As the horrendous acts of violence against Dalit women and men keep reminding us, caste remains a vast system of hierarchy and inequality b...
As the horrendous acts of violence against Dalit women and men keep reminding us, caste remains a vast system of hierarchy and inequality but, as I will argue, it’s a system that learns and adapts to our brave new world – shedding its association with hereditary livelihood and learning new associations with politics and the state. It’s hard not to be cynical or angry about caste, but at the same time we have to understand why it’s been so robust.
Suppose you were to poll a hundred Indians – laypeople, academics, politicians, etc – what they thought caste was, chances are the answers you will get are of the following kind:
- It’s a universal system of hierarchy. Perhaps not expressed in this intellectual jargon, but nevertheless a system that places people on a ladder.
- It’s a hereditary system that dictates who you are, what you can do, whom you marry, what you eat, and where you live.
- In the modern era, it attaches itself to political life, access to the state, and a new regime of redistribution.
