators
including behavior, physiology, longevity, and reproduction. . The word welfare
also can be used by the scientific community, and it can be included in laws provided
that it is defined precisely and the concept of welfare can be adequately related to
other concepts. . Animal welfare is another crucial aspect of ethical consumption. By
the time a corporation is using animals in order to take their skin, or for tests or if
mistreat them in anyway then ethical consumers will boycott the products of those
firms and this is mostly common in products of beauty industry. At least three
overlapping ethical concerns are commonly expressed regarding the quality of life of
animals: (1) that animals should lead natural lives through the development and use of
their natural adaptations and capabilities, (2) that animals should feel well by being
free from prolonged and intense fear, pain, and other negative states, and by
experiencing normal pleasures, and (3) that animals should function well, in the sense
of satisfactory health, growth and normal functioning of physiological and behavioral
systems. Various scientists have proposed restricted conceptions of animal welfare
that relate to only one or other of these three concerns.
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Fair Trade
The Fair Trade movement can, in one sense, trace its origins back to the
development of the cooperative movement in the late nineteenth century. In the form
in which it is recognisable today, however, it began with the Mennonite Central
Committee trading with poor communities in the South in the 1940s but only began to
expand and become a movement in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 21st century, fair
trade is gaining ground as a result of ethical consumption which is growing rapidly.
But what exactly fair trade is? Actually it is a system of exchange where purchasers
agree to pay a slightly higher cost to make sure providers are able to maintain a decent
standard of living.
Fair trade criteria
A price that covers the cost of production.
A social premium to provide funding for development projects.
A partial payment in advance to avoid small producer organizations falling into debt.
Contracts that allow long-term production planning.
Long-term trade relations that allow proper planning and sustainable production practices.
Producers must be part of democratic cooperatives.
Sustainable environmental practices.
For an increasing number of consumers in affluent societies, the social features of
products, such as decent living and working conditions for producers in developing
countries are important ethical criteria in their shopping strategies. Fair trade is
important for ethical consumers and corporations know it very well so companies
generally demonstrate their fair-trade behavior to consumers by means of marketing
fair-trade brands or by means of cooperating with fair-trade organizations that
accredit their fair-trade products and allow them to market these products using a fair-
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trade label. Fair-trade organizations, on the other hand, go through considerable
efforts to convince companies to comply with fair-trade rules and sell fair-trade
products. Fair trade has a big difference from what we have already examine
(environmental sustainability, labor conditions and animal welfare). In most cases
consumers must search for information in order to judge if a product is matching
their ethical criteria. For example, if a company is using animals for making or testing
products or it has bad labor conditions for its employees this is not something that a
consumer can easily learn but in fair trade this is different because all fair trade
products have a label on their package and so consumers can easily know whether a
product is matching their ethical criteria or not.
Human Rights
When talking about human rights there is one thing that comes first in mind and that
is the declaration of human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a
declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (10 December 1948 at
Palais de Chaillot, Paris). The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the
Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all
human beings are inherently entitled. It consists of 30 articles which have been
elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments,
national constitutions and laws .
Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with
reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without
distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national
or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of
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the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs,
whether it is independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3 Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4 No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in
all their forms.
Article 5 No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.
Article 6Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of
the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration
and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8 Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts
violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10 Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and
impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against
him.
Article 11 (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until
proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his
defense. (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which
did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was
committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the
penal offence was committed.
Article 12 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or
correspondence, or to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of
the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13 (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each
state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
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Article 14 (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political
crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15 (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his
nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion,
have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during
marriage and at its dissolution. (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of
the intending spouses. (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is
entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No
one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18 Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes
freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in
public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19 Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to
hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20 (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21 (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through
freely chosen representatives. (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his
country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this shall be
expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be
held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22 Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to
realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the
organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for
his dignity and the free development of his personality.
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Article 23 (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable
conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination,
has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable
remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and
supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and
to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24 Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours
and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25 (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of
himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social
services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old
age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are
entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the
same social protection.
Article 26(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary
and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional
education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on
the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and
to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote
understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further
the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to
choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy
the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. (2) Everyone has the right to the
protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic
production of which he is the author.
Article 28 Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set
forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29 (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of
his personality is possible. (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only
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to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and
respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public
order and the general welfare in a democratic society. (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be
exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30 Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person
any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights
and freedoms set forth herein.
