From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to: marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy),
follow lifestyles often linked to a particular occupation, hold a
ritual status observed within a hierarchy, and interact with others
based on cultural notions of exclusion, with certain castes considered as either more pure or more polluted than others. Its paradigmatic ethnographic example is the division of India's Hindu society into rigid social groups, with roots in south Asia'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 urbanisation 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 eusocial insects such as ants, bees, and termites.
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 colonised 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. In the Latin American context, the term caste is sometimes used to describe the casta
system of racial classification, based on whether a person was of pure
European, Indigenous or African descent, or some mix thereof, with the
different groups being placed in a racial hierarchy; however, despite
the etymological connection between the Latin American casta
system and South Asian caste systems (the former giving its name to the
later), it is controversial to what extent the two phenomenon are really
comparable.
In South Asia
India
Modern India's caste system is based on the artificial modern
superimposition of an old four-fold theoretical classification called
the Varna on the natural social groupings called the Jāti.
Varna conceptualised a society as consisting of four types of varnas, or categories: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra,
according to the nature of the work of its members. Varna was not an
inherited category and the occupation determined the varna. However, a
person's Jati
is determined at birth and makes them take up that Jati's occupation;
members could and did change their occupation based on personal
strengths as well as economic, social and political factors. Thus, both Jati and Varna were fluid categories, subject to change based on occupation. A 2016 study based on the DNA analysis of unrelated Indians determined that endogamous Jatis originated during the Gupta Empire.
From 1901 onwards, for the purposes of the Decennial Census, the British colonial authorities arbitrarily and incorrectly forced all Jātis into the four 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 classifications. 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 Jatis (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, as interpreted by the British rulers. 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 1901 Census of India led by colonial administrator 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." 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.
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 colonial authorities 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 Jatis across the country as Scheduled Castes in 1950, for positive discrimination. This constitution would also ban discrimination of the basis of the caste, though its practice in India remained intact. 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 urbanisation 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 globalisation 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 mobilisation 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.
Nepal
The Nepali caste system resembles in some respects the Indian jāti system, with numerous jāti divisions with a varna system superimposed. Inscriptions attest the beginnings of a caste system during the Licchavi period. Jayasthiti Malla
(1382–1395) categorised Newars into 64 castes (Gellner 2001). A similar
exercise was made during the reign of Mahindra Malla (1506–1575). The
Hindu social code was later set up in the Gorkha Kingdom by Ram Shah (1603–1636).
Pakistan
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 textbook varnas and jāti system found in 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 Kandyan-period Kadayimpoth – Boundary books as well indicates the continuation of the tradition right up to the end of Sri Lanka's monarchy.
Outside South Asia
Southeast Asia
Indonesia
Balinese
caste structure has been described as being based either on three
categories—the noble triwangsa (thrice born), the middle class of dwijāti (twice born), and the lower class of ekajāti (once born)--or on four castes
The Brahmana caste was further subdivided by 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 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.
Philippines
In the Philippines, pre-colonial societies do not have a single
social structure. The class structures can be roughly categorised into
four types:
- Classless societies - egalitarian societies with no class structure. Examples include the Mangyan and the Kalanguya peoples.
- Warrior societies - societies where a distinct warrior class exists,
and whose membership depends on martial prowess. Examples include the Mandaya, Bagobo, Tagakaulo, and B'laan peoples who had warriors called the bagani or magani. Similarly, in the Cordillera highlands of Luzon, the Isneg and Kalinga peoples refer to their warriors as mengal or maingal. This society is typical for head-hunting ethnic groups or ethnic groups which had seasonal raids (mangayaw) into enemy territory.
- Petty plutocracies
- societies which have a wealthy class based on property and the
hosting of periodic prestige feasts. In some groups, it was an actual
caste whose members had specialised leadership roles, married only
within the same caste, and wore specialised clothing. These include the kadangyan of the Ifugao, Bontoc, and Kankanaey peoples, as well as the baknang of the Ibaloi people. In others, though wealth may give one prestige and leadership qualifications, it was not a caste per se.
- Principalities - societies with an actual ruling class and caste
systems determined by birthright. Most of these societies are either Indianized or Islamized to a degree. They include the larger coastal ethnic groups like the Tagalog, Kapampangan, Visayan, and Moro
societies. Most of them were usually divided into four to five caste
systems with different names under different ethnic groups that roughly
correspond to each other. The system was more or less feudalistic, with the datu ultimately having control of all the lands of the community. The land is subdivided among the enfranchised classes, the sakop or sa-op (vassals,
lit. "those under the power of another"). The castes were hereditary,
though they were not rigid. They were more accurately a reflection of
the interpersonal political relationships, a person is always the
follower of another. People can move up the caste system by marriage, by
wealth, or by doing something extraordinary; and conversely they can be
demoted, usually as criminal punishment or as a result of debt. Shamans
are the exception, as they are either volunteers, chosen by the ranking
shamans, or born into the role by innate propensity for it. They are
enumerated below from the highest rank to the lowest:
- Royalty - (Visayan: kadatoan) the datu and immediate descendants. They are often further categorised according to purity of lineage. The power of the datu
is dependent on the willingness of their followers to render him
respect and obedience. Most roles of the datu were judicial and
military. In case of an unfit datu, support may be withdrawn by his followers. Datu were almost always male, though in some ethnic groups like the Banwaon people, the female shaman (babaiyon) co-rules as the female counterpart of the datu.
- Nobility - (Visayan: tumao; Tagalog: maginoo; Kapampangan ginu; Tausug: bangsa mataas)
the ruling class, either inclusive of or exclusive of the royal family.
Most are descendants of the royal line or gained their status through
wealth or bravery in battle. They owned lands and subjects, from whom
they collected taxes.
- Shamans - (Visayan: babaylan; Tagalog: katalonan)
the spirit mediums, usually female or feminised men. While they weren't
technically a caste, they commanded the same respect and status as
nobility.
- Warriors - (Visayan: timawa; Tagalog: maharlika) the martial class. They could own land and subjects like the higher ranks, but were required to fight for the datu
in times of war. In some Filipino ethnic groups, they were often
tattooed extensively to record feats in battle and as protection against
harm. They were sometimes further subdivided into different classes,
depending on their relationship with the datu. They traditionally went on seasonal raids on enemy settlements.
- Commoners and slaves - (Visayan, Maguindanao: ulipon; Tagalog: alipin; Tausug: kiapangdilihan; Maranao: kakatamokan)
- the lowest class composed of the rest of the community who were not
part of the enfranchised classes. They were further subdivided into the
commoner class who had their own houses, the servants who lived in the
houses of others, and the slaves who were usually captives from raids,
criminals, or debtors. Most members of this class were equivalent to the
European serf class, who paid taxes and can be conscripted to communal tasks, but were more or less free to do as they please.
East Asia
China and Mongolia
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 in descending order were:
Today, the Hukou system is argued by various Western sources to be the current caste system of China.
Tibet
There is significant controversy over the social classes of Tibet, especially with regards to the serfdom in Tibet controversy.
Heidi Fjeld [no]
has put forth the argument that pre-1950s Tibetan society was
functionally a caste system, in contrast to previous scholars who
defined the Tibetan social class system as similar to European feudal
serfdom, as well as non-scholarly western accounts which seek to
romanticise a supposedly 'egalitarian' ancient Tibetan society.
Japan
In Japan's history, social strata based on inherited position rather
than personal merit, were rigid and highly formalised in a system called
mibunsei (身分制). At the top were the Emperor and Court nobles (kuge), together with the Shōgun and daimyō. Below them, the population was divided into four classes: samurai,
peasants, craftsmen and merchants. Only samurai were allowed to bear
arms. A samurai had a right to kill any peasants, craftsman or merchant
who he felt were disrespectful. Merchants were the lowest caste because
they did not produce any products. The castes were further sub-divided;
for example, peasants were labelled as furiuri, tanagari, mizunomi-byakusho among others. As in Europe, the castes and sub-classes were of the same race, religion and culture.
