Caste is a form of social stratification characterized by endogamy,
hereditary transmission of a style of life 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 India's Hindu society into rigid social groups, with roots in India's ancient history and persisting to the present time. However, the economic significance of the caste system in India
has been declining as a result of urbanization and affirmative action
programs. A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and
anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes used as an
analogical basis for the study of caste-like social divisions existing
outside Hinduism and India. The term "caste" is also applied to
morphological groupings in female populations of ants and bees.
Etymology
The English word "caste" derives from the Spanish and Portuguese casta, which, according to the John Minsheu's Spanish dictionary (1569), means "race, lineage, tribe or breed". When the Spanish colonized the New World, they used the word to mean a "clan or lineage". It was, however, the Portuguese who first employed casta
in the primary modern sense of the English word 'caste' when they
applied it to the thousands of endogamous, hereditary Indian social
groups they encountered upon their arrival in India in 1498. The use of the spelling "caste", with this latter meaning, is first attested in English in 1613.
Caste system in India
Modern India's caste system is based on the colonial superimposition
of the Portuguese word “casta” on the four-fold theoretical
classification called Varna and on natural social groupings called Jāti. From 1901 onwards, for the purposes of the Decennial Census, the British classified all Jātis into one or the other of the Varna
categories as described in ancient texts. Herbert Hope Risley, the
Census Commissioner, noted that "The principle suggested as a basis was
that of classification by social precedence as recognized by native
public opinion at the present day, and manifesting itself in the facts
that particular castes are supposed to be the modern representatives of
one or other of the castes of the theoretical Indian system."
Varna, as mentioned in ancient Hindu texts, describes society as divided into four categories: Brahmins (scholars and yajna priests), Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors), Vaishyas (farmers, merchants and artisans) and Shudras (workmen/service providers). The texts do not mention any hierarchy or a separate, untouchable category in Varna classification. Scholars believe that the Varnas
system was never truly operational in society and there is no evidence
of it ever being a reality in Indian history. The practical division of
the society had always been in terms of Jātis (birth groups),
which are not based on any specific religious principle, but could vary
from ethnic origins to occupations to geographic areas. The Jātis
have been endogamous social groups without any fixed hierarchy but
subject to vague notions of rank articulated over time based on
lifestyle and social, political or economic status. Many of India's
major empires and dynasties like the Mauryas, Shalivahanas, Chalukyas, Kakatiyas among many others, were founded by people who would have been classified as Shudras, under the Varnas
system. It is well established that by the 9th century, kings from all
the four Varnas, including Brahmins and Vaishyas, had occupied the
highest seat in the monarchical system in Hindu India, contrary to the
Varna theory.
In many instances, as in Bengal, historically the kings and rulers had
been called upon, when required, to mediate on the ranks of Jātis, which might number in thousands all over the subcontinent and vary by region. In practice, the jātis may or may not fit into the Varna classes and many prominent Jatis, for example the Jats and Yadavs, straddled two Varnas i.e. Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, and the Varna status of Jātis itself was subject to articulation over time.
Starting with the British colonial Census of 1901 led by Herbert Hope Risley, all the jātis were grouped under the theoretical varnas categories. According to political scientist Lloyd Rudolph, Risley believed that varna,
however ancient, could be applied to all the modern castes found in
India, and "[he] meant to identify and place several hundred million
Indians within it."
In an effort to arrange various castes in order of precedence
functional grouping was based less on the occupation that prevailed in
each case in the present day than on that which was traditional with it,
or which gave rise to its differentiation from the rest of the
community. "This action virtually removed Indians from the progress of
history and condemned them to an unchanging position and place in time.
In one sense, it is rather ironic that the British, who continually
accused the Indian people of having a static society, should then impose
a construct that denied progress" The terms varna (conceptual classification based on occupation) and jāti (groups) are two distinct concepts: while varna is a theoretical four-part division, jāti
(community) refers to the thousands of actual endogamous social groups
prevalent across the subcontinent. The classical authors scarcely speak
of anything other than the varnas, as it provided a convenient shorthand; but a problem arises when colonial Indologists sometimes confuse the two.
Thus, starting with the 1901 Census, caste officially became India's
essential institution, with an imprimatur from the British
administrators, augmenting a discourse that had already dominated
Indology. “Despite India's acquisition of formal political independence,
it has still not regained the power to know its own past and present
apart from that discourse”.
An image of a man and woman from the toddy-tapping community in Malabar from the manuscript Seventy-two Specimens of Castes in India,
which consists of 72 full-color hand-painted images of men and women of
various religions, occupations and ethnic groups found in Madura, India
in 1837, which confirms the popular perception and nature of caste as
Jati, before the British made it applicable only to Hindus grouped under
the varna categories from the 1901 census onwards.