The purpose of presenting the complete Declaration of Human Rights is because it
has to be clear that the violation of even one of those 30 articles by any corporation is
able to lead consumers in ethical consumption. For example in article number 2 it is
clear that no distinction such as race, color or sex must be made. Moreover in article
number 5 we read: No one shall be subjected to inhuman treatment. Or in article
number 23 Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions Moreover the
Declaration of Human Rights is also important in order to make a comparison with
the religion view of human rights. In general ethical consumer feels responsible
toward society and expresses these feelings by means of his or her purchasing
behavior and that is translated by means of buying products for their positive qualities
or by boycotting products for their negative qualities . There are many ways in which
a consumer is able to saw his moral awareness and its one of these ways has a
different dimension based in different aspects of life. A recent research on that area
managed to categorize ethical consumption in four dimensions: Distinction,
Hedonistic, Love and Aesthetic. There is the aesthetic dimension meaning the
knowledge of consuming something different to other mass produced goods. When
consumers buy in an ethical way, they seek for status gains and social visibility and
those activities are often performed in public. Moreover, ethical purchase can offer
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hedonistic pleasure that may be associated with feelings of self-respect or even
pleasure in terms of the good they may bring to others. That good often is an act of
love to people who are important to us such as family members, that behavior acts
like an active concern to others. . Doing the good thing is a subjective term and
can have different meanings among people. Although consumers sometimes believe
that even as they do-good through ethical consumption, they are not always
entirely convinced that good is being done; and matters can improve through
responsible consumer behavior choices. In order to better understand ethical
consumers in a deep level it is crucial to investigate the creation of that phenomenon.
There is enough literature on business ethics, ethical consumption and consumer
behavior but still few is known about the exact reasons of ethical purchasing.
Freestone and McGoldrick during their research on the motives of the ethical
consumer mentioned that little is known about the motives that drive some toward,
or deter others from, higher levels of the ethical concern and action. Shaw and
Clarke (1999) also outlined the gap on that area mentioning that despite the
increasing concern for ethical issues little research has explored this specific
phenomenon in depth. More than a decade researchers are trying to explore the
nature of the ethical consumer but still not enough progress has been done. But what
do we already know up to now despite the numbers and rates of the market? Auger et
al. investigated six countries and they found that there are indeed some variations in
the attitudes towards social and ethical issues but there are also some similarities. A
recent survey conducted in 2011, also found that consumers are price sensitive,
affected by personal experience, believe it is an ethical obligation for them and they
are taking into consideration the amount of information they have about the products,
the services, or even the companies. Moreover inertia appeared a strong barrier in
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ethical consumption with a compilation of guilt about exploited groups. .
Furthermore, consumers are willing to pay a significant percentage of the value of
the product for specific ethical features and some of them could be convinced to alter
their purchase patterns if relevant ethical information is presented. According to
literature, consumers have the ability to buy the product that is considered ethical and
ignore the rest. That means that their ability to purchase in a moral way, forms ethical
consumption. But there is also another aspect of this behavior, which is rising fast as
it will be examined later in this study. That is boycotting, in others words the decision
of a person or even of a group of persons to stop buying the products of a specific
company. Boycotts are a form of consumer resistance allowing moral self-
expression. On a deeper level, this self-expression seems to be motivated by a drive
for moral self-realization . Firstly the consumer purchase behavior will be
demonstrated as one of the two aspects of ethical consumption but this research will
focus in the second aspect of this moral consuming which is boycotting.
Consumer Purchasing Behavior
One of the two dimensions of ethical consumptions is the ability of consumer to make
purchases. Moral purchasing is coming to change the market horizon as we know it
and so corporations must better understand the way ethical consumers think and act.
The new consumer is individualistic, involved, independent and generally well
informed. Currently, new consumers are increasingly aware of all aspects involved in
purchase of products, from design, safety, origin, to their social and economic impact.
New customer check labels and study the content of products, compare prices, review
brands promises, weighing options, puts pertinent questions and knows his legal
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rights. On the one hand, ethical consumption behavior is a rational and voluntary
choice that reflects individual characteristics, taste, and preferences and it is
fabricated and imposed by a complex system of social, cultural, and material
(re)production. It is a fact that society and culture have an impact in behavior but
how do they form ethical behaviors? Trying to answer this question, two issues come
into surface, the first is Ethical Decision Making Process and the other is Moral
Development. Before making any purchasing consumers are following a series of
procedures inside their brain and most of the times they dont even know it. A
general model of consumer purchasing behavior is consisted of three stages: Stimuli
Processing of Stimuli and Response. The first stage, the stage of Stimuli consists
of stimuli from the marketing mix (product, price, place and promotion) and also
economical, technological, political and cultural stimuli. Afterwards those processes
are finished and they are transferred inside the consumers brain, also known as the
Black Box and during this stage the procedure of decision making is being created.
Finally, the last step is the Response stage where products, services, brands, time of
purchasing etc. are being chosen . Consumers are constantly making decisions and
they are often faced with a large number of alternatives, a large number of
information and also with difficult trade-offs. The large number of information that
consumers have, has an impact on their decisions. To better understand this, the
findings of four different studies will be presented in brief. Those studies, examine
fair trade products and corporate social responsibility and all of them realize that
information can form a persons mind when choosing products or services but
consumers not always have enough information in order to judge.
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Research 1: When asked if they were aware of any positive or negative behavior by
companies respondents demonstrated low levels of general awareness. Generally
participants stated they didnt really know much about corporate activities. Awareness of
company activity was very low, both in the case of negative and positive reputations.
Although the media are covering such stories more often, and business activity has risen in
this area, the effect is not filtering through to the average consumer .
Research 2: There are valence-based asymmetries in the effect of CSR information on
company evaluations. Consumers company evaluations are more sensitive to negative CSR
information than positive CSR information .
