How
Caste and
Class Systems differ
For having been around in the Indian
communities for over two
centuries, the ‘caste’ system has been branded as primitive. Yet
to the proponents of this system old is surely gold. This bonding
system runs deep in the Indian society and controls a lot about their
lives. Entrenched in the division of labor and conveyed as a religion
just to earn everybody’s participation, the caste system professed
that all person’s birth was dependant on a previous one. (Macionis
249)
Thus social dynamics were curtailed and knowledge was
carefully dispensed by the Brahmins who were the masters of the
belief with fatal consequences for non- respect. For any member who
was proscribed a non-caste member to be caught in violation of the
tough laws, it was not
rare to see violent orders met to them. Castes
dictate who marries whom, who is a slave to whom, and people have to
simply be obedient to their subgroups. Even other religious
communities’ conquered were the subject of the feudal system. But
to rise up the caste, one had to be credited by the empires attention
by some extraordinary activity. (Macionis 250)
The class system was started at the advent of the British
colony of the India. It was introduced by the colonist to reward
person in their economic ladder, starting with their linguistic
prowess which in this case was English. So classes were created bases
on English language class, dress class and Christian religion class
as bait to
access ‘promotion’ up the ‘class.’ This was a
double bondage as previously, the Indians had been defined
caste-wise. So the dilemma was that caste access to these class
offers was based on the caste level, and this time it went as far as
the naming system would prefer. So in the end it was not rare to
locate an
upper class person being more privileged than an upper
caste person. (Macionis 251)
Cited
Source:
Macionis
J. John; (2004). Sociology. Prentice Hall 10th
ed. ISBN: 0-13-184918-2 p. 249-251.
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