{"id":53862,"date":"2021-11-02T11:52:41","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T15:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=53862"},"modified":"2021-11-14T14:22:58","modified_gmt":"2021-11-14T18:22:58","slug":"what-is-casteism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-casteism\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Casteism?\u2014Explained With Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is casteism? How do caste systems contribute to social injustice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Casteism is a practice of maintaining a hierarchical social order where an inherent characteristic is used as a tool to designate people\u2019s rank in society. Historically, powerful groups have used religion, ethnicity, or skin color to stratify societies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, we&#8217;ll explore the notion of casteism and how it works on three real-world examples: America, India, and Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The 3 Major Caste Systems: America, India, &amp; Nazi Germany<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Wilkerson believes there are three main <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/caste-system-examples\/\">examples of caste systems<\/a> in history\u2014the American South, India, and Nazi Germany.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Wilkerson\u2019s list of the primary examples of caste systems in history contains a notable exclusion: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Apartheid\">the apartheid system that governed South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s<\/a>. Like the systems in Nazi Germany, India, and the US, the South African <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/caste-society\/\">caste system<\/a> was codified into law and impacted every aspect of citizens\u2019 lives, including where they could live and work, who they could marry, and even which train car they could ride in.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The American Caste System<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>What is casteism and how does it work? According to the author of <em>Caste<\/em>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/american-caste-system\/\">American caste system<\/a> is divided into two primary castes: The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dominant-caste\/\">dominant caste<\/a> consists of people considered \u201cwhite,\u201d and the lowest caste consists of people considered \u201cBlack.\u201d This system has its roots in the American institution of slavery, which was the standard mode of operation on American soil for 246 years, from 1619 to 1865.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Wilkerson focuses her analysis on these two groups because racial tensions in the United States have historically revolved around the distinction between \u201cwhite\u201d and \u201cBlack.\u201d While focusing specifically on anti-Black discrimination is valuable, ignoring anti-Native American discrimination seems like a significant oversight, since some scholars estimate that roughly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.se.edu\/native-american\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2019\/09\/A-NAS-2017-Proceedings-Smith.pdf\">13 million Indigenous people in what is now the United States lost their lives to dominant caste violence, disease, and racism<\/a> between 1492 and 1900.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wilkerson describes how, in the eyes of enslavers, slaves weren\u2019t people\u2014they were symbols of commerce. Their sole purpose for existing was to serve as the machine that generated profits for the landowners. Slaves could be traded like cattle, auctioned like farm machinery, or given away as gifts. They had no say in who they worked for or where they were sent, and they could be separated from loved ones without question. One owner might brand his slaves to stake a claim to them, and owners often sold children to cover debts or settle disputes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: The fact that enslavers thought of enslaved Africans as property, not people, somewhat undercuts Wilkerson\u2019s argument that American society during slavery was universally understood as a caste system. Enslavers may not have thought of enslaved Africans as a lower caste because caste systems only apply to people, not to property. Therefore, while outside observers and enslaved people might have viewed this society as a caste system, enslavers may have disagreed.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Wilkerson, after Reconstruction (a 12-year period of federally enforced racial equality following the end of the Civil War), dominant caste people in the American South swiftly reclaimed their power through discriminatory laws. These laws dictated where Blacks could live, what types of jobs they could hold, and how they could be educated. Generation after generation grew up within this distorted system, and the author argues that today, the continued suppression of the subordinated caste is normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: These laws are known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jim-crow-segregation-nasa\/\">Jim Crow laws<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferris.edu\/htmls\/news\/jimcrow\/who\/index.htm\">\u201cJim Crow\u201d was originally a popular minstrel show character<\/a> portrayed by an actor in blackface). In addition to the formal laws that Wilkerson mentions, the Jim Crow era also featured a number of social codes that dictated behavior. For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferris.edu\/jimcrow\/what.htm\">Black people could not show physical affection to one another in public<\/a> or sit in the front seat of a white person\u2019s car.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Indian Caste System<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Wilkerson describes a strong historical connection between India and the United States. In both countries, the dominant caste persecuted the lowest caste, developed laws to maintain this unfair social order, and tortured the lower caste members who broke them. After centuries, both countries abolished the lawful caste system\u2014yet in both cases, the legacy of those social orders persists in the modern era.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the author, the difference between the two systems is in the structures of the castes. Contrary to the largely bipolar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/united-states-caste-system\/\">caste system in the United States<\/a>, India\u2019s caste system was an intricate system of many castes and subcastes. The five main castes included the 1) Brahmin, 2) Kshatriya, 3) Vaishya, 4) Shudra, and 5) the Dalits. The Dalits were most commonly referred to as \u201cUntouchables,\u201d and fall so low on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/social-hierarchy-meaning\/\">social hierarchy<\/a> that they\u2019re not technically considered part of the caste system at all.