Upon independence from Britain, the Indian Constitution listed 1,108
castes across the country as Scheduled Castes in 1950, for positive
discrimination. The Untouchable communities are sometimes called Scheduled Castes, Dalit or Harijan in contemporary literature. In 2001, Dalits were 16.2% of India's population. Most of the 15 million bonded child workers are from the lowest castes. Independent India has witnessed caste-related violence. In 2005, government recorded approximately 110,000 cases of reported violent acts, including rape and murder, against Dalits. For 2012, the government recorded 651 murders, 3,855 injuries, 1,576 rapes, 490 kidnappings, and 214 cases of arson.
The socio-economic limitations of the caste system are reduced due to urbanization and affirmative action. Nevertheless, the caste system still exists in endogamy and patrimony,
and thrives in the politics of democracy, where caste provides ready
made constituencies to politicians. The globalization and economic
opportunities from foreign businesses has influenced the growth of
India's middle-class population. Some members of the Chhattisgarh Potter
Caste Community (CPCC) are middle-class urban professionals and no
longer potters unlike the remaining majority of traditional rural potter
members. There is persistence of caste in Indian politics. Caste
associations have evolved into caste-based political parties. Political
parties and the state perceive caste as an important factor for
mobilization of people and policy development.
Studies by Bhatt and Beteille have shown changes in status,
openness, mobility in the social aspects of Indian society. As a result
of modern socio-economic changes in the country, India is experiencing
significant changes in the dynamics And the economics of its social
sphere.
While arranged marriages are still the most common practice in India,
the internet has provided a network for younger Indians to take control
of their relationships through the use of dating apps. This remains
isolated to informal terms, as marriage is not often achieved through
the use of these apps.
Hypergamy is still a common practice in India and Hindu culture. Men
are expected to marry within their caste, or one below, with no social
repercussions. If a woman marries into a higher caste, then her children
will take the status of their father. If she marries down, her family
is reduced to the social status of their son in law. In this case, the
women are bearers of the egalitarian principle of the marriage. There
would be no benefit in marrying a higher caste if the terms of the
marriage did not imply equality. However, men are systematically shielded from the negative implications of the agreement.
Geographical factors also determine adherence to the caste
system. Many Northern villages are more likely to participate in
exogamous marriage, due to a lack of eligible suitors within the same
caste. Women in North India have been found to be less likely to leave
or divorce their husbands since they are of a relatively lower caste
system, and have higher restrictions on their freedoms. On the other
hand, Pahari women, of the northern mountains, have much more freedom to
leave their husbands without stigma. This often leads to better
husbandry as his actions are not protected by social expectations.
Chiefly among the factors influencing the rise of exogamy is the rapid urbanisation in India
experienced over the last century. It is well known that urban centers
tend to be less reliant on agriculture and are more progressive as a
whole. As India’s cities boomed in population, the job market grew to
keep pace. Prosperity and stability were now more easily attained by an
individual, and the anxiety to marry quickly and effectively was
reduced. Thus, younger, more progressive generations of urban Indians
are less likely than ever to participate in the antiquated system of
arranged endogamy.
India has also implemented a form of Affirmative Action, locally
known as “reservation groups”. Quota system jobs, as well as placements
in publicly funded colleges, hold spots for the 8% of India’s minority,
and underprivileged groups. As a result, in states such as Tamil Nadu or
those in the north-east, where underprivileged populations predominate,
over 80% of government jobs are set aside in quotas. In education,
colleges lower the marks necessary for the Dalits to enter.
Discriminatory traditions, policies, ideas, practices and laws exist in many countries and institutions
in all parts of the world, including territories where discrimination
is generally looked down upon. In some places, attempts such as quotas
have been used to benefit those who are believed to be current or past
victims of discrimination. These attempts have often been met with
controversy, and have sometimes been called reverse discrimination.
Etymology
The term discriminate appeared in the early 17th century in the English language. It is from the Latindiscriminat- 'distinguished between', from the verb discriminare, from discrimen 'distinction', from the verb discernere. Since the American Civil War the term "discrimination" generally evolved in American English
usage as an understanding of prejudicial treatment of an individual
based solely on their race, later generalized as membership in a certain
socially undesirable group or social category. The word "discrimination" derives from Latin, where the verb discrimire means "to separate, to distinguish, to make a distinction".
Definitions
Moral philosophers have defined discrimination as disadvantageous
treatment or consideration. This is a comparative definition. An
individual need not be actually harmed in order to be discriminated
against. They just need to be treated worse than others for some
arbitrary reason. If someone decides to donate to help orphan children,
but decides to donate less, say, to black children out of a racist
attitude, then they would be acting in a discriminatory way despite the
fact that the people they discriminate against actually benefit by
receiving a donation.
In addition to this discrimination develops into a source of
oppression. It is similar to the action of recognizing someone as
'different' so much that they are treated inhumanly and degraded.
