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Caste is a form of social stratification characterized by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a lifestyle which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural notions of purity and pollution. Its paradigmatic ethnographic example is the division of societies into rigid social groups, with roots dating back to ancient history and persisting until today. However, the economic significance of the some parts of the world has been declining as a result of urbanization and affirmative action programs. A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and anthropologists, the Indian caste system is sometimes used as an analogical basis for the study of caste-like social divisions existing in different parts of world.

According to UNICEF and Human Rights Watch, caste discrimination affects an estimated 250 million people worldwide.

Etymology

The English word "caste" derives from the Spanish and Portuguese casta, which the Oxford English Dictionary quotes John Minsheu's Spanish dictionary (1599) to mean, "race, lineage, or breed." When the Spanish colonized the New World, they used the word to mean a "clan or lineage." However, it was the Portuguese who employed casta in the primary modern sense when they applied it to the many in-marrying hereditary Hindu social groups they encountered upon their arrival in India in 1498. The use of the spelling "caste," with this latter meaning, is first attested to in English in 1613.

Caste in South Asia

Caste system of India

Historically, the caste system in India has consisted of thousands of endogamous groups called Jatis or Quoms (among Muslims). The scholarly Brahmans of India envisaged the four well-known categories to classify the society (the Varnas):

• Brahmin (fire priests, scholars and teachers)
• Kshatriyas (warriors, administrators and law enforcers)
• Vaishyas (agriculturists, cattle raisers and traders)
• Shudras (service providers and artisans)

It has been pointed out that some people were considered left out from these four caste classifications, and in certain places were called Panchama (literally, the fifth). Regarded as outcastes or the untouchables, these people lived on the fringes of the society. All the Jatis were clubbed under the varnas categories during the British colonial Census of 1901.

Independent India has witnessed caste-related violence. According to Government's report, approximately 110,000 cases of violent acts committed against Dalits were reported in 2005.

Upon independence from the British rule, the Indian Constitution listed 1,108 castes across the country as Scheduled Castes in 1950, for affirmative action. The Scheduled Castes are sometimes called as Dalit in contemporary literature. In 2001, the proportion of Dalit population was 16.2 percent of India's total population.

Nepal

The Nepalese caste system resembles that of the Indian Jāti system with numerous Jāti divisions with a Varna system superimposed for a rough equivalence. But since the culture and the society is different some of the things are different. Inscriptions attest the beginnings of a caste system during the Lichchhavi period. Jayasthiti Malla (1382–95) categorized Newars into 64 castes (Gellner 2001). A similar exercise was made during the reign of Mahindra Malla (1506–75). The Hindu social code was later set up in Gorkha by Ram Shah(1603–36).

Pakistan

Religious, historical and sociocultural factors have helped define the bounds of endogamy for Muslims in some parts of Pakistan. There is a preference for endogamous marriages based on the clan-oriented nature of the society, which values and actively seeks similarities in social group identity based on several factors, including religious, sectarian, ethnic, and tribal/clan affiliation. Religious affiliation is itself multilayered and includes religious considerations other than being Muslim, such as sectarian identity (e.g. Shia or Sunni, etc.) and religious orientation within the sect (Isnashari, Ismaili, Ahmedi, etc.).

Both ethnic affiliation (e.g. Pathan,Sindhi, Baloch, Punjabi, etc.) and membership of specific biraderis or zaat/quoms are additional integral components of social identity. Within the bounds of endogamy defined by the above parameters, close consanguineous unions are preferred due to a congruence of key features of group- and individual-level background factors as well as affinities. McKim Marriott claims a social stratification that is hierarchical, closed, endogamous and hereditary is widely prevalent, particularly in western parts of Pakistan. Frederik Barth in his review of this system of social stratification in Pakistan suggested that these are castes.

Sri Lanka

The Caste system in Sri Lanka is a division of society into strata, influenced by the classic Aryan Varnas of North India and the Dravida Jāti system found in South India. Ancient Sri Lankan texts such as the Pujavaliya, Sadharmaratnavaliya and Yogaratnakaraya and inscriptional evidence show that the above hierarchy prevailed throughout the feudal period. The repetition of the same caste hierarchy even as recently as the 18th century, in the British/Kandyan period Kadayimpoth - Boundary books as well, indicates the continuation of the tradition right up to the end of Sri Lanka's monarchy.