Research 3: Three major explanatory concepts have been identified (on Fair Trade
Consumption): first, consumer attitudes second, studies using the concept of information and
communication to explain the purchase of FT products and third, consumer values .
Research 4: Consumers perceive two core factors as decisive for a potential consideration
of CSR as a purchase criterion: information and personal concern. They are both
prerequisites for considering CSR in the purchasing process. The most important and
complex one is information on a companys CSR position. Information consists of two
dimensions: level of information and type of information. The former describes the extent of
knowledge (e.g., no, little, or extensive knowledge) consumers have about a companys CSR
initiatives. The second dimension focuses on whether the CSR information consumers have is
perceived as positive or negative. The following two statements illustrate how the type of
information shapes consumers perceptions
.
It is clear that information can have an impact on consumers decision although most
of the times there is lack of information. But in the customers black box there are
other things alongside information but also in order to understand what is on ethical
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consumers mind, researchers have suggested all these years a plethora of different
ethical decision making models. Up to now there are many practice-relevant models
that can be chosen as guides for ethical decisions in particular practice settings. As to
whether one model is better than another is yet to be determined. . Generally
speaking, a common ethical decision is a result of four stages: Moral Awareness,
Moral Judgment, Moral Intention and finally Moral Action . . Knowing the
procedure that is being followed by the consumers is a great step in understanding
their ethical purchasing behavior but the term Moral as it is used in the literature is
very broad term, so morality is perhaps the key in understanding the ethical
consumerism in depth. Finally, although purchasing behavior is one part of ethical
consumption there is also another part which is probably more dangerous for the
companies. And that is boycotting behavior. We have know as it was presented above
that ethical consumers buy products that are made in an ethical way, but they can also
do the opposite thing which means not purchasing as a result of companys moral
violations and that is known as Boycotting.
Boycotting
First of all boycotting does not just mean not to buy something and the difference is
that boycotts involve an active decision by consumers to refuse to consume a product
usually for political or ethical reasons. The term boycott may be known in vast
majority of people, but the history of this word goes back in the Ireland of the 19 th
century. The word boycott is derived from the name of Captain Charles Boycott, the
land agent of an absentee landlord, the Earl Erne, in County Mayo who was subject to
social ostracism organized by the Irish Land League in 1880. In September that year,
protesting tenants demanded from Boycott a substantial reduction in their rents. He
not only refused but also ejected them from the land. Charles Stewart Parnell
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proposed that, rather than resorting to violence, everyone in the locality should refuse
to deal with him. Despite the short-term economic hardship to those undertaking this
action, Boycott soon found himself isolated his workers stopped work in the fields,
stables as well as the house. Local businessmen stopped trading with him and the
local postman refused to deliver post. The concerted action taken against him meant
that Boycott was unable to hire anyone to harvest the crops in his charge. Eventually
50 Orangemen volunteered to harvest his crops. They were escorted to and from
Claremorris by one thousand policemen and soldiers this despite the fact that
Boycotts complete social ostracism meant that he was actually in no danger of being
harmed. Moreover, this protection ended up costing far more than the harvest was
worth. After the harvest, the boycott was successfully continued. Within weeks
Boycott's name was everywhere. It was used by The Times in November 1880 as a
term of organized isolation. Boycott still exists in the 21st century with the same
meaning but with a greater impact mostly in the corporate world and because of that
in this study a definition from a business dictionary was selected in purpose to give as
a brief definition of boycott, so boycott is a collective, organized, economic and
social pressure by public groups against unfair trade and employment practices,
environmentally irresponsible corporations, and oppressive regimens. Now that the
meaning of boycotting is clear what is needed is a review of the literature in order to
find what is already known about that dimension of ethical consumption despites
terminology. When a boycott arises, it is either a small persistent boycott against the
small firm in the industry, or a large transitory boycott against the large firm in the
industry that prompts the target firm quickly to accede to the boycott demands. It is
also common to see boycotting mentioned as a political act by many researchers and
the term political consumerism is used in the same spirit. When people engage in
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boycotts with the aim of using the market to vent their political concerns, they are said
to engage in the act of political consumerism. Political consumerism reveals itself in a
measurable and consistent pattern and should receive more explicit attention in any
future research on political participation because a growing number of citizens are
turning to the market to express their political and moral concerns. Political
consumers choose particular producers or products because they want to change
institutional or market practices. They make their choices based on considerations of
justice or fairness or on an assessment of business and government practices.
Moreover often consumers boycott products and services when they feel that they are
unfairly treated by sellers. When that happens consumers want to punish the
corporation or the seller by not buying from him anymore or for a short period of
time. So consumers boycotts may be usefully understood as consumers exercising
consumer sovereignty. This suggests that consumer sovereignty may be seen as
having two dimensions: degree and domain. Degree refers to the amount of consumer
authority relative to producers. Domain refers to the jurisdiction of that authority. In
2005 a research by Tyran and Engelmann on how consumers react in an unfair price
increase showed that boycotts are mainly called and executed for expressive reasons
and may be triggered by a feeling of being treated unfairly and so consumer boycotts
serve to punish sellers . The above conclusion is verified by another study about the
motivations of consumers when boycotting which shows that half of the sample of the
study indicated that they would boycott to express anger or to punish. Further more in
the same research it was outlined that boycott effectiveness is highly dependent upon
consumer participation at the level of the individual consumer, however, it seems
likely that participation may be driven by a variety of motives, some expressive and
some instrumental. A consumer might be angry at a firm and also hope to change its
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practices. There is also a third set of possible motivations: consumers may participate
in order to feel good. In other words people differ in their reasons for participating in
a boycott and that most individuals have mixed motivations for their participation.