Based on realistic-conflict theory and social-identity theory, Rubin and Hewstone have highlighted a distinction among three types of discrimination:
Realistic competition is driven by self-interest and is
aimed at obtaining material resources (e.g., food, territory, customers)
for the in-group (e.g., favouring an in-group in order to obtain more
resources for its members, including the self).
Social competition is driven by the need for self-esteem and
is aimed at achieving a positive social status for the in-group relative
to comparable out-groups (e.g., favouring an in-group in order to make
it better than an out-group).
Consensual discrimination is driven by the need for accuracy
and reflects stable and legitimate inter group status hierarchies
(e.g., favouring a high-status in-group because it is high status).
The United Nations
stance on discrimination includes the statement: "Discriminatory
behaviors take many forms, but they all involve some form of exclusion
or rejection." International bodies United Nations Human Rights Council work towards helping ending discrimination around the world.
Examples of Discrimination
Age
Ageism or age discrimination is discrimination and stereotyping based on the grounds of someone's age. It is a set of beliefs, norms, and values which used to justify discrimination or subordination based on a person's age. Ageism is most often directed towards old people, or adolescents and children.
Age discrimination in hiring has been shown to exist in the
United States. Joanna Lahey, professor at The Bush School of Government
and Public Service at Texas A&M, found that firms are more than 40% more likely to interview a young adult job applicant than an older job applicant. In Europe, Stijn Baert, Jennifer Norga, Yannick Thuy and Marieke Van Hecke, researchers at Ghent University,
measured comparable ratios in Belgium. They found that age
discrimination is heterogeneous by the activity older candidates
undertook during their additional post-educational years. In Belgium, they are only discriminated if they have more years of inactivity or irrelevant employment.
In a survey for the University of Kent, England, 29% of respondents stated that they had suffered from age discrimination. This is a higher proportion than for gender or racial discrimination. Dominic Abrams,
social psychology professor at the university, concluded that ageism is
the most pervasive form of prejudice experienced in the UK population.
Discrimination against people with disabilities in favor of people who are not is called ableism or disablism.
Disability discrimination, which treats non-disabled individuals as the
standard of 'normal living', results in public and private places and
services, educational settings, and social services that are built to
serve 'standard' people, thereby excluding those with various
disabilities. Studies have shown that disabled people not only need
employment in order to be provided with the opportunity to earn a living
but they also need employment in order to sustain their mental health
and well-being. Work fulfils a number of basic needs for an individual
such as collective purpose, social contact, status, and activity. A person with a disability is often found to be socially isolated and work is one way to reduce his or her isolation.
In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act
mandates the provision of equality of access to both buildings and
services and is paralleled by similar acts in other countries, such as
the Equality Act 2010 in the UK.
Language
Nationalists in Corsica sometimes spray-paint or shoot traffic signs in French.
Diversity of language is protected and respected by most nations who value cultural diversity.
However, people are sometimes subjected to different treatment because
their preferred language is associated with a particular group, class or
category. Notable examples are the Anti-French sentiment in the United States as well as the Anti-Quebec sentiment
in Canada targeting people who speak the French language. Commonly, the
preferred language is just another attribute of separate ethnic groups.
Discrimination exists if there is prejudicial treatment against a
person or a group of people who either do or do not speak a particular
language or languages. An example of this is when thousands of Wayúu
Native Colombians were given derisive names and the same birth date, by
government officials, during a campaign to provide them with
identification cards. The issue was not discovered until many years
later.
Another noteworthy example of linguistic discrimination is the backdrop to the Bengali Language Movement in erstwhile Pakistan, a political campaign that played a key role in the creation of Bangladesh. In 1948, Mohammad Ali Jinnah declared Urdu as the national language of Pakistan and branded those supporting the use of Bengali, the most widely spoken language in the state, as enemies of the state.
Language discrimination is suggested to be labeled linguicism or logocism.
Anti-discriminatory and inclusive efforts to accommodate persons who
speak different languages or cannot have fluency in the country's
predominant or "official" language, is bilingualism such as official documents in two languages, and multiculturalism in more than two languages.
Name
Discrimination
based on a person's name may also occur, with researchers suggesting
that this form of discrimination is present based on a name's meaning,
its pronunciation, its uniqueness, its gender affiliation, and its
racial affiliation.
Research has further shown that real world recruiters spend an average
of just six seconds reviewing each résumé before making their initial
"fit/no fit" screen-out decision and that a person's name is one of the
six things they focus on most.
France has made it illegal to view a person's name on a résumé when
screening for the initial list of most qualified candidates. Great
Britain, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands have also experimented
with name-blind summary processes. Some apparent discrimination may be explained by other factors such as name frequency. The effects of name discrimination based on a name's fluency is subtle, small and subject to significantly changing norms.
Nationality
Discrimination on the basis of nationality is usually included in employment laws (see above section for employment discrimination specifically). It is sometimes referred to as bound together with racial discrimination
although it can be separate. It may vary from laws that stop refusals
of hiring based on nationality, asking questions regarding origin, to
prohibitions of firing, forced retirement, compensation and pay, etc.,
based on nationality.
