Caste System

Caste System

Jordy Fernando

        What countries still observe/respect a caste system, in which people are born into and inhabit a well-defined/restricted socioeconomic status?  How is social mobility constrained?

        Caste system is a class structure that is determined by birth. A person’s socioeconomic status is determined as soon as he/she is born. Socioeconomic status includes social position based on income, education and occupation. This system is usually conducted in a country with Hindu as its main religion/belief, such as India. However, some countries like North Korea and Japan also conduct this class structure system. In this essay, I will outline three main discussions. First is the background and purpose of the caste system .Secondly, is the caste system today in these different countries. Thirdly, social constraints caused by these social stratification.  

        All of those three countries have different purposes and backgrounds. Indian caste system was created under one Hinduism’s belief, which is the reincarnation. According to Szczepanski( n.d), one’s caste is detemined by his/her behaviour in his/her previous life in his next life.Caste system in India is a very non-flexible system. One with low caste system can only hope to be reborn with a higher status in the next life. This system is made by India to distinguish which one is holier and has a better socioeconomic status. Usually people with higher caste has higher economic status. According to Szczepanski, (n.d), Indians divide its 4 main castes into several thousands sub-castes. Unbelieveably, each one determines one’s occupation.

        Japan’s caste system, on the other hand, is a system which was created under the ideology of Confucian philosophy. It is different with Indian, because this is not determined by any religion. According to the principle, everybody notices their hierarchy/place, and respect those who have higher hierarchy. According to Szczepanski(n.d) males were higher than females, older people have higher place than younger ones. Farmers were ranked second after the samurai, because everyone was depending on farmers to produce rice as needs.

        According to Lankov(2011) North Korean caste system, is a different kind of caste system. It is called the Songbun. In 1957, the regimes proposed a large scale and ambitious investigation of the family backgrounds of all North-Korean citizens. As time passed by, the entire population was divided into a number of groups. The system purpose was to somehow, manage every person’s life prospects/aspects.

According to Sankaran(2013), caste is not a vocabulary which most modernized Indians likely to use nowadays. Whether they like it or not, it is still there. There are still people who suffer from this discriminating system. There are five castes in India. The highest is Brahmins, they are the academics/priests. Secondly, there is the Ksahtriyas, usually they are involved in the nation’s political system, and they are the warriors. Thirdly, there is Vaisyas, they are the ones who have trading skills. Next, they have the Sudras, who are the unskilled workers. The bottom-most are the Dalits, the untouchable people. Obviously the people who suffer most are the Dalits.