Caste-like stratification outside South Asia

South-east Asia

Indonesia

Balinese caste structure has been described in early 20th-century European literature to be based on three categories – triwangsa (thrice born) or the nobility, dwijati (twice born) in contrast to ekajati (once born) the low folks. Four statuses were identified in these sociological studies, spelled a bit differently than the caste categories for India:

• Brahmanas - priest
• Satrias - knighthood
• Wesias - commerce
• Sudras - servitude

The Brahmana caste was further subdivided by these Dutch ethnographers into two: Siwa and Buda. The Siwa caste was subdivided into five – Kemenuh, Keniten, Mas, Manuba and Petapan. This classification was to accommodate the observed marriage between higher caste Brahmana men with lower caste women. The other castes were similarly further sub-classified by these 19th-century and early-20th-century ethnographers based on numerous criteria ranging from profession, endogamy or exogamy or polygamy, and a host of other factors in a manner similar to castas in Spanish colonies such as Mexico, and caste system studies in British colonies such as India.

East Asia

China

During the period of Yuan Dynasty, ruler Kublai Khan enforced a Four Class System, which was a legal caste system. The order of four classes of people was maintained by the information of the descending order were:-

• Mongolian
• Semu people
• Han people (in the northern areas of China)
• Southerners (people of the former Northern Song Dynasty)

Some scholars notes that it was a kind of psychological indication that the earlier they submitted to Mongolian people, the higher social status they would have. The 'Four Class System' and its people received different treatment in political, legal, and military affairs.

Today, the Hukou system is considered by various sources as the current caste system of the China.

Japan

In Japan's history, social strata based on inherited position rather than personal merits, was rigid and highly formalized. At the top were the Emperor and Court nobles (kuge), together with the Shogun and daimyo. Below them the population was divided into four classes in a system known as mibunsei (身分制). These were: samurai, peasants, craftsmen and merchants. Only the samurai class was allowed to bear arms. A samurai had a right to kill any peasants and other craftsmen and merchants whom he felt were disrespectful. Craftsmen produced products, being the third, and the last merchants were thought to be as the meanest class because they did not produce any products. The castes were further sub-divided; for example, the peasant caste were labelled as furiuri, tanagari, mizunomi-byakusho amongst others. The castes and sub-classes, as in Europe, were from the same race, religion and culture.

Howell, in his review of Japanese society notes that if a Western power had colonized Japan in the 19th century, they would have discovered and imposed a rigid four-caste hierarchy in Japan.

De Vos and Wagatsuma observe that a systematic and extensive caste system was part of the Japanese society. They also discuss how alleged caste impurity and alleged racial inferiority, concepts often quickly assumed to be slightly different, are superficial terms, two faces of identical inner psychological processes, which expressed themselves in Japan and other countries of the world.

Endogamy was common because marriage across caste lines was socially unacceptable.

Japan had its own untouchable caste, shunned and ostracized, historically referred to by the insulting term Eta, now called Burakumin. While modern law has officially abolished the class hierarchy, there are reports of discrimination against the Buraku or Burakumin underclasses. The Burakumin are regarded as "ostracised." The burakumin are one of the main minority groups in Japan, along with the Ainu of Hokkaidō and those of residents of Korean and Chinese descent.

North Korea

Committee for Human Rights in North Korea reported that "Every North Korean citizen is assigned a heredity-based class and socio-political rank over which the individual exercises no control but which determines all aspects of his or her life." Regarded as Songbun, Barbara Demick describes this "class structure" as an updating of the hereditary "caste system", combining Confucianism and Stalinism. She claims that a bad family background is called "tainted blood", and that by law this "tainted blood" lasts for three generations.

West Asia

Yezidi society is hierarchical. The secular leader is a hereditary emir or prince, whereas a chief sheikh heads the religious hierarchy. The Yazidi are strictly endogamous; members of the three Yazidi castes, the murids, sheikhs and pirs, marry only within their group.

Yemen

In Yemen there exists a hereditary caste, the African-descended Al-Akhdam who are kept as perennial manual workers. Estimates put their number at over 3.5 million residents who are discriminated, out of a total Yemeni population of around 22 million.

Africa

Various sociologists have reported caste systems in Africa. The specifics of the caste systems have varied in ethnically and culturally diverse Africa, however the following features are common - it has been a closed system of social stratification, the social status is inherited, the castes are hierarchical, certain castes are shunned while others are merely endogamous and exclusionary. In some cases, concepts of purity and impurity by birth have been prevalent in Africa. In other cases, such as the Nupe of Nigeria, the Beni Amer of East Africa, and the Tira of Sudan, the exclusionary principle has been driven by evolving social factors.