Discrimination on the basis of nationality may show as a "level
of acceptance" in a sport or work team regarding new team members and
employees who differ from the nationality of the majority of team
members.
In the GCC
states, in the workplace, preferential treatment is given to full
citizens, even though many of them lack experience or motivation to do
the job. State benefits are also generally available for citizens only. Westerners might also get paid more than other expatriates.
Racial and ethnic discrimination differentiates individuals on the
basis of real and perceived racial and ethnic differences and leads to
various forms of the ethnic penalty.
It can also refer to the belief that groups of humans possess different
behavioral traits corresponding to physical appearance and can be
divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against other people because they are of a different race or ethnicity.
Modern variants of racism are often based in social perceptions of
biological differences between peoples. These views can take the form of
social actions, practices or beliefs, or political systems
in which different races are ranked as inherently superior or inferior
to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities,
or qualities. It has been official government policy in several countries, such as South Africa during the apartheid era. Discriminatory policies towards ethnic minorities include the race-based discrimination against ethnic Indians and Chinese in Malaysia After the Vietnam war, many Vietnameserefugees moved to the United States, where they face discrimination.
Region
Regional or geographic discrimination is a form of discrimination
that is based on the region in which a person lives or the region in
which a person was born. It differs from national discrimination because
it may not be based on national borders or the country in which the
victim lives, instead, it is based on prejudices against a specific
region of one or more countries. Examples include discrimination against
Chinese people who were born in regions of the countryside that are far
away from cities that are located within China, and discrimination
against Americans who are from the southern or northern
regions of the United States. It is often accompanied by discrimination
that is based on accent, dialect, or cultural differences.
Religious discrimination is valuing or treating people or groups
differently because of what they do or do not believe in or because of
their feelings towards a given religion. For instance, the indigenous Christian population of the Balkans, known as the "rayah" or the "protected flock", was subjected to discrimination under the Ottoman
Kanun–i–Rayah. The word is sometimes translated as 'cattle' rather than
'flock' or 'subjects' in order to emphasize the Christian population's
inferior status to that of the Muslim rayah.
Restrictions on the types of occupations that Jewish
people could hold were imposed by Christian authorities. Local rulers
and church officials closed many professions to religious Jews, pushing
them into marginal roles that were considered socially inferior, such as
tax and rent collecting and moneylending, occupations that were only tolerated as a "necessary evil". The number of Jews who were permitted to reside in different places was limited; they were concentrated in ghettos and banned from owning land. In Saudi Arabia, non-Muslims are not allowed to publicly practice their religions and they cannot enter Mecca and Medina. Furthermore, private non-Muslim religious gatherings might be raided by the religious police.
In a 1979 consultation on the issue, the United States commission
on civil rights defined religious discrimination in relation to the civil rights which are guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Whereas religious civil liberties, such as the right to hold or not to hold a religious belief, are essential for Freedom of Religion (in the United States as secured by the First Amendment),
religious discrimination occurs when someone is denied "equal
protection under the law, equality of status under the law, equal
treatment in the administration of justice, and equality of opportunity
and access to employment, education, housing, public services and
facilities, and public accommodation because of their exercise of their
right to religious freedom".
Sex, sex characteristics, gender, and gender identity
Sexism is a form of discrimination based on a person's sex or gender. It has been linked to stereotypes and gender roles, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is intrinsically superior to another. Extreme sexism may foster sexual harassment, rape, and other forms of sexual violence. Gender discrimination may encompass sexism, and is discrimination toward people based on their gender identity or their gender or sex differences. Gender discrimination is especially defined in terms of workplace inequality. It may arise from social or cultural customs and norms.
Intersex persons experience discrimination due to innate, atypical sex characteristics. Multiple jurisdictions now protect individuals on grounds of intersex status or sex characteristics. South Africa was the first country to explicitly add intersex to legislation, as part of the attribute of 'sex'. Australia was the first country to add an independent attribute, of 'intersex status'.
Malta was the first to adopt a broader framework of 'sex
characteristics', through legislation that also ended modifications to
the sex characteristics of minors undertaken for social and cultural
reasons.
One's sexual orientation is a "predilection for homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality".
Like most minority groups, homosexuals and bisexuals are vulnerable to
prejudice and discrimination from the majority group. They may
experience hatred from others because of their sexuality; a term for
such hatred based upon one's sexual orientation is often called homophobia.
Many continue to hold negative feelings towards those with
non-heterosexual orientations and will discriminate against people who
have them or are thought to have them. People of other uncommon sexual
orientations also experience discrimination. One study found its sample
of heterosexuals to be more prejudiced against asexual people than to homosexual or bisexual people.
Employment discrimination based on sexual orientation varies by
country. Revealing a lesbian sexual orientation (by means of mentioning
an engagement in a rainbow organisation or by mentioning one's partner
name) lowers employment opportunities in Cyprus and Greece but overall, it has no negative effect in Sweden and Belgium.
