Caste System Research Paper

within our nation’s borders, including poor whites, who are often pitted against poor people of color, the collapse of mass incarceration will not mean the death of racial caste in America. Inevitably a new system of racialized social control will emerge … No task is more urgent for racial justice today than ensuring thatAmerica’s current racial caste system is its

Although now banned, India’s social structure is still burdened with inequalities and hierarchies known as the caste system. The caste system is a class structure determined by birth, and is derived from Varna, and idea taken from Hindu literature. Society was divided by labor and comprised of four occupational groups (Fisher 98). These four groups were the Brahmins, the priests or spiritual class; the Kshatriya, the nobility or ruling class; the Vaishya, the merchants and farmers; and the Shudras or servants. There was also a group outside of the caste system known as the Dalits. Eventually these groups became

Since the caste system is thousands of years old, it seems it was possibly developed out of necessity in the past. Everyone, no matter their caste, has a role to fulfill in order for everyone in their village to survive, and function. This may explain why caste is more relevant in villages than when it is compared to

In old Hindu society your caste and assigned duty was the most important aspect of your life. No matter what caste someone was in, fulfilling their dharmas, or duties, that they were assigned to was their priority. These duties were innate, meaning that were inborn, or natural. These dharmas played a role in social order; everyone in the four castes had a role to play. Manu, the creator god, made “separate innate activities for those born” from him, in order to “protect this [his] whole creation” (40, 87). Brahmins were priests and were at the top of the caste system. Priests’ innate activities were to teach, learn, sacrifice for themselves and others, and giving as well as receiving (40, 88). If they did not perform these duties they were no longer considered priests. Even if someone performed their duty “without any good qualities” (43, 97), it was better than performing someone else's innate activity greatly. If someone were to do the duties of another caste, they would fall from their own caste immediately. For example, a priest would not be able to live as a priest performing the duties of a shudra, or a servant.

The intense hierarchical system in India has been immensely fascinating for thousands of years. A probable theory to the beginning of the caste system is the movement of Aryan population into India from the north. The Aryan peoples conquered much of India and its ' natives causing a separation between the two populations, possibly explaining the separation between the higher castes and the “untouchables.” Additionally, the Aryan 's imposed their preexisting hierarchy on the natives thus creating the caste system. However, “According to Hindu tradition the caste system owes its origins to the four Varna.”(149. Hutton) The Varna are based on different parts of Brahma, or God, each part representing a seperate caste. Much of Hindu belief, practices, and text further the structure of the caste system, such as the idea of Dharma, and text in the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture. Though the creation of the caste system, similar to Hinduism itself, is not traceable, the caste system and its continuation can largely be contributed to the Hindu faith. From creation the Hindu faith helped perpetuate, enforce, and build the caste system through stories, texts, laws, and practices.

The Caste system has aroused much controversy than any other feature of India’s society. Every day, Dalits are butchered, assaulted, abused, raped, lynched, shot or openly mutilated without considering any consequences of the offenders. The deaths of pregnant women who are not able to pay the bribes at government hospitals, some boys with eyes raised completely out for falling in love with a girl of a superior caste, and horrid stories of employees boiled to death because of spewing out arguments with the boss are continuously reported in mainstream newspapers. After years of democracy, the social structure stands to practice the caste system disregarding abolishment laws. Every international or national effort to abolish caste differentiation and segregation has been proven ineffective. The caste system of India is a deeply inculcated social problem requiring immense commitment domestically and internationally in understanding what has stopped the measures to get rid of this ancient system and what measures are needed to complete elimination of the system.

In ancient India and China a social system was developed to separate the society into levels. This social system is called a caste system. Which caste level you belong to was determined by your occupation and family origin. If you were born the son of a king your life was grand. But, if you were born to a farmer you are a farmer for life. Your birth determines where you fall in the caste system, and you live according to the rules. Both ancient India and China had the caste system. Ancient India and China had similarities and differences in the caste system.

Hinduism reinforces the caste system, which is a "division of society into social classes that are created by birth or occupation" and it is a "prevalent social system of Hinduism" (Molloy 90). Thus, class and race are both elements affected by the caste system. There are different castes, or social classes, and there are also subcastes. Despite the caste being permanent for one's life, it's not to say that those in lower castes cannot move up to a higher caste. This is where the concept of rebirth comes into Hinduism, which is the idea that an individual can make certain choices in their lives, good or bad, and this can affect what caste they will be reborn into.

The caste system itself is a system of social stratification, based on two concepts, varna and jati. Varna

Caste System: A form of social grouping predominant in India which is characterized by hereditary transmission of lifestyle, marriage, occupation and societal status.

Untouchability as claimed by the Indian government is said to be abandoned 60 years ago, however still 40% of Dalits are illiterate (Around 70 million). This tells us that the caste system unfortunately still exists. The caste system is a system of class and hierarchy, it divides people in terms of classes called castes which usually determines their status in the community and therefor their livelihoods. The caste system still exists and if not constitutionally definitely socially. The caste system presence keeps different communities separated, lowers national GDP (Economic activity/development), discriminates against those of the lower caste, slows the development procedure and creates unlimited social consequences.

“Please don’t play your games with a helpless poor girl” declared Dhowli. The Misra boy leaned in closer to her replying, “I’m not playing games.” Dhowli then shouted back “ You’ll leave after you tire of the game, and what will become of me? Am I to be like Jhale? No, deota, not that.” (238). I’m hesitate to keep reading after this line thinking to myself how I feel sorry for Dhowli and who she is going to become since getting pregnant with a Misra boy who is dominant in the caste system. Dhowli creates an ambitious, courageous, and philosophical figure in the short story “Dhowli” by Mashasweta Devi. In the short story the caste system is well defined showing of social stratification of two opposite levels of the social chain in India. To an American reader the foreignness of how India treats single mothers is how this short story stands out.

Throughout our experience, we have encountered so many challenges when it comes to gender in the society. Gender is being used as a basis for stratifying people in the society. In this article, the racial caste system that used to exist in the United State is depicted. In that the black women were denied the access to justice because of their status. They were perceived to be people who do not have any right within the society and no one could believed them when they were raped by the white men because all the court judges were white men according to this article. The women were classified to be from poor background and they should remain at a low class in the society.

Commonly referred to as the “oldest religion” in the world, Hinduism is believed to be created by the Aryans between 500 BCE and 300 CE. With over one billion followers internationally, it is the third largest religion. As a way to justify the caste system that had been put in place in India, many followed Hinduism due to reincarnation being apart of the religion. Many believed that individuals were in their current caste system due to what they did in the previous life. While Hinduism continued to prosper throughout India, Buddhism, a religion created by Siddhartha Gautama, was created and many started to turn this faith as a way to ensure the serenity of their afterlife. Due to Buddha creating a faith and basing a majority of it off of Hinduism’s

Caster Semenya is a female track athlete. Caster Semenya raced in the 800-meter event in the 2009 World Championships and ended up winning the gold medal. She also won the silver medal in the 2012 Olympics in London, England. However, Semenya’s success was soon pushed out of the spotlight and replaced by an investigation that was conducted in 2009 by the International Association for Athletics Federation (IAAF) after she won the gold medal. After shaving time off of her event time, the IAAF asked her to undergo a gender verification test. The results came back and it was then discovered that she was intersex, which means she is a female externally, but has internal male genitalia and elevated testosterone levels. This raised controversy among