Three years later, in 2004 another research by Klein as well, confirmed that people
boycott to feel good about themselves as he had mentioned in 2001 and also they
are less likely to participate if they believe that the boycott has negative outcomes, if
consumers believe that the boycott will influence the firm, they are more likely to
participate . This search mentioned two aspects of boycotting, the expressive
behavior and the instrumental. The term expressive refers to those consumers who
boycott individually, in other words not in organized words. Contrary the term
instrumental refers to a boycotting behavior by more than one people and usually in
an organized way. In 2003 an article in the Management Science Journal by Andrew
and Klein confirmed that boycotting is either an individual act or an instrumental act
and also examined which of these two behaviors is more capable to change a
corporations policy. Their findings suggest that boycotts are now a major tool for
consumer protest groups, the actions of a single consumer are generally imperceptible
to a firm, and so it is improbable that an individual boycotter truly expects to
influence the behavior of the firm. Also another study by Delacote confirms the
need for boycotts as an organized action and not as a individual participation because
individual participation of any consumer only has a marginal impact on the
probability of success. In other words, any individual has an incentive to free ride,
that is, not to participate in the boycott while hoping for it to succeed. . The use of a
case study of a real boycott will be of great use trying to better understand the way a
boycott is getting started, how its is organized and what was its outcome. For this
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purpose in this paper a case research follows based on published sources and web
content.
The Coca-Cola Case
Coca-Cola is by all means one of the most recognizable brands of the world for more
than a century. It all began on May 8, 1886, when a pharmacist named Dr. John
Pemberton carried a jug of Coca-Cola syrup to Jacobs Pharmacy in downtown
Atlanta, where it was mixed with carbonated water and sold for five cents a glass. 125
years ago the company has evolved from one product -- Coca-Cola -- to more than
500 brands in 2011. Coca-Cola grown from selling a modest 9 drinks a day in 1886 to
1.7 billion a day, and it has expanded from one city in one country to availability in
more than 200 countries around the world. Despite the success of this product
although there many consumers who have reasons to believe that Coca Cola has a
history of human rights abuse. It is a fact that the soft drinks giant from Atlanta,
Georgia collaborated with the Nazi-regime throughout its reign from 1933 1945.
Sales of Coke in Germany went from zero in 1929 to 4 million cases in 1939. When
the Nazis began their invasions of Italy, France, Holland, Luxembourg, Belgium and
Norway Walter Oppenhof, Coca Colas German company lawyer, and Max Keith
were employed by the Nazis Office of Enemy Property. They travelled with Nazi
troops and were responsible for setting up Nazi Coca-Cola factories in expropriated
soft drinks plants in countries occupied by the Nazis. Moreover, in recent years
several South Indian states, including Kerala and Tamil Nadu, boycotts have been
running for years, in protest against Coca Colas excessive water consumption,
pollution of local wells and destruction of agriculture. Currently SINAL TRAINAL,
the Colombian workers union is promoting a world wide boycott in order to raise
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awareness of the intimidation, torture, kidnapping, illegal detention and murder of
workers in the Coca Cola bottling plants in Colombia. Especially the Columbia
boycott is now the number one issue in the firms agenda as far as brand reputation is
concern. Recently a documentary was filmed showing what had happened in
Colombia. The boycott went further and a web site called killercoke.org, urges
consumers to boycott all Coca-Cola products because the company is responsible for
the murder of union leaders. As a result of that manny lawsuits are pending against
the famous corporation and mostly because of human rights violation in Guatemala,
Turkey, China, Mexico, El Salvador and India. Boycott of Coca Cola can be
measured by just taking a look at the famous social media platform Facebook, where
there are web pages with thousands of members dedicated to this. Not to mention that
by typing the key word Coca Cola Boycott Google finds (in December 12, 2011)
2.010.000 sites that the bad policies of the company are mentioned. Recently this
issue took even more publicity, when a journalist named Max Keiser decided to start
boycott plan for Coca-Cola Company by taking advantage of his reputation. Keiser
has joined forces with the editor of the Ecologist magazine, Zak Goldsmith, to launch
a hedge fund that will donate the profits from short-sales in Coke's stock to the
"victims of Coke's business model in places like India and Colombia. Finally
another boycott campaign is taking place nowadays the boycott of Coca-Cola in Israel
which the second biggest issue after the boycotts in Colombia that were mentioned
above. According to Palestinian sources the company must be boycotted because it
has been well known that Coca-Cola has been a supporter of Israel since 1966. There
have been a number of recent events which clearly prove this. In July 2002, it was
announced that Coca-Cola was to build a plant on stolen Palestinian land at Kiryat
Gat, in return for millions in incentives from the Israeli government. The new plant
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will be employing 700 Israelis. The land, Kiryat (Qiryat) Gat, has an industrial park
built on the lands of the village of Iraq Al Manshiya. The residents were ethnically
cleansed in 1949 in contravention of International Law. This land would have been
part of Arab Palestine under the partition plan adopted by the United Nations in 1947.
However, this has not been the case. In October 2005, Coca-Cola increased its
investment in Israel by buying a 51% controlling interest in the Tavor Winery. Tavor
Winery is an Israeli company that is based on occupied Palestinian land at the foot of
Mount Tavor, overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Al the above are clearly show the
importance of boycotting behavior for a company and how this can destroy the brand
image. It does not matter whether the web pages, the articles or posters are reliable to
derive information. What is important is that the corporate name is being discredited
and that can cause even the collapse of the company in some cases.
Religious Identity
Every person has an identity and that identity makes people unique, but there are
cases in which two or more people form a team, community etc. consisting of people
sharing the same beliefs and so there are communities of people supporting the same
football team, or supporting a specific political party they have lets say a mass
identity. Identity in other words makes a person or a group of people distinguish
from other people or groups. That is also the case in religious identity where there are
people or groups of people with specific religious beliefs and take for example those
who believe in Islam, for them, Islam is their religious identity. A survey follows
demonstrating what is known in the literature about the state of religious identity.
Although the sample of this survey is limited to the American population, it uses a
sample of many different backgrounds such as age, gender and education. So the
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findings of this report give us an image of the state of religious identity in the 21 st
century. Individuals who identify with no religion are a growing population.
Approximately one of every six Americans has no religious identity and sixteen
percent of United States adults either fail to place themselves in any denominational
category, or they describe themselves as secular, humanist, ethical-culturalist,
agnostic, or atheist. Younger Americans are less religiously identified than older
Americans Younger adults (under 35) are most likely to be non-identifiers, and those
over 65 are least likely to be. Religious identification shows a steadily increasing
association with age. It is unclear whether this represents a persistent growth trend in
non-identifiers, or if it reflects a snapshot in time, with younger people likely to
become more affiliated with religion as they pass through customary life-cycle stages.
Non-identification in the United States likely will continue to increase. Men are less
likely to identify with a religious denomination and are more likely to be non-
identifiers than women, 20% versus 13%. The largest number of non-identifiers
(35%) was not raised in any religion as a child. Nevertheless, 62% of them had
religious training or background. Also the higher is the education the higher are the
ratings of those who have no religious identity. This study presents that young men
of high education level are less influence by religious beliefs and on the other hand
older women of basic education are more sensitized in religion. It has to be mentioned
that there are not only differences among genders but we can also find differences
between generations. There are four different generation categories of consumers
according to their age and so there is the Mature Market (1909-1945), the Baby
Boomers (1946-1964), the Generation X or Baby Busters (1965-1976) and
Generation Y or Baby Boomlet (from 8 to 19 years old). A study of 2006 took as
a sample 264 Baby Boomers and 213 members of the Generation X and found that
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embers of Generation Y were more materialistic and more likely to use brands as
communication devices than members of the Baby Boom generation and they were
also significantly less religious on every measure. . What is important is that there is
a great number of people who have a religious identity and many of their actions are
based in this identity. Religions typically prescribe their followers to display distinct
behavior in consumption, production, and exchange . The existence of a religious
norm does not by itself imply or guarantee that it is always observed by all followers
of a religion. In general, not all religions utilize the same types of consumption norms
for religious expression or require their followers to observe them perpetually; even
when they do, not everyone observes them strictly. Knowing that religious identity
does have an impact in peoples behavior it is time to examine the procedure of the
creation of this identity.
Stages of Religious Identity
According to Peek there are three stages of religious identity development: (i)
religion as ascribed identity, (ii) religion as chosen identity and (iii) religion as
declared identity.
Religion as ascribed identity: This is the stage that most people have their first contact with
the religious beliefs of the social environment. This stage is usually in the childhood and
rarely in elder ages.
Religion as chosen identity: This is the stage where mature people begin to view religion not
as an unquestionable, ascribed characteristic, but as a chosen identity.
Declared identity: In this stage people strengthen and assert their identities and this is in other
words the final stage in which the religious identity is taking its final form.
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Now that the general idea of how the religious identity is grown we have to examine
what exactly a person learns by the social environment and how this information
forms the religious identity. The first contact of the child with the religious
phenomenon is crucial for his behavior in his mature life so the question is how
religious identity is grown in the child. By answering this and understanding it, we
will be a step closer in finding out the impact that religious identity has in ethical
consumption. We know through literature that there are three factors responsible for
the development of religious identity: a) Family, b) School and b) Social
environment. In most religions, believers have their first contact with religion by
their early years of life because most religions require from parents to baptize their
children in infancy. It is the beginning of a relation between the person and the
church. A relation that will lust until the end of its life, unless this connection is
destroyed by a plethora of reasons. Since child in most cases does not choose its
religion but instead its parents do, the first stimuli are from the family. What come
next are school and the course of religion. The development of religious
consciousness of the students through the course of religion is an arduous and
complex process because young people make questions and criticism and either find a
deeper meaning in religion or they reject it. The religious experiences though are also
related to the standards of family and social environment of the student. As far as the
course of religious is concern, it contributes in: i) knowledge transfer ii) cultivation
of critical thinking iii) creating standards and virtues. It is obvious that religious
identity has a vital role in childs morality and that proves once again that the
standards and virtues created by religion are some of the criteria consumers use when
judging products. But religious identity is form not only through family and school
but also through the society. Probably society has even more greater impact on person
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that family and religion because as Sigmund Freud mentions, when a person is
among a crowd, then he acts in a way matching to the crowds believes and not to the
persons. Freud in his book Psychology of the masses and analysis of the ego
mentiones that there are a lot of different kinds of masses in society which are
separated into two categories natural masses and artificial masses . Moreover
Sigmund Freud believes that church is an artificial mass preserved by a relevant
compulsion which prevents changes in its structure . In other words those who have
a religious identity are forced metaphorically speaking into having a behavior like
those who have the same religious identity. Finally, according to Freuds theory on
his book Civilization and Its Discontents, those who have a religious identity
usually believe because their ancestors believed and they base those believes in
evidences they have from the prehistoric era. More over believers are related to a
sense of entitlement with religion and in most case they are prohibited from asking for
any certifications. . That means that religious identity in most cases is responsible for
peoples behavior and in other words we can tell that religious identity may have
indeed an impact in ethical consumption at least in theory. We have to mention in this
point that those who have a religious identity are not always fans of a religion. They
may be Atheists or even Religious Indifferent.
Atheism
Theism is defined as the belief in a god or gods. The term theism is sometimes used
to designate the belief in a particular kind of god the personal god of monotheism but
theism signifies the belief in any god or number of gods. The prefix a means
without, so the term a-theism literally means without theism, or without belief in a
god or gods. Atheism, therefore, is the absence of theistic belief. One who does not
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believe in the existence of a god or supernatural being is properly designated as an
atheist . Most of the times Atheism, is aggressive towards religion and can have
many different levels.
Levels of Atheism
The hesitation of shared principles and truths that are taught by God
Doubt about the existence of the metaphysical world
Agnosticism who argues that it is impossible to know the world is beyond the senses
Other forms of Atheism
Nihilism
Dialectical and Historical Materialism
Existential Atheism
Rational Positivism
Source:
Religious Indifference
According to Begzos in atheism, there is absolute denial of God but indifferent
people observe only a relative denial of God. The religiously indifferent person is
reserved against any form of religion and believes that religion is needed but it is not
enough for the individual moral improvement of human.
Characteristics of religious indifference
Reservedness
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Neutrality
Tolerance
Source:
Furthermore, the lack of religiosity does not suggest that atheism and religious
indifference are synonyms. The terms religious indifference and atheism are used
only as opposed to theism. Religious identity according to literature review has an
impact in humans behavior and it can also have many different dimensions. There are
many different religious believes from Christianity, Judaism and Islam to Atheism
and religious indifference. In all these cases people are developing a system of moral
values and those values are coming up when choosing products and services. That is
also the case in the following case study research which is based on published sources
and web content.
The Faith Based Funds Case
In recent years religious identity intervenes more directly in ethical consumption not
only by buying ethically made products or boycotting others but also by choosing
moral services. In most studies ethical consumption is examined as phenomenon of
products purchasing but this is a myopic view. Ethical consumption is not only what
customers buy from stores shelves but it can have a different meaning. An example
of that is the Faith Based Funds as they call it by paraphrasing Hedge Funds in
other words we talk about financial services. Consumers may use their money in order
to buy a product they want such as food or they may choose a service such as an
accommodation in a hotel but they can also decide to invest their money. In most of
the cases consumers-investors choose a financial company in order to invest their
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money on companys investment products. So we talk once again about consumption
here and in the case of Faith Based Funds we talk about ethical consumption in a
way that it has not been previously researched. Consumers-investors put their money
on those funds and the job of those financial companies is to invest money in
companies that follow the rules of religion. There are investment corporations or
better Faith Based Funds of Catholics, Protestant Muslims etc. For example Ave
Maria Catholic Values and Amana Funds are investment companies following the
values of the Christian Catholic Church and Islam and invest mostly in mutual funds
of corporations that follow the same values.
Ave Maria Catholic Funds
The Firm was established in 1980, and is a registered investment adviser dedicated to
helping clients reach their investment goals. If a security seems attractively priced to
the analysts and portfolio managers, then, the company is screened based on the moral
criteria. The distinguished Catholic Advisory Board, which is loyal to the
Magisterium of the Church, sets the criteria for screening out companies based on
religious principles. They actively seek the advice and counsel of Catholic clergy in
making these determinations. Using a proprietary moral screening process, companies
eliminated from investment consideration would, in general, encompass two major
categories: first, those involved in the practice of abortion, and second, companies
whose policies are judged to be anti-family, such as companies that produce or
distribute pornography or whose policies undermine the Sacrament of Marriage.
