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Caste systems in Africa are a form of social stratification found in numerous ethnic groups, found in over fifteen countries, particularly in the Sahel, West Africa, and North Africa. [1] These caste systems feature endogamy , hierarchical status, inherited occupation, membership by birth, pollution concepts and restraints on commensality.
According to the World Bank, South Africa is the most economically unequal country in the world [citation needed]. The difference between the wealthy and the poor in South Africa has been increasing steadily since the end of apartheid in 1994, and this inequality is closely linked to racial divisions in society.
The social status variables underlying social stratification are based in social perceptions and attitudes about various characteristics of persons and peoples. While many such variables cut across time and place, the relative weight placed on each variable and specific combinations of these variables will differ from place to place over time.
As South Africa saw the end of political apartheid, the country experienced movement in the demographics of social class. Many native South Africans were able to get high paying jobs and raise themselves out of poverