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Each broad caste level is a hierarchical order that is based on notions of purity, non-purity and impurity. It uses the concepts of defilement to limit contacts between caste categories and to preserve the purity of the upper castes. These caste categories have been exclusionary, endogamous and the social identity inherited. [85]
Castes are an example of a stratification structure based on ascribed status. [7] Although each caste system works differently, generally everyone is born into a specific caste and the caste of the parents generally determines the status of their children, regardless of ability or merit. The ranks of a caste system might include: priests and ...
The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic instance of social classification based on castes. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, especially in the aftermath of the collapse of the Mughal Empire and the establishment of the British Raj.
Consequently, achieved status implies that social mobility in a society is possible, as opposed to caste systems characterized by immobility based solely on ascribed status. In pre-modern societies, status differentiation is widely varied. In some cases it can be quite rigid, such as with the Indian caste system.
Joanne Rappaport, in her book on colonial New Granada, The Disappearing Mestizo, rejects the caste system as an interpretative framework for that time, discussing both the legitimacy of a model valid for the entire colonial world and the usual association between "caste" and "race". [7] [page needed]
Between brothers and sisters the sex differentiation often dominates the behaviour. Sisterhood and brotherhood most often overrule age differences, and there is a prescribed type of behaviour for a brother towards his sister and vice versa. Outside this intimate circle of the immediate family, the same principles of kinship and seniority hold sway.
They number between 20 and 25 million people in total across many countries of this region, and they have historically featured a caste system. [89] [4] [90] The Fula caste system has been fairly rigid and has medieval roots. [4] It was well established by the 15th century, and it has survived into modern age. [88]
The removal of the boundaries between "civil society" and "political society" meant that caste now played a huge role in the political arena and also influenced other government-run institutions such as police and the judicial system. Though caste seemed to dictate one's access to such institutions, the location of that caste also played an ...