Amana Funds
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In 1984, the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) approached Nick Kaiser, an
experienced mutual fund manager in Indianapolis, with the idea that Muslim investors
had needs that were not being met. With an unaffiliated board of trustees, Mr. Kaiser
(now Chairman and Equity Portfolio Manager of Saturna Capital Corporation)
worked to start the first fund in North America specifically designed to meet the needs
of Muslim investors. Saturna Capital is Amana's Investment Adviser and
Administrator) and selects investments in companies that to its knowledge do not
violate the requirements of the Islamic faith at the time of investment. The Amana
Funds invest according to Islamic principles. Generally, these principles require that
investors avoid interest (riba) and investments in businesses such as liquor,
pornography, gambling, and banks. The Funds avoid bonds and other interest-bearing
securities while seeking protection against inflation by making long-term equity
investments. The above financial services are guided by ethical values coming from
a different religions and what we have hear in other words is religious identity and
ethical consumption. There are investors who are also consumers and they want to
invest their money in an investment product which is matching with their religious
believes. It is clear that religious identity has an impact in ethical consumption and it
is also clear that religious identity must be taken into more consideration by managers
and corporations. For now the next step into our research is the examination of a
specific religious identity, the one of the Orthodox Christian Church.
Orthodox Christianity
Trying to better understand ethical consumption and what form this specific behavior,
we will present the basic ethical principles of orthodox Christianity and its teaching
toward consumption. The aim of this paper is to present the value system of this
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religious identity and in order to study the orthodox Christian ethics, it was a
conscious choice to use theological books and only some information from the
internet just to demonstrate the teaching of the orthodox Christian church in action.
Generally there is not enough literature about orthodox Christian ethics in scientific
journals and especially religion and ethical consumption need further research in the
future. Now that we made clear the methodology that it will be used let us enter into
the orthodox Christian philosophy of morality.
Orthodox Christian Ethics
God is the source of Christian ethics and in the face of Christ it was revealed the
truth about what is morality and believers must be involved experientially in religion
and not theoretically. There are three different sources from which believers are
being taught Christian ethics and only those sources have reflect the authentic
Christian faith and they also called Carriers of the Divine Revelation.
Carriers of the Divine Revelation
Holy Bible: The New and the Old Testament are called Bible, and the supernatural
revelation of God is embodied in them. They are the safe guiding principles of truth and faith
and are inspired by God.
Sacred Tradition: The term sacred tradition is understood as the divine truths revealed by the
incarnation of God's speech and declared by Him and his apostles. Holy Bible and Sacred
Tradition are equal and equivalent.
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Actually for some orthodox Christian theologians there is a third source which reflects
the Christian faith and its called Sacred Rules, but in general Sacred Rules teach no
ethics. There are the fundamental sources from which regulate ecclesiastical affairs
and regulate administrative matters. Sacred Rules, from Holy Bible and Sacred
tradition. Sacred rules teach no ethics and so we chosen no to include them in this
study in the Carriers of Divine Revelation part. Up to this point, it is clear that
believers follow what is written in those sources, and everything opposite to them is
opposite to Gods will. But what does this mean in the ethical consumption behavior?
When an Orthodox Christian use his morality as a guide for choosing products and
services that means that orthodox Christian ethics form its opinion. In other words the
Holy Bible and the Sacred Tradition are responsible up to a point for the ethical
decisions of orthodox Christian consumers. This study, is trying to discover the
volume of the impact that this specific religion has in moral purchasing behavior. In
the beginning we made clear that ethical consumption as a term defines a variety of
issues as ethical, including environmental sustainability, health and safety risks,
animal welfare, fair trade, labor conditions, and human rights. Now it is time to
explore what values does Orthodox Christianity teaches regarding modern issues that
have to do with consumption.
Orthodox Christianity and Environmental Sustainability
The construction of a product involves the use of raw materials derived from nature.
Most of the times, however, companies trying to maximize their profits do not
calculate the consequences of their actions on the natural environment. Although there
are laws that protect the natural wealth is not often applied by companies and the
consequences are devastating for the environment and thus to humans. The ecological
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crisis has made consumers more aware of these issues and therefore, as earlier
presented in this study that turns consumers into ethical consumption such as buying
products of recycled materials or boycott companies that pollute the environment. The
orthodox Christian turns into faith in order to derive values regarding the approach to
be followed. Below are presented some church positions on the environment and its
protection and the obligation of Christians to protect it. The purpose for which God
placed humans in the natural setting, was to maintain and preserve the work of God.
So God gave humans the command to protect the environment and instead people are
ignoring the will of the Lord according to Orthodox teaching. In the view of both the
priests and theologians, the cause of this behavior is the lack of moral values plaguing
modern society. In other words, the root of the problem of modern human
relationship with the natural environment is caused by the moral stance towards
it.Human must stop consider themselves as the owner of nature and understand that
nature is God's creation and human is just an administrator. The internal crisis of
man leads to mismanagement of the natural resources and as a result in human sin.
