CASTE AND INHERITED STATUSIn the 1990s there were numerous instances
of confrontations between the middle peasant
castes and Dalits in rural areas. Violence and re-
pression against Dalits has increased as they have
begun to assert themselves. With the support of
Communist and Dalit movements, they are de-
manding better wages, the right to till govern-
ment-granted land, and the use of village wells.
In urban areas, caste conflict has mainly cen-
tered around the issue of ‘‘reservation.’’ The other
backward castes (who belong mainly to the Shudra
caste and form about 50 percent of the country’s
population) have demanded from the government
benefits similar to those available to Dalits in
government service and educational institutions.
Under electoral pressures the state governments
have extended these reservation benefits to the
other backward castes, leading to discontent among
the upper castes.
Extension of preferential treatment from Dalits
to the more numerous and in some states some-
what better-off backward castes has not only creat-
ed great resentment among the upper castes but
also has reduced public support for the policy of
special benefits for the Dalits. In cities they have
often been victims during anti-reservation agita-
tions. That this is happening at the very time when
the preferential programs have gradually succeed-
ed in improving the educational and economic
conditions for Dalits is not accidental (Sheth 1987).
As education and the meaning of the vote and
the ideas of equality and justice spread, the rural
and urban areas will witness severe intercaste con-
flicts. What is significant, however, is that these
conflicts are not over caste beliefs and values, but
like conflicts elsewhere between ethnic groups,
have to do with control over political and econom-
ic resources.
CASTE IN OTHER SOCIETIESDo castes exist outside India? Is it a unique social
phenomenon distinct from other systems of social
stratification? Opinion among scholars is divided
over this issue. Castelike systems have been ob-
served in the South Asian subcontinent and be-
yond (in Japan, Africa, Iran, and Polynesia). Caste
has also been used to describe the systems of racial
stratification in South Africa and the southern
United States.
Whether the term ‘‘caste’’ is applicable to
societies outside the South Asian region depends
on how the term is defined. Those who focus on its
religious foundations argue that caste is a particu-
lar species of structural organization found only in
the Indian world. Louis Dumont (1970), for exam-
ple, contends that caste systems are noncomparable
to systems of racial stratification because of the
differences in ideology—one based on the ideolo-
gy of hierarchy, the other on an equalitarian
ideology.Cultural differences notwithstanding, caste as
a ranked system exists in many societies. In fact,
wherever ethnic groups stand in a hierarchical or
ranked relationship to each other they resemble
castes (Weber 1958; Horowitz 1985; Berreman
1981). As in caste systems, the identity of an ethnic
group is regarded as being a consequence of birth
or ancestry and hence immutable; mobility oppor-
tunities are restricted; and members of the subor-
dinate group retain their low social position in all
sectors of society—political, economic, and social.
Social interactions between groups remain limited
and are suffused with deference. Given these simi-
larities in their social structures and social process-
es, caste stratification is congruent with race strati-
fication and ranked ethnic systems. Below are
some examples of castelike systems in countries
outside South Asia.
In Japan, during the Tokugawa period (from
the early 1600s to the middle 1800s), the Shogun
rulers established a very rigid, hierarchical system
that was maintained by force of law and other
means. At the top were the shogunate warrior-
bureaucrats, their samurai military elite, and the
higher aristocracy. This was followed by peasants,
then artisans, and then merchants. At the bottom
and separated from the rest of the populace there
was a group of outcasts called eta (meaning heavily
polluted) or hinin (meaning nonhuman) who were
treated much like the Indian Untouchables de-
scribed above. Eta were legally barred from marry-
ing outside their group or from living outside their
designated hamlets. These hamlets were called
buraku, and their residents known as Burakumins.Burakumins are indistinguishable in appear-
ance from other Japanese. They faced discrimina-
tion because they inherited their status from peo-
ple whose jobs were considered polluting and
undesirable like butchering animals, tanning skins,