In the latter country, even a positive effect of revealing a lesbian
sexual orientation is found for women at their fertile ages.
Besides these academic studies, in 2009, ILGA
published a report based on research carried out by Daniel Ottosson at
Södertörn University College, Stockholm, Sweden. This research found
that of the 80 countries around the world that continue to consider homosexuality illegal, five carry the death penalty for homosexual activity, and two do in some regions of the country. In the report, this is described as "State sponsored homophobia". This happens in Islamic states, or in two cases regions under Islamic authority. On February 5, 2005, the IRIN issued a reported titled "Iraq: Male homosexuality still a taboo". The article stated, among other things that honor killings by Iraqis against a gay family member are common and given some legal protection. In August 2009, Human Rights Watch published an extensive report detailing torture of men accused of being gay in Iraq, including the blocking of men's anuses with glue and then giving the men laxatives. Although gay marriage has been legal in South Africa since 2006, same-sex unions are often condemned as "un-African". Research conducted in 2009 shows 86% of black lesbians from the Western Cape live in fear of sexual assault.
A number of countries, especially those in the Western world,
have passed measures to alleviate discrimination against sexual
minorities, including laws against anti-gay hate crimes and workplace
discrimination. Some have also legalized same-sex marriage or civil
unions in order to grant same-sex couples the same protections and
benefits as opposite-sex couples. In 2011, the United Nations passed its first resolution recognizing LGBT rights.
Drug use discrimination is the unequal treatment people experience because of the drugs they use. People who use or have used illicit drugs may face discrimination in employment, welfare, housing, child custody, and travel, in addition to imprisonment, asset forfeiture, and in some cases forced labor, torture, and execution.
Though often prejudicially stereotyped as deviants and misfits, most
drug users are well-adjusted and productive members of society. Drug prohibitions may have been partly motivated by racism and other prejudice against minorities, and racial disparities have been found to exist in the enforcement and prosecution of drug laws.
Discrimination due to illicit drug use was the most commonly reported
type of discrimination among Blacks and Latinos in a 2003 study of
minority drug users in New York City, double to triple that due to race. People who use legal drugs such as tobacco and prescription medications may also face discrimination.
Reverse discrimination
Students protesting against racial quotas in Brazil: "Quer uma vaga? Passe no vestibular!" ("Do you want a spot? Pass the entrance exam!")
In the US, a government policy which is known as affirmative action was instituted in order to encourage employers and universities to seek out and accept groups such as African Americans and women, who have been subject to discrimination for a long time.
Some attempts at antidiscrimination have been criticized as
reverse discrimination. In particular, minority quota systems such as affirmative action)
may discriminate against members of a dominant or majority group or
members of other minority groups. In its opposition to race preferences,
the American Civil Rights Institute's Ward Connerly
stated, "There is nothing positive, affirmative, or equal about
'affirmative action' programs that give preference to some groups based
on race."
Article 137c, part 1 of Wetboek van Strafrecht
prohibits insults towards a group because of its race, religion, sexual
orientation (straight or gay), handicap (somatically, mental or
psychiatric) in public or by speech, by writing or by a picture. Maximum
imprisonment one year of imprisonment or a fine of the third category.
Part 2 increases the maximum imprisonment to two years and the maximum fine category to 4, when the crime is committed as a habit or is committed by two or more persons.
Article 137d prohibits provoking to discrimination or hate against
the group described above. Same penalties apply as in article 137c.
Article 137e part 1 prohibits publishing a discriminatory statement,
other than in formal message, or hands over an object (that contains
discriminatory information) otherwise than on his request. Maximum
imprisonment is 6 months or a fine of the third category.
Part 2 increases the maximum imprisonment to one year and the maximum fine category to 4, when the crime is committed as a habit or committed by two or more persons.
Article 137f prohibits supporting discriminatory activities by
giving money or goods. Maximum imprisonment is 3 months or a fine of the
second category.
Sex Discrimination Act 1975
– makes discrimination against women or men, including discrimination
on the grounds of marital status, illegal in the workplace.
Human Rights Act 1998 – provides more scope for redressing all forms of discriminatory imbalances.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
– many provisions, including broadly prohibiting discrimination in the
workplace including hiring, firing, workforce reduction, benefits, and
sexually harassing conduct.
Fair Housing Act
of 1968 prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of housing
based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status,
or disability. The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity is charged with administering and enforcing the Act.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – covers discrimination based upon pregnancy in the workplace.
Important UN documents addressing discrimination include:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. It states that:" Everyone
is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social
origin, property, birth or other status."
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
is an international human rights instrument treaty of the United
Nations. Parties to the Convention are required to promote, protect, and
ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities
and ensure that they enjoy full equality under the law. The text was
adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 13, 2006, and
opened for signature on March 30, 2007. Following ratification by the
20th party, it came into force on May 3, 2008.