Sin is ecologically presented as a perversion of care and affection for the creation to
exploitation and destruction. Christians however according to their faith must keep
intact the command of God and therefore to restore their relationship with the natural
environment. As social and economic subjects, Christians do not remain impassive
in the face of ecological disaster, but they work to prevent it. With the ascetic
conception, Orthodoxy teaches avoidance of redundancy, therefore, repentance and
returning to the simple and humble life is the only real way out. At this point it is
evident that according to orthodox Christian values, environmental destruction is
considered a sin and disobey of Gods commandments and so believers are required
by doctrine to comply with the divine command. When a company is destroying the
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environment through its actions or does not care to protect it then comes in direct
contrast to the orthodox Christian doctrine. Therefore, it is very likely that such
companies to be target of ethical consumers whose moral-religious values are
affected.
Orthodox Christianity and Human Rights
In the New Testament, in Mathews gospel (19, 19), we read that once a wealthy man
approached Jesus and asked him what it takes to get to heaven. Then Jesus replied:
eep the commandments. What are these commandments teacher he asked. Jesus
replied: Do not kill. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not tell lies. Honor
your father and your mother and Love the person next to you. The above dialogue is
of the most known in the Bible and perfectly sums up the church's teaching about
human rights. The Christian should love his neighbor as himself' and in the light of
this, not violation of human rights is permitted. In Orthodox Christianity, the
salvation of one presupposes the salvation of others and the salvation of the whole
world. It is known as orthodox Christian value, that we should love each other and
believers know that through the study of New Testament. But from time to time,
Church is reminding through its teaching that we must respect human rights. So for
example every Sunday, when believers go to Church in order to exercise their
religious duties they can read the official Church's position on current issues through a
brochure called: Voice of Lord. This brochure is written in simple language so that
everyone is able to read it and like that believers know what is ethical correct to do, so
their values are built on that teaching. To better understand how this procedure
happens we will be able to read a Voice of Lord brochure, which divided the Greek
Orthodox churches in 2006 on human rights: All declarations of human rights say
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that people are born and remain free and equal in rights. In spite of the good
intentions of the statements, people born in the world are objectively the same
opportunities and life chances. Among the people are healthy and the sick, disabled
and able-bodied, strong and weak, plain, intelligent and capable and incapable. Others
are born in rich countries and other poor. Others in civilized and uncivilized in other
countries. Other liberals and others in tyrannical regimes. How then shall be deemed
and remain free? Human rights are guaranteed, when linked to the rights of God. The
rights of God and enforce compliance with the commandments of, involving the
application of justice in their daily lives. When these rights are respected, then are
respected and human rights. Knowing the above teaching of orthodox Christian
Church, we can understand that when a company is accused of violating human
rights, such as child labor and poor working conditions it is against the
commandments of God according to the Christian teaching so by the time that this
value, the value of human rights, is violated, orthodox Christian consumers are guided
to ethical consumption.
The orthodox Christian teaching about current issues
The society is a constantly changing body and therefore the teaching of Christianity
should be placed on all subject of concern to humans. Bishops, priests and theologians
entrusted with the spiritual guidance of the faithful and lead them through articles,
books interviews etc, so believers are fermented on the values of orthodox
Christianity. Trying to better understand what does the Church preaches its
placements are demonstrating like the way a believer receives them. We will be able
to understand the process by which believers learn about the correct behavior to retain
towards the modern human problems. At this stage where we are given that we
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examine the ethical consumption, we will focus on those lessons having to do with
consumption and the use of products and services in general. Here are some positions
of orthodox Christianity: The phrases that follow are opinions of priests and
theologians and those opinions are forming more or less the consumers behavior. Let
us see the orthodox Christian teaching in action begging with a phrase of an archpriest
about consumption: Consumerism creates illusions of happiness. Even though it's
hard to shake off as a way of life, we can learn from the lives of saints of our Church
and make small steps. Steps that will lead us to independence. The lack of measure
will keep us prisoners of our passions. And consumption will become a permanent
trap confinement ourselves away from true life. That was a general opinion about
consumption but there are more specific issues that affects companies in a direct way
such the phrases following: In terms of Christian ethics is not allowed intervention
to the biological functions of the human body with drugs, etc. The artificial human
intervention in healthy human nature is an expression of selfishness and arrogance .
That was the opinion of a theologian about birth control products. It is obvious that
pharmaceutical companies are directly affected. Furthermore we can see than in other
occasions there are tobacco companies, gambling companies or even channels that are
affected by the orthodox Christian teaching. According to an archbishop for instance
smoking is forbidden: Our Church is opposed to everything wears out our body,
which is the temple of God. And the smoke wears our body. Still with the addictive
nature smoke has, it makes us prisoners . Those entire teachings can been found
everywhere, from newspapers to blogs or just books. For example the phrase
following was from a book : Gambling is clearly unethical, harmful to humans and
corrosive to society and the rules of the church; punish those playing gambling
games with excommunication . These phrases are from internet sites mostly used by
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the youth: About Eurovision Music Contest: What are all these extravagant, and
what is behind them? The more lights the more darkness. These things take us away
from God . About the film: The Da Vinci Code: This is a miserable movie, which
leaves nothing standing. No Christian should see this movie on cinema . By the time
the above opinions are published a big or a small number of believers will follow
them trusting those expressing them and that in many cases will harm the sales of
companies. As a result, managers must k