West Africa

Among the Igbo of Nigeria - especially Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Edo and Delta states of the country - Obinna finds Osu caste system has been and continues to be a major social issue. The Osu caste is determined by one's birth into a particular family irrespective of the religion practised by the individual. Once born into Osu caste, this Nigerian person is an outcast, shunned and ostracized, with limited opportunities or acceptance, regardless of his or her ability or merit. Obinna discusses how this caste system-related identity and power is deployed within government, Church and indigenous communities.

The osu class systems of eastern Nigeria and southern Cameroon are derived from indigenous religious beliefs and discriminate against the "Osus" people as "owned by deities" and outcasts.

The Songhai economy was based on a caste system. The most common were metalworkers, fishermen, and carpenters. Lower caste participants consisted of mostly non-farm working immigrants, who at times were provided special privileges and held high positions in society. At the top were noblemen and direct descendants of the original Songhai people, followed by freemen and traders.

In a review of social stratification systems in Africa, Richter reports that the term caste has been used by French and American scholars to many groups of West African artisans. These groups have been described as inferior, deprived of all political power, have a specific occupation, are hereditary and sometimes despised by others. Richter illustrates caste system in Cote d'lvoire, with six sub-caste categories. Unlike other parts of the world, mobility is sometimes possible within sub-castes, but not across caste lines. Farmers and artisans have been, claims Richter, distinct castes. Certain sub-castes are shunned more than others. For example, exogamy is rare for women born into families of woodcarvers.

Similarly, the Mandé societies in Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone have social stratification systems that divide society by ethnic ties. The Mande class system regards the jonow slaves as inferior. Similarly, the Wolof in Senegal is divided into three main groups, the geer (freeborn/nobles), jaam (slaves and slave descendants) and the underclass neeno. In various parts of West Africa, Fulani societies also have class divisions. Other castes include Griots, Forgerons, and Cordonniers.

Tamari has described endogamous castes of over fifteen West African peoples, including the Tukulor, Songhay, Dogon, Senufo, Minianka, Moors, Manding, Soninke, Wolof, Serer, Fulani, and Tuareg. Castes appeared among the Malinke people no later than 14th century, and was present among the Wolof and Soninke, as well as some Songhay and Fulani populations, no later than 16th century. Tamari claims that wars, such as the Sosso-Malinke war described in the Sunjata epic, led to the formation of blacksmith and bard castes among the people that ultimately became the Mali empire.

As West Africa evolved over time, sub-castes emerged that acquired secondary specializations or changed occupations. Endogamy was prevalent within a caste or among a limited number of castes, yet castes did not form demographic isolates according to Tamari. Social status according to caste was inherited by off-springs automatically; but this inheritance was paternal. That is, children of higher caste men and lower caste or slave concubines would have the caste status of the father.

Central Africa

Albert in 1960 claimed that the societies in Central Africa were caste-like social stratification systems. Similarly, in 1961, Maquet notes that the society in Rwanda and Burundi can be best described as castes. The Tutsi, noted Maquet, considered themselves as superior, with the more numerous Hutu and the least numerous Twa regarded, by birth, as respectively, second and third in the hierarchy of Rwandese society. These groups were largely endogamous, exclusionary and with limited mobility. Maquet's theories have been controversial.

Horn of Africa

In a review published in 1977, Todd reports that numerous scholars report a system of social stratification in different parts of Africa that resembles some or all aspects of caste system. Examples of such caste systems, he claims, are to be found in Ethiopia in communities such as the Gurage and Konso. He then presents the Dime of Southwestern Ethiopia, amongst whom there operates a system which Todd claims can be unequivocally labelled as caste system. The Dime have seven castes whose size varies considerably. Each broad caste level is a hierarchical order that is based on notions of purity, non-purity and impurity. It uses the concepts of defilement to limit contacts between caste categories and to preserve the purity of the upper castes. These caste categories have been exclusionary, endogamous and the social identity inherited.

The Borana Oromo of southern Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa also have a class system, wherein the Wata, an acculturated hunter-gatherer group, represent the lowest class. Though the Wata today speak the Oromo language, they have traditions of having previously spoken another language before adopting Oromo.