Theories
Social theories such as egalitarianism assert that social equality
should prevail. In some societies, including most developed countries,
each individual's civil rights include the right to be free from
government sponsored social discrimination.
Due to a belief in the capacity to perceive pain or suffering shared by
all animals, "abolitionist" or "vegan" egalitarianism maintains that
the interests of every individual (regardless its species), warrant equal consideration with the interests of humans, and that not doing so is "speciesist".
Labeling theory
Discrimination, in labeling theory, takes form as mental categorization of minorities and the use of stereotype. This theory describes difference as deviance from the norm, which results in internal devaluation and social stigma
that may be seen as discrimination. It is started by describing a
"natural" social order. It is distinguished between the fundamental
principle of fascism and social democracy. The Nazis in 1930s-era Germany and the pre-1990 Apartheid
government of South Africa used racially discriminatory agendas for
their political ends. This practice continues with some present day
governments.
Game theory
Economist Yanis Varoufakis
(2013) argues that "discrimination based on utterly arbitrary
characteristics evolves quickly and systematically in the experimental
laboratory", and that neither classical game theory nor neoclassical economics can explain this. Varoufakis and Shaun Hargreaves-Heap (2002) ran an experiment where volunteers played a computer-mediated, multiround hawk-dove game.
At the start of each session, each participant was assigned a color at
random, either red or blue. At each round, each player learned the color
assigned to his or her opponent, but nothing else about the opponent.
Hargreaves-Heap and Varoufakis found that the players' behavior within a
session frequently developed a discriminatory convention, giving a Nash equilibrium where players of one color (the "advantaged" color) consistently
played the aggressive "hawk" strategy against players of the other,
"disadvantaged" color, who played the acquiescent "dove" strategy
against the advantaged color. Players of both colors used a mixed strategy when playing against players assigned the same color as their own.
The experimenters then added a cooperation
option to the game, and found that disadvantaged players usually
cooperated with each other, while advantaged players usually did not.
They state that while the equilibria reached in the original hawk-dove
game are predicted by evolutionary game theory, game theory does not explain the emergence of cooperation in the disadvantaged group. Citing earlier psychological work of Matthew Rabin,
they hypothesize that a norm of differing entitlements emerges across
the two groups, and that this norm could define a "fairness" equilibrium
within the disadvantaged group.
State vs. free market
It is debated as to whether or not markets
discourage discrimination brought about by the state. One argument is
that since discrimination restricts access to customers and incurs
additional expense, market logic will punish discrimination. Opposition
by companies to "Jim Crow" segregation laws is an example of this.
An alternative argument is that markets don't necessarily undermine
discrimination, as it is argued that if discrimination is profitable by
catering to the "tastes"
of individuals (which is the point of the market), then the market will
not punish discrimination. It is argued that micro economic analysis of
discrimination uses unusual methods to determine its effects (using
explicit treatment of production functions) and that the very existence
of discrimination in employment (defined as wages which differ from
marginal product of the discriminated employees) in the long run
contradicts claims that the market will function well and punish
discrimination. Furthermore, economic actors may have imperfect information and statistical discrimination may occur rationally and without prejudice.
Herbert Spencer coined the phrase "survival of the fittest".
"Survival of the fittest" is a phrase that originated from Darwinianevolutionary theory as a way of describing the mechanism of natural selection. The biological concept of fitness is defined as reproductive success.
In Darwinian terms the phrase is best understood as "Survival of the
form that will leave the most copies of itself in successive
generations."
Herbert Spencer first used the phrase, after reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, in his Principles of Biology
(1864), in which he drew parallels between his own economic theories
and Darwin's biological ones: "This survival of the fittest, which I
have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr.
Darwin has called 'natural selection', or the preservation of favoured
races in the struggle for life."
Darwin responded positively to Alfred Russel Wallace's
suggestion of using Spencer's new phrase "survival of the fittest" as
an alternative to "natural selection", and adopted the phrase in The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication published in 1868. In On the Origin of Species, he introduced the phrase in the fifth edition published in 1869, intending it to mean "better designed for an immediate, local environment".
History of the phrase
Herbert Spencer first used the phrase – after reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species – in his Principles of Biology of 1864
in which he drew parallels between his economic theories and Darwin's
biological, evolutionary ones, writing, "This survival of the fittest,
which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which
Mr. Darwin has called 'natural selection', or the preservation of
favored races in the struggle for life."
In July 1866 Alfred Russel Wallace wrote to Darwin about readers thinking that the phrase "natural selection" personified nature as "selecting", and said this misconception could be avoided "by adopting Spencer's term" Survival of the fittest.
Darwin promptly replied that Wallace's letter was "as clear as
daylight. I fully agree with all that you say on the advantages of H.
