Building harmony in diverse society: insights from practical wisdom

• Pages: 149-165
• Date: 13 April 2020
• Published date: 13 April 2020
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-11-2017-0208
• Author: Miftachul Huda,Nasrul Hisyam Nor Muhamad,Puji Isyanto,Razaleigh Muhamat,Nurazmallail Marni,Mohamed Ahmad Kilani,Jimaain Safar
• Subject Matter: Economics,Social economics

Building harmony in diverse

society: insights from

practical wisdom

Miftachul Huda

Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris Malaysia, Tanjong Malim, Perak, Malaysia

Nasrul Hisyam Nor Muhamad

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Malaysia

Puji Isyanto

Universitas Buana Perjuangan, Karawang, West Java, Indonesia

Razaleigh Muhamat

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia, and

Nurazmallail Marni,Mohamed Ahmad Kilani and Jimaain Safar

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose –Increasing diversity leadsto local, national and transnational challenges requiring a novel and

explicit problem-solving approach. Practical wisdom, which emerges from an integration knowledge and

ability through religious awareness, can promote peaceful coexistence in diverse societies with adequate

theological and educational infrastructures. This paper aims to critically examine practical wisdom as the

religiousawareness to underlying building harmony in the diversesociety.

Design/methodology/approach –Literature from refereedand peer-reviewed journals and articles was

reviewed using thematic topic analysis to propose a model of the practical wisdom as a foundation for

buildingharmony in a diverse society.

Findings –This result shows that there are several discussions with specific objectives of practical wisdom as

the result of core understanding of religious awareness underlying the potential solutions in the diverse society;

the significant essence of practical wisdom as the core element for building harmony; exploring how practical

wisdom should be a wide particular element in buildingintegrity and harmony in the diverse society.

Originality/value –Practical wisdom can establish peaceful and respectful relations amongst diverse

segments of the population.It is, therefore, crucial for scholars and practitioners toexplore practical wisdom

in depth and devise ways of promotingthis important characteristic at a social level through the exchange of

common ideasand goals.

Keywords Equally social justice, Conflict management, Social justice, Practical wisdom, Harmony,

Diverse society, Ethical awareness

Paper type Conceptual paper

Compliance with ethical standards.

Conflict of interest: All author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the

research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding: The author(s) received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this

article.

Research involving human participants and/or animals: This article does not contain any studies

with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Building

harmony

149

Received6 July 2019

Revised8 September 2019

Accepted8 September 2019

InternationalJournal of Ethics and

Systems

Vol.36 No. 2, 2020

pp. 149-165

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2514-9369

DOI 10.1108/IJOES-11-2017-0208

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2514-9369.htm

Introduction

Globalisationhasledtoanincreaseindiversity,suchthatthemodernsocietyis

characterised by many cross-cultural relationships (Kofman and Youngs, 2008).

Advanced technology has facilitated this development (Castells and Development, 1999).

People with diverse cultures, ethnicities, races and religions cannot escape living and

working together. This presents an important challenge for nations with diverse

populations, because misunderstandings amongst diverse groups can lead to conflict,

disharmony and misunderstanding (Cremin, 2015). It has been argued that religion has a

pivotal role (Yablon, 2010) in preventing s uch conflicts by emphasising wisdom and

promoting harmony in diverse societies. Therefore, it is necessary to consider in depth

how religious practice can impact educational attainment and personal development in

the midst of diversity.

The role of religion in promoting social harmony and prosperity involves the notion of

wisdom, a practical aspect of religiousbelief (Nasr, 1990;Smith, 2001). For example, without

practical wisdom, certain religious beliefs can give rise to extremism, seriously damaging

societies. By contrast, focusing on the practical wisdom of religious and cultural

backgrounds is an important way to sustain integrity amongst diverse populations (Grine

et al.,2013).Practical wisdom leads to religious awareness of values, like equalopportunity,

which form the foundation of diverse societies. In the field of global social work, there is a

growing recognition of religious awarenessand practical wisdom as important components

of human experience and, therefore, of culturally competent and anti-racist social work

practice (Knitter,2010).

As a result, scholars should consider practical wisdom as significant insights to

contribute into the harmony and integrity in diverse societies. Because practical wisdom

leads to social harmony, any effortto create the social conditions for mastery of knowledge,

attitudes and skills ina diverse society should take practical wisdom as its foundation.This

paper will explore the role of practical wisdom as a dynamic factor in human relationships

and as a core element for building social harmony.

Literature review

Essentials of practical wisdom

Practical wisdom has several meanings, which vary from a type of knowledge to a more

complex concept that has operational, attitudinal, mental, philosophical, religious and

mystical implications (Ardelt,2004). Most major religious traditions have a similar concept;

in Judaism and Christianity, practical wisdom is hokma; in Islam, it is hikmah; and in the

Indian tradition, Sanatana Dharma (Önal, 2010). Some scholars, focusing on diverse

societies, have recently emphasised a role for practical wisdomin the development of inter-

religious education (Önal, 2010), in business schools (Roca, 2008) and in strategic

management (Nonaka and Toyama, 2007). Practical wisdom has also received attention in

the field of positive psychology as a way to do the right thing (Schwartz and Sharpe, 2006).

In this line of scholarship, practical wisdom underlies self-management and integrity in

diverse societies. By enabling individuals to reliably make good decisions to live virtuously

and peacefully, practicalwisdom leads individuals to act in ways that appropriately express

their religious and ethicalcommitments.

In addition, practical wisdom refers to the capacity to make informed and rational

judgements, which is a requirementfor harmony in societies with diverse religions, cultures

and languages. From these ideas, it is possible to extract common elements into

interpretations, conceptualisations and modelling of practical wisdom, which can then

provide guidelines and specifications for social development. In addition to embedding

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