Protestant Work Ethic, Gender Role Attitudes, Ethnicityand Class: Case of Iran

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between sex, gender role attitude, social origin and ethnicity with Protestant Work Ethic (PWE). There are evidences of higher PWE in lower socio-economic status in PWE literature. These studies are mainly carried out in western societies and are few in developing societies, especially in Islamic ones. This study wants to answer this question: Does PWE correlates with socio-economic status in an Islamic developing society or still traditional variables such as sex, gender role attitude, ethnicity are determinant factors for most of the behavioral characteristics of people in these societies? Results of this national study on 266 highly educated employed individuals shows that the amount of PWE in people from high class origin is higher than those from middle class origin. Furthermore, the results show that PWE construct has no significant relationship with ethnicity. Though the results shows no significant relationship between sex and PWE, gender role attitudes which demonstrates gender cliches, have positive relationship with PWE. The results derived from regression model shows that social origin and gender role attitudes have effects on PWE and the other variables (sex and ethnicity) remained out of regression model.