Spencer's excellent expression of 'the survival of the fittest'. This
however had not occurred to me till reading your letter. It is, however,
a great objection to this term that it cannot be used as a substantive
governing a verb". Had he received the letter two months earlier, he
would have worked the phrase into the fourth edition of the Origin which was then being printed, and he would use it in his "next book on Domestic Animals etc.".
Darwin wrote on page 6 of The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
published in 1868, "This preservation, during the battle for life, of
varieties which possess any advantage in structure, constitution, or
instinct, I have called Natural Selection; and Mr. Herbert Spencer has
well expressed the same idea by the Survival of the Fittest. The term
"natural selection" is in some respects a bad one, as it seems to imply
conscious choice; but this will be disregarded after a little
familiarity". He defended his analogy as similar to language used in
chemistry, and to astronomers depicting the "attraction of gravity as
ruling the movements of the planets", or the way in which
"agriculturists speak of man making domestic races by his power of
selection". He had "often personified the word Nature; for I have found
it difficult to avoid this ambiguity; but I mean by nature only the
aggregate action and product of many natural laws,—and by laws only the
ascertained sequence of events."
In the first four editions of On the Origin of Species, Darwin had used the phrase "natural selection".
In Chapter 4 of the 5th edition of The Origin published in 1869, Darwin implies again the synonym: "Natural Selection, or the Survival of the Fittest".
By "fittest" Darwin meant "better adapted for the immediate, local
environment", not the common modern meaning of "in the best physical
shape" (think of a puzzle piece, not an athlete).
In the introduction he gave full credit to Spencer, writing "I have
called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is
preserved, by the term Natural Selection, in order to mark its relation
to man's power of selection. But the expression often used by Mr.
Herbert Spencer of the Survival of the Fittest is more accurate, and is
sometimes equally convenient."
In The Man Versus The State, Spencer used the phrase in a
postscript to justify a plausible explanation of how his theories would
not be adopted by "societies of militant type". He uses the term in the
context of societies at war, and the form of his reference suggests that
he is applying a general principle.
"Thus by survival of the fittest, the militant type of
society becomes characterized by profound confidence in the governing
power, joined with a loyalty causing submission to it in all matters
whatever".
Though Spencer's conception of organic evolution is commonly interpreted as a form of Lamarckism, Herbert Spencer is sometimes credited with inaugurating Social Darwinism.
The phrase "survival of the fittest" has become widely used in popular
literature as a catchphrase for any topic related or analogous to
evolution and natural selection. It has thus been applied to principles
of unrestrained competition, and it has been used extensively by both proponents and opponents of Social Darwinism.
Evolutionary biologists criticise the manner in which the term is
used by non-scientists and the connotations that have grown around the
term in popular culture.
The phrase also does not help in conveying the complex nature of
natural selection, so modern biologists prefer and almost exclusively
use the term natural selection. The biological concept of fitness refers to reproductive success,
as opposed to survival, and is not explicit in the specific ways in
which organisms can be more "fit" (increase reproductive success) as
having phenotypic characteristics that enhance survival and reproduction (which was the meaning that Spencer had in mind).
Critiquing the phrase
While the phrase "survival of the fittest" is often used to mean "natural selection",
it is avoided by modern biologists, because the phrase can be
misleading. For example, survival is only one aspect of selection, and
not always the most important. Another problem is that the word "fit" is
frequently confused with a state of physical fitness. In the
evolutionary meaning "fitness" is the rate of reproductive output among a class of genetic variants.
Interpreted as expressing a biological theory
The
phrase can also be interpreted to express a theory or hypothesis: that
"fit" as opposed to "unfit" individuals or species, in some sense of
"fit", will survive some test. Nevertheless, when extended to
individuals it is a conceptual mistake, the phrase is a reference to the
transgenerational survival of the heritable attributes; particular individuals are quite irrelevant. This becomes more clear when referring to Viral quasispecies, in survival of the flattest, which makes it clear to survive makes no reference to the question of even being alive itself; rather the functional capacity of proteins to carry out work.
Interpretations of the phrase as expressing a theory are in danger of being tautological,
meaning roughly "those with a propensity to survive have a propensity
to survive"; to have content the theory must use a concept of fitness
that is independent of that of survival.
Interpreted as a theory of species survival, the theory that the
fittest species survive is undermined by evidence that while direct
competition is observed between individuals, populations and species,
there is little evidence that competition has been the driving force in
the evolution of large groups such as, for example, amphibians,
reptiles, and mammals. Instead, these groups have evolved by expanding
into empty ecological niches. In the punctuated equilibrium
model of environmental and biological change, the factor determining
survival is often not superiority over another in competition but
ability to survive dramatic changes in environmental conditions, such as
after a meteor impact energetic enough to greatly change the environment globally. The main land dwelling animals to survive the K-Pg impact 66 million years ago had the ability to live in tunnels, for example.
