Caste Systems in the Modern World: The USA

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Caste systems have existed since ancient times and are still present in the modern world. Those with access to resources and technologies have always used these advantages to establish a dominant position in society. Most people nowadays associate the caste system with ancient or medieval civilizations, while scholars point out that little has changed throughout the centuries. India has one of the better-known caste systems out of contemporary societies. However, the USA often referred to as “the land of the free”, can also serve as an exemplary model of a caste system in the modern world.

Main body

It is crucial to define the caste system to investigate how it survived all the wars and revolutions. Wilkerson (2020a) states that it is “an artificial hierarchy that helps determine standing and respect, assumptions of beauty and competence, and even who gets the benefit of the doubt and access to resources” (para. 2). Essentially, it sets specific standards that benefit a selected group of people. These standards can take the form of laws that take roots in public opinion and influence society even after being repealed. Wilkerson (2020b) characterizes it as “the subconscious code of instructions for maintaining, in our case, a 400-year-old social order” (para. 11). Racial disparities in the modern US are a prime example of issues attributed to a caste society.

Racism and casteism have a lot in common; however, these terms are not entirely interchangeable. While racism is always ethnicity-based, the nature of caste-based disparities is more diverse and can include several different factors. For example, James (2017) cites research that shows discriminative attitudes among medical workers not only towards persons of color but the working class as well. The psychotherapists in the study were less inclined to offer an appointment to a working-class patient compared to a middle-class patient regardless of their race. Overall, there is more to the problem of discrimination than just racism, and the concept of the caste system addresses these issues comprehensively.

Casteism ideology often finds success in the most conservative traditionalist sub societies. Shankar (2018) notes that anthropologist Gerald Berreman came to the conclusion that Indian villages and towns in the American Old South have largely similar caste societies after his Indian trip in the early 1960s. Social order in the USA has significantly changed since then, notably due to the impact of the Civil Rights Movement. However, many alt-right movements keep promoting the ideas of inequality nowadays. Shankar (2018) cites “The Bell Curve” as one of the key books inspiring these organizations. This work by Herrnstein and Murray, published in 1994, attributes lower IQ to race and financial status. Despite receiving backlash from the media and scientific community, it has been successful commercially. It supports the conclusion that despite the evolution of American society in the second part of the 20th century, the demand for the casteism ideology remains high.

Many of the ideas promoted by the modern ultra-right movements have roots in eugenics – pseudoscience that became popular at the beginning of the 20th century. While eugenics is known for being a cornerstone of the German Nazis’ agenda, it had a significant impact on American politics throughout the century. Nazi Germany actually sent researchers to the USA to study the racial segregation laws (Wilkerson, 2020a). However, Jim Crow laws proved to be too extreme even for Nazi ideology, as they refused to employ “one-drop rule”. Wilkerson (2020a) states that they came up “with a different configuration that actually encompassed more people into the Aryan side than would have been considered than the equivalent would have been in the United States” (para. 23). Overall, the massive impact of eugenics on American history is comparable to that of Europe. Immigration policy is yet another issue affected by the discriminatory laws of the past. Okrent (2019) states that the Immigration Act of 1924 was a result of the eugenics movement. It restricted the number of immigrants coming to the USA based on their nationality for decades until it was repealed in the 1960s. Okrent (2019) compares the 1920s with the current political situation, claiming that Muslim and Latin American immigrants are victims of the same ideology that affected Jewish and Italian immigrants a hundred years ago. Overall, the stance of Trump’s administration on immigration generally follows the principles of casteism.

The American Dream promotes the idea of meritocracy – a merit-based reward system with equal opportunities for everyone. While it might seem like an answer to a caste system, the facts do not support this assumption. Subramanian (2019) analyzes how the rapid growth of the IT industry in the second part of the 20th century was supposed to create equal opportunities for all Indians, but the plan ultimately failed. The new schools opening in the 1950s-1960s had no caste restrictions, unlike other universities, and provided arguably the best technical education in India. As the competition was too intense, applicants faced the necessity to enroll in a comprehensive preparation course to pass the entrance examination. Naturally, those from lower castes could not do it due to financial issues, thus leading to the continuing disparity in the Indian educational system. This example shows how the ideas of meritocracy can transform and exist within the caste system.

Financial disparity affects the value of education in the USA in a slightly different way. Shankar (2018) notes that while students from low-income families can apply for a loan, it often results in them being unable to repay the debts. The economic value of a degree depends on numerous factors, social networks being one of the most significant. Hershbein (2016) claims that “bachelor’s degree holders from low-income backgrounds start their careers earning about two-thirds as much as those from higher-income backgrounds, but this ratio declines to one-half by mid-career” (para. 4). It proves that, much like in India, meritocracy has not prevailed over the principles of the caste system in the USA.

Conclusion

The visibility of caste systems in the modern world is partially reduced by civil law. While anti-discriminatory laws have been introduced in most Western countries, some tendencies of the past have not been completely eradicated. As this paper shows, many aspects of American society can be compared to caste-based cultures such as India. Most notably, the heritage of racial segregation still affects social order in the USA. However, racial disparities are just a part of a bigger problem, castes. The caste system in the USA has been challenged continuously throughout the 20th century by numerous minority rights movements. Despite the success of the protest movements, studies show that casteism remains a popular ideology in certain sub societies. The theoretical concept of meritocracy does not work effectively in the caste environment, as the elites stay on top regardless of merit. Therefore, it leads to the conclusion that despite the progress made in the 20th century, the USA largely remains a caste system.

References

Hershbein, B. (2016). A college degree is worth less if you are raised poor.Brookings. Web.

James, S. A. (2017). The strangest of all encounters: racial and ethnic discrimination in US health care.Cadernos de Saúde Pública. Web.

Okrent, D. (2019). Eugenics, anti-immigration laws of the past still resonate today, journalist says.NPR. Web.

Shankar, S. (2018). Does America have a caste system?The Conversation. Web.

Subramanian, A. (2019). The caste of merit: Engineering education in India. Harvard Press.

Wilkerson, I. (2020a). It’s more than racism: Isabel Wilkerson explains America’s ‘caste’ system.NPR. Web.

Wilkerson, I. (2020b). America’s enduring caste system.New York Times. Web.

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Caste Systems in the Modern World: The USA

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