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Wilkerson doesn\u2019t mention that, while Indian caste divisions are rooted in Hinduism, converts to other religions (like Islam and Christianity) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-india-36220329\">often replicate the caste system in their own communities<\/a>. This means that, in addition to traditional Dalits, there are separate groups of \u201cDalit Muslims\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2021\/07\/12\/8-key-findings-about-christians-in-india\/\">Dalit Christians.<\/a>\u201d In the upper castes, there are also <a href=\"https:\/\/thewire.in\/caste\/caste-among-indian-muslims-real-why-deny-reservation\">separate groups for Muslim converts from higher castes (called \u201cAshrafs\u201d)<\/a>. These divisions further complicate the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/caste-in-indian-society\/\">Indian caste system<\/a>.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Did the Indian and American Caste Systems Contribute to Pandemic Outcomes?<\/strong><br><br>According to Wilkerson, it\u2019s no coincidence that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldometers.info\/coronavirus\/?utm_campaign=homeAdvegas1?#countries\">the United States and India were the two countries with the most documented cases of Covid-19<\/a> by mid-2021. In an Instagram post, she argued that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CMDP1ojA36S\/?utm_medium=copy_link\">the active caste systems in both countries played a contributing role<\/a> in the devastation caused by the pandemic. She believes that in both the United States and India, the active caste system encourages disregard for people outside one\u2019s own caste, which in turn promotes self-serving behavior at the expense of lower-caste people who may be more at risk of getting sick.<br><br>Data from both countries indicate that Wilkerson may be right. In India, <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/indias-coronavirus-pandemic-shines-a-light-on-the-curse-of-caste-139550\">Dalits migrant laborers were the first to lose their jobs when pandemic restrictions went into effect<\/a>, worsening the already rampant poverty among members of the lowest caste. Even worse: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ny1.com\/nyc\/all-boroughs\/in-focus-shows\/2021\/05\/16\/helping-the-caste-oppressed-hit-hardest-by-covid-in-india\">Many Dalits who did develop Covid-19 were turned away from hospitals on the basis of caste<\/a>. Similarly, in the United States, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/community\/health-equity\/race-ethnicity.html\">the pandemic disproportionately impacted communities of color<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2021\/03\/05\/us\/vaccine-racial-disparities.html\">many people of color struggled to access vaccines<\/a> when they became available.\u00a0<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Nazi Caste System<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Wilkerson, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/nazi-hierarchy\/\">Nazi caste<\/a> system and the American caste system are very similar\u2014and <strong>those similarities are intentional.<\/strong> She argues that when creating their caste system (which was designed to separate the dominant Aryan caste from the subordinate caste consisting of Jewish people and other minorities), Nazi leaders were fascinated with the legal system of discrimination in America\u2014particularly the regulations dictating who belonged to which caste. In America, anyone with even one drop of African blood was subordinate. (Shortform note: The Nazis weren\u2019t the only oppressive regime to take inspiration from American racism to create their own caste systems. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/born-a-crime\"><em>Born a Crime<\/em><\/a>, Trevor Noah describes how the politicians devising the South African <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/trevor-noah-apartheid\/\">apartheid<\/a> system also studied American race relations for inspiration.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Wilkerson tells it, <strong>the Nazis actually felt the American one-drop law was too harsh<\/strong>. In the end, they adopted a hybrid law based on the laws of Texas and North Carolina, which stated that any person beyond simple classification as dominant or subordinate would be judged based on their associations. The resulting law defined a Jew as anyone who either 1) had three Jewish grandparents, or 2) had two Jewish grandparents and associated with Jews or practiced Judaism. <strong>Jews were stripped of their citizenship and prohibited from marrying or having intimate relations with Germans.<\/strong> (Shortform note: Wilkerson doesn\u2019t mention that <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.ushmm.org\/content\/en\/article\/the-nuremberg-race-laws\">this law defined whether a person was Jewish based on their grandparents\u2019 <em>religious<\/em> associations<\/a>, regardless of whether those grandparents were <em>ethnically<\/em> Jewish. This shows that the Nazis thought Judaism itself (and not just ethnic Jewish heritage) was a polluting social force.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>The Nazi Caste System Encompassed Other Groups Beyond Jewish People<\/strong><br><br>While Wilkerson primarily focuses on Jewish victims of the Nazi regime, there were several other groups who made up the lowest caste in the Nazi caste system. The Nazis imprisoned, tortured, and killed untold numbers of non-Jewish people, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ushmm.org\/m\/pdfs\/2000926-Poles.pdf\">Polish<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.ushmm.org\/content\/en\/article\/mosaic-of-victims-in-depth\">Romani<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.ushmm.org\/content\/en\/article\/afro-germans-during-the-holocaust\">Black<\/a> people; <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/5953047\/lgbtq-holocaust-stories\/\">gay men<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.ushmm.org\/content\/en\/article\/mosaic-of-victims-in-depth\">children and adults with disabilities<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org\/non-jewish-victims-of-the-holocaust\">Christian clergy<\/a>; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org\/jehovah-s-witnesses-in-the-holocaust\">Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses<\/a>, among others. Historians debate how many non-Jewish victims died during the Holocaust, but the number is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilholocaustmuseum.org\/holocaust-misconceptions\/\">somewhere in the millions<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is casteism? How do caste systems contribute to social injustice? Casteism is a practice of maintaining a hierarchical social order where an inherent characteristic is used as a tool to designate people\u2019s rank in society. Historically, powerful groups have used religion, ethnicity, or skin color to stratify societies. In this article, we&#8217;ll explore the notion of casteism and how it works on three real-world examples: America, India, and Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":53863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,275,24],"tags":[193],"class_list":["post-53862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethics","category-politics","category-society","tag-caste","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Is Casteism?\u2014Explained With Examples - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is casteism? 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