Howell, in his review of Japanese
society notes that if a Western power had colonised Japan in the 19th
century, they would have discovered and imposed a rigid four-caste
hierarchy in Japan.
De Vos and Wagatsuma observe that Japanese society had a
systematic and extensive caste system. They discuss how alleged caste
impurity and alleged racial inferiority, concepts often assumed to be
different, are superficial terms, and are due to identical inner
psychological processes, which expressed themselves in Japan and
elsewhere.
Endogamy was common because marriage across caste lines was socially unacceptable.
Japan had its own untouchable caste, shunned and ostracised, 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 Korean or Chinese descent.
Korea
A
typical Yangban family scene from 1904. The Yoon family had an enduring
presence in Korean politics from the 1800s until the 1970s.
The baekjeong (백정) were an "untouchable" outcaste of Korea. The meaning today is that of butcher. It originates in the Khitan invasion of Korea in the 11th century. The defeated Khitans
who surrendered were settled in isolated communities throughout Goryeo
to forestall rebellion. They were valued for their skills in hunting,
herding, butchering, and making of leather, common skill sets among
nomads. Over time, their ethnic origin was forgotten, and they formed
the bottom layer of Korean society.
In 1392, with the foundation of the Confucian Joseon dynasty, Korea systemised its own native class system. At the top were the two official classes, the Yangban, which literally means "two classes". It was composed of scholars (munban) and warriors (muban). Scholars had a significant social advantage over the warriors. Below were the jung-in
(중인-中人: literally "middle people". This was a small class of
specialised professions such as medicine, accounting, translators,
regional bureaucrats, etc. Below that were the sangmin (상민-常民: literally 'commoner'), farmers working their own fields. Korea also had a serf population known as the nobi.
The nobi population could fluctuate up to about one third of the
population, but on average the nobi made up about 10% of the total
population. In 1801, the vast majority of government nobi were emancipated, and by 1858 the nobi population stood at about 1.5% of the total population of Korea. The hereditary nobi system was officially abolished around 1886–87 and the rest of the nobi system was abolished with the Gabo Reform of 1894, but traces remained until 1930.
The opening of Korea to foreign Christian missionary activity in the late 19th century saw some improvement in the status of the baekjeong.
However, everyone was not equal under the Christian congregation, and
even so protests erupted when missionaries tried to integrate baekjeong into worship, with non-baekjeong finding this attempt insensitive to traditional notions of hierarchical advantage. Around the same time, the baekjeong began to resist open social discrimination. They focused on social and economic injustices affecting them, hoping to create an egalitarian
Korean society. Their efforts included attacking social discrimination
by upper class, authorities, and "commoners", and the use of degrading
language against children in public schools.
With the Gabo reform of 1896, the class system of Korea was officially abolished. Following the collapse of the Gabo government, the new cabinet, which became the Gwangmu government after the establishment of the Korean Empire,
introduced systematic measures for abolishing the traditional class
system. One measure was the new household registration system,
reflecting the goals of formal social equality,
which was implemented by the loyalists' cabinet. Whereas the old
registration system signified household members according to their
hierarchical social status, the new system called for an occupation.
While most Koreans by then had surnames and even bongwan, although still substantial number of cheonmin, mostly consisted of serfs and slaves, and untouchables
did not. According to the new system, they were then required to fill
in the blanks for surname in order to be registered as constituting
separate households. Instead of creating their own family name, some
cheonmins appropriated their masters' surname, while others simply took
the most common surname and its bongwan in the local area. Along with
this example, activists within and outside the Korean government had
based their visions of a new relationship between the government and
people through the concept of citizenship, employing the term inmin ("people") and later, kungmin ("citizen").
North Korea
The 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." Called Songbun, Barbara Demick describes this "class structure" as an updating of the hereditary "caste system", a combination of Confucianism and Stalinism.