The traditionally nomadic Somali people are divided into clans, wherein the Rahanweyn agro-pastoral clans and the occupational clans such as the Madhiban were traditionally sometimes treated as outcasts. As Gabboye, the Madhiban along with the Yibir and Tumaal (collectively referred to as sab) have since obtained political representation within Somalia, and their general social status has improved with the expansion of urban centers.

Europe

France and Spain

For centuries, through the modern times, the majority regarded Cagots of western France and northern Spain as an inferior caste, the untouchables. While they had the same skin color and religion as the majority, in the Churches, they had to use segregated doors, drink from segregated fonts, receive communion on the end of long wooden spoons. It was a closed social system. The socially isolated Cagots were endogamous, and chances of social mobility non-existent.

Spain followed the Casta, which was based on race. There were four main categories of race:-

• Peninsular, a Spaniard born in Spain;
• Criollo (feminine, criolla), a person of Spanish descent born in the New World;
• Indio (fem. india), a person who is descendent of the original inhabitants of the Americas;
• Negro (fem. negra) - a person of black African descent, usually a slave or their free descendants

See also

• Kamaiya

Notes

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2. Winthrop, Robert H. (1991), "Caste", Dictionary of Concepts in Cultural Anthropology, New York, NY: Greenwood Press, pp. 27–30, ISBN 978-0-313-24280-9, retrieved 10 August 2012
3. "Discrimination." UNICEF.
4. "Global Caste Discrimination." Human Rights Watch.
5. ^ "Caste, n". Oxford English Dictionary. 1989.
6. Pitt-Rivers, Julian (1971), "On the word 'caste'", in T O Beidelman (ed.), The translation of culture essays to E.E. Evans-Pritchard, London, UK: Tavistock, pp. 231–256, GGKEY:EC3ZBGF5QC9
7. Bayly, C. A. (1988). Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770-1870. CUP Archive. p. 478. ISBN 978-0-521-31054-3. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
8. From Russell, Robert Vane (1916). The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India: volume IV. Descriptive articles on the principal castes and tribes of the Central Provinces. London: Macmillan and Co.
9. F.G. Bailey (1 May 1963). "Closed Social Stratification in India". European Journal of Sociology. 4: 107–124. doi:10.1017/S0003975600000710.
10. "Scaling Caste Walls With Capitalism’s Ladders in India", The New York Times, December 21, 2011
11. Nicholas B. Dirks (2001). Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of New India. ISBN 978-0-691-08895-2.
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13. "The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950". Lawmin.nic.in. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
14. Lydia Polgreen (21 December 2011). "Scaling Caste Walls With Capitalism's Ladders in India". The New York Times.
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17. Barth, Fredrik (1962). E. R. Leach (ed.). The System Of Social Stratification In Swat, North Pakistan (Aspects of Caste in South India, Ceylon, and North-West Pakistan). Cambridge University Press. p. 113.
18. Fredrick Barth (December 1956). "Ecologic Relationships of Ethnic Groups in Swat, North Pakistan". American Anthropologist. 58 (6): 1079–1089. doi:10.1525/aa.1956.58.6.02a00080.
19. Zeyauddin Ahmed (1977). The New Wind: Changing Identities in South Asia (Editor: Kenneth David). Aldine Publishing Company. pp. 337–354. ISBN 90-279-7959-6.
20. McKim Marriott (1960). Caste ranking and community structure in five regions of India and Pakistan.
21. John Rogers (February 2004). "Caste as a social category and identity in colonial Lanka". Indian Economic Social History Review. 41 (1): 51–77. doi:10.1177/001946460404100104.
22. ^ James Boon (1977). The Anthropological Romance of Bali 1597-1972: Dynamic Perspectives in Marriage and Caste, Politics and Religion. ISBN 0-521-21398-3.
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24. "The Cambridge History of China: Volume 6, Alien Regimes and Border States, 710-1368", by Denis C. Twitchett, Herbert Franke, John King Fairbank, p. 610
25. "Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance", by Elizabeth J. Perry, Mark Selden, page 90
26. "China's New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society", p. 86, by Daniel A. Bell
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28. David L. Howell (2005). Geographies of identity in nineteenth-century Japan. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24085-5.
29. ^ George De Vos and Hiroshi Wagatsuma (1966). Japan's invisible race: caste in culture and personality. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-00306-4.
30. Toby Slade (2009). Japanese Fashion: A Cultural History. Berg. ISBN 978-1-84788-252-3.
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33. 9:37AM BST 06 Jun 2012 (6 June 2012). "North Korea caste system 'underpins human rights abuses'". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 30 November 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
34. Barbara Demick, Nothing to Envy: Love, Life and Death in North Korea, Fourth Estate, London, 2010, pp 26-27.
35. Demick, pp 28, 197, 202.
36. Yemen’s Al-Akhdam face brutal oppression
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42. African Kingdoms Songhai Class System
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49. Diedrich Westermann, Edwin William Smith, Cyril Daryll Forde (1981). Africa. Oxford University Press. p. 853.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
50. I. M. Lewis, A pastoral democracy: a study of pastoralism and politics among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa, (LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster: 1999), pp.13-14
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52. Anders Hansson (1996). Chinese Outcasts: Discrimination and Emancipation in Late Imperial China. BRILL. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-90-04-10596-6.