In 2010 Sahney et al. argued that there is little evidence that
intrinsic, biological factors such as competition have been the driving
force in the evolution of large groups. Instead, they cited extrinsic,
abiotic factors such as expansion as the driving factor on a large
evolutionary scale. The rise of dominant groups such as amphibians,
reptiles, mammals and birds occurred by opportunistic expansion into
empty ecological niches and the extinction of groups happened due to large shifts in the abiotic environment.
Interpreted as expressing a moral theory
Social Darwinists
It
has been claimed that "the survival of the fittest" theory in biology
was interpreted by late 19th century capitalists as "an ethical precept
that sanctioned cut-throat economic competition" and led to the advent
of the theory of "social Darwinism" which was used to justify laissez-faire
economics, war and racism. However, these ideas predate and commonly
contradict Darwin's ideas, and indeed their proponents rarely invoked
Darwin in support. The term "social Darwinism" referring to capitalist ideologies was introduced as a term of abuse by Richard Hofstadter's Social Darwinism in American Thought published in 1944.
Anarchists
Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin viewed the concept of "survival of the fittest" as supporting co-operation rather than competition. In his book Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
he set out his analysis leading to the conclusion that the fittest was
not necessarily the best at competing individually, but often the
community made up of those best at working together. He concluded that
In
the animal world we have seen that the vast majority of species live in
societies, and that they find in association the best arms for the
struggle for life: understood, of course, in its wide Darwinian sense –
not as a struggle for the sheer means of existence, but as a struggle
against all natural conditions unfavourable to the species. The animal
species, in which individual struggle has been reduced to its narrowest
limits, and the practice of mutual aid has attained the greatest
development, are invariably the most numerous, the most prosperous, and
the most open to further progress.
Applying this concept to human society, Kropotkin presented mutual aid
as one of the dominant factors of evolution, the other being
self-assertion, and concluded that
In the practice of
mutual aid, which we can retrace to the earliest beginnings of
evolution, we thus find the positive and undoubted origin of our ethical
conceptions; and we can affirm that in the ethical progress of man,
mutual support not mutual struggle – has had the leading part. In its
wide extension, even at the present time, we also see the best guarantee
of a still loftier evolution of our race.
Tautology
"Survival of the fittest" is sometimes claimed to be a tautology.
The reasoning is that if one takes the term "fit" to mean "endowed with
phenotypic characteristics which improve chances of survival and
reproduction" (which is roughly how Spencer understood it), then
"survival of the fittest" can simply be rewritten as "survival of those
who are better equipped for surviving". Furthermore, the expression does
become a tautology if one uses the most widely accepted definition of
"fitness" in modern biology, namely reproductive success itself (rather
than any set of characters conducive to this reproductive success). This
reasoning is sometimes used to claim that Darwin's entire theory of
evolution by natural selection is fundamentally tautological, and
therefore devoid of any explanatory power.
However, the expression "survival of the fittest" (taken on its
own and out of context) gives a very incomplete account of the mechanism
of natural selection. The reason is that it does not mention a key
requirement for natural selection, namely the requirement of heritability.
It is true that the phrase "survival of the fittest", in and by itself,
is a tautology if fitness is defined by survival and reproduction.
Natural selection is the portion of variation in reproductive success
that is caused by heritable characters.
If certain heritable characters increase or decrease the chances
of survival and reproduction of their bearers, then it follows
mechanically (by definition of "heritable") that those characters that
improve survival and reproduction will increase in frequency over
generations. This is precisely what is called "evolution by natural selection".
On the other hand, if the characters which lead to differential
reproductive success are not heritable, then no meaningful evolution
will occur, "survival of the fittest" or not: if improvement in
reproductive success is caused by traits that are not heritable, then
there is no reason why these traits should increase in frequency over
generations. In other words, natural selection does not simply state
that "survivors survive" or "reproducers reproduce"; rather, it states
that "survivors survive, reproduce and therefore propagate any heritable characters which have affected their survival and reproductive success". This statement is not tautological: it hinges on the testable hypothesis that such fitness-impacting heritable variations actually exist (a hypothesis that has been amply confirmed.)
Momme von Sydow suggested further definitions of 'survival of the
fittest' that may yield a testable meaning in biology and also in other
areas where Darwinian processes have been influential. However, much
care would be needed to disentangle tautological from testable aspects.
Moreover, an "implicit shifting between a testable and an untestable
interpretation can be an illicit tactic to immunize natural selection
... while conveying the impression that one is concerned with testable
hypotheses".
Skeptic Society founder and Skeptic magazine publisher Michael Shermer addresses the tautology problem in his 1997 book, Why People Believe Weird Things,
in which he points out that although tautologies are sometimes the
beginning of science, they are never the end, and that scientific
principles like natural selection are testable and falsifiable
by virtue of their predictive power. Shermer points out, as an example,
that population genetics accurately demonstrate when natural selection
will and will not effect change on a population. Shermer hypothesizes
that if hominidfossils were found in the same geological strata as trilobites, it would be evidence against natural selection.
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