It originated in 1946 and was entrenched by the 1960s, and consisted of
53 categories ranging across three classes: loyal, wavering, and
impure. The privileged "loyal" class included members of the Korean Workers' Party and Korean People's Army officers' corps, the wavering class included peasants, and the impure class included collaborators with Imperial Japan and landowners.
She claims that a bad family background is called "tainted blood", and
that by law this "tainted blood" lasts three generations.
West Asia
Kurdistan
Yazidis
There are three hereditary groups, often called castes, in Yazidism. Membership in the Yazidi society and a caste is conferred by birth. Pîrs and Sheikhs are the priestly castes, which are represented by many sacred lineages (Kurdish: Ocax).
Sheikhs are in charge of both religious and administrative functions
and are divided into three endogamous houses, Şemsanî, Adanî and Qatanî
who are in turn divided into lineages. The Pîrs are in charge of purely
religious functions and traditionally consist of 40 lineages or clans,
but approximately 90 appellations of Pîr lineages have been found, which
may have been a result of new sub-lineages arising and number of clans
increasing over time due to division as Yazidis settled in different
places and countries. Division could occur in one family, if there were a
few brothers in one clan, each of them could become the founder of
their own Pîr sub-clan (Kurdish: ber). Mirîds are the lay caste and are divided into tribes, who are each affiliated to a Pîr and a Sheikh priestly lineage assigned to the tribe.
Iran
Pre-Islamic Sassanid
society was immensely complex, with separate systems of social
organisation governing numerous different groups within the empire. Historians believe society comprised four social classes, which linguistic analysis indicates may have been referred to collectively as "pistras". The classes, from highest to lowest status, were priests (Persian: Asravan), warriors (Persian: Arteshtaran), secretaries (Persian: Dabiran), and commoners (Persian: Vastryoshan).
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
A
Griot,
who have been described as an endogamous caste of West Africa who
specialise in oral story telling and culture preservation. They have
been also referred to as the bard caste.
Among the Igbo of Nigeria – especially Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Edo and Delta states of the country – scholar Elijah Obinna finds that the 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 ostracised, 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 Ivory Coast,
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 specialisations 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
Ethel M. 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.
Horn of Africa
The
Madhiban (Midgan) specialise in leather occupation. Along with the Tumal and Yibir, they are collectively known as
sab.
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. Alula Pankhurst has published a study of caste groups in SW Ethiopia.
Among the Kafa,
there were also traditionally groups labelled as castes. "Based on
research done before the Derg regime, these studies generally presume
the existence of a social hierarchy similar to the caste system. At the
top of this hierarchy were the Kafa, followed by occupational groups
including blacksmiths (Qemmo), weavers (Shammano), bards (Shatto),
potters, and tanners (Manno). In this hierarchy, the Manjo were commonly
referred to as hunters, given the lowest status equal only to slaves."
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
European feudalism with its rigid aristocracy can also be considered as a caste system.
Basque region
For centuries, through the modern times, the majority regarded Cagots who lived primarily in the Basque region
of France and 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, and
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.
United Kingdom
In July 2013, the UK government announced its intention to amend the Equality Act 2010,
to "introduce legislation on caste, including any necessary exceptions
to the caste provisions, within the framework of domestic discrimination
law". Section 9(5) of the Equality Act 2010 provides that "a Minister may by order
amend the statutory definition of race to include caste and may provide
for exceptions in the Act to apply or not to apply to caste".
From September 2013 to February 2014, Meena Dhanda led a project on "Caste in Britain" for the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
Americas
Latin America
The existence of a caste system based on the concept of casta in Latin America under colonial Spain has been raised and contemporarily contested, distinguishing it from more general colonial or racial discrimination.
United States
A survey on caste discrimination conducted by Equality Labs
found 67% of Indian Dalits living in the US reporting that they faced
caste-based harassment at the workplace, and 27% reporting verbal or
physical assault based on their caste.
In 2023, Seattle became the first city in the United States to ban discrimination based on caste.