Secondary sources

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Scholarly tertiary sources

• Das, Veena (2001), "Caste", in Neil J. Smelser (ed.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences, Paul B. Baltes, Oxford, UK: Pergamon; Elsevier, pp. 1529–1532, ISBN 978-0-08-043076-8, retrieved 25 September 2012
• Doniger, Wendy, ed. (1999), "Caste", Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions, Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, p. 186, ISBN 978-0-87779-044-0, retrieved 24 September 2012
• Gupta, Dipankar (2008), "Caste", in Schaefer, Richard T. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, Thousand Oaks: SAGE, pp. 246–250, ISBN 978-1-4129-2694-2, retrieved 5 August 2012
• Hocart, Arthur M. (1950), Caste. A Comparative Study., London: Methuen & Co.
• Kannabiran, Kalpana (2000), "Caste", in Kramarae, Cheris; Spender, Dale (eds.), Routledge international encyclopedia of women: global women's issues and knowledge, New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 142–144, ISBN 978-0-415-92088-9, retrieved 5 August 2012
• Lindholm, Charles (2002), "caste, caste societies", in Thomas Barfield (ed.), The Dictionary of Anthropology, Oxford, UK: Blackwell; New York, NY: Wiley, pp. 50–51, ISBN 978-1-57718-057-9
• Madan, T. N.; Editors (2012), caste, Encyclopæida Britannica Online {{citation}}: |last2= has generic name (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |fist2= (help)
• Morris, Mike (27 March 2012), "caste", Concise Dictionary of Social and Cultural Anthropology, John Wiley & Sons, p. 33, ISBN 978-1-4443-3209-4, retrieved 10 August 2012
• Ramu, G. N. (2008), "Caste", in William A. Darity (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, (Macmillan social science library), Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, ISBN 978-0-02-865967-1, retrieved 24 September 2012
• Roberts, Nathaniel P. (2008), "Anthropology of Caste", in William A. Darity (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, (Macmillan social science library), Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, ISBN 978-0-02-865967-1, retrieved 24 September 2012
• Scott, John; Marshall, Gordon (2005), "caste", A Dictionary of Sociology, Oxford University Press, p. 66, ISBN 978-0-19-860987-2, retrieved 10 August 2012
• Sonnad, Subhash R. (2003), "Caste", in Christensen, Karen; Levinson, David (eds.), Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, pp. 115–121, ISBN 978-0-7619-2598-9, retrieved 5 August 2012
• Sooryamoorthi, Radhamany (2006), "Caste Systems", in Leonard, Thomas M. (editor) (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Developing World, New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 252–, ISBN 978-0-415-97662-6, retrieved 5 August 2012 {{citation}}: |editor-first= has generic name (help)

Further reading

• Spectres of Agrarian Territory by David Ludden 11 December 2001
• "Early Evidence for Caste in South India", p. 467-492 in Dimensions of Social Life: Essays in honor of David G. Mandelbaum, Edited by Paul Hockings and Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, Amsterdam, 1987.

External links

• Auguste Comte on why and how castes developed across the world - in The Positive Philosophy, Volume 3 (see page 55 onwards)
• Robert Merton on Caste and The Sociology of Science
• Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age - Susan Bayly
• Class In Yemen by Marguerite Abadjian (Archive of the Baltimore Sun)
• Archived 2009-10-26 at the Wayback Machine
• International Dalit Solidarity Network: An international advocacy group for Dalits

• Use dmy dates from July 2012
• Caste
• Social status