In the opinion of W. Lloyd Warner, discrimination in the Southern United States in the 1930s against Blacks was similar to Indian castes in such features as residential segregation and marriage restrictions. In her 2020 book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, journalist Isabel Wilkerson used caste as an analogy to understand racial discrimination in the United States.
Gerald D. Berreman
contrasted the differences between discrimination in the United States
and India. In India, there are complex religious features which make up
the system, whereas in the United States race and color are the basis
for differentiation. The caste systems in India and the United States
have higher groups which desire to retain their positions for themselves
and thus perpetuate the two systems.
The process of creating a homogenized society by social
engineering in both India and the Southern US has created other
institutions that have made class distinctions among different groups
evident. Anthropologist James C. Scott elaborates on how "global capitalism
is perhaps the most powerful force for homogenization, whereas the
state may be the defender of local difference and variety in some
instances".
The caste system, a relic of feudalistic economic systems, emphasizes
differences between socio-economic classes that are obviated by openly
free market capitalistic economic systems, which reward individual
initiative, enterprise, merit, and thrift, thereby creating a path for
social mobility. When the feudalistic slave economy of the southern United States was dismantled, even Jim Crow laws did not prevent the economic success of many industrious African Americans, including millionaire women like Maggie Walker, Annie Malone, and Madame C.J. Walker. Parts of the United States are sometimes divided by race and class status despite the national narrative of integration.
Caste in sociology and entomology
The
initial observational studies of the division of labour in ant colonies
attempted to demonstrate that ants specialized in tasks that were best
suited to their size when they emerged from the pupae stage into the
adult stage. A large proportion of the experimental work was done in species that showed strong variation in size.
As the size of an adult was fixed for life, workers of a specific size
range came to be called a "caste," calling up the traditional caste
system in India in which a human's standing in society was decided at
birth.
The notion of caste encouraged a link between scholarship in
entomology and sociology because it served as an example of a division
of labour in which the participants seemed to be uncompromisingly
adapted to special functions and sometimes even unique environments.
To bolster the concept of caste, entomologists and sociologists
referred to the complementary social or natural parallel and thereby
appeared to generalize the concept and give it an appearance of
familiarity. In the late 19th- and early 20th centuries, the perceived similarities between the Indian caste system and caste polymorphism
in insects were used to create a correspondence or parallelism for the
purpose of explaining or clarifying racial stratification in human
societies; the explanations came particularly to be employed in the
United States. Ideas from heredity and natural selection
influenced some sociologists who believed that some groups were
predetermined to belong to a lower social or occupational status. Chiefly through the work of W. Lloyd Warner at the University of Chicago, a group of sociologists sharing similar principles came to evolve around the creed of caste in the 1930s and 1940s.
The ecologically-oriented sociologist Robert E. Park,
although attributing more weight to environmental explanations than the
biological nonetheless believed that there were obstacles to the
assimilation of blacks into American society and that an "accommodation
stage" in a biracially organized caste system was required before full
assimilation. He did disavow his position in 1937, suggesting that blacks were a minority and not a caste. The Indian sociologist Radhakamal Mukerjee was influenced by Robert E. Park and adopted the concept of "caste" to describe race relations in the US.
According to anthropologist Diane Rodgers, Mukerjee "proceeded to
suggest that a caste system should be correctly instituted in the (US)
South to ease race relations." Mukerjee often employed both entomological and sociological data and clues to describe caste systems.
He wrote "while the fundamental industries of man are dispersed
throughout the insect world, the same kind of polymorphism appears again
and again in different species of social insects which have reacted in
the same manner as man, under the influence of the same environment, to
ensure the supply and provision of subsistence."
Comparing the caste system in India to caste polymorphism in insects,
he noted, "where we find the organization of social insects developed to
perfection, there also has been seen among human associations a minute
and even rigid specialization of functions, along with ant- and bee-like
societal integrity and cohesiveness." He considered the "resemblances between insect associations and caste-ridden societies" to be striking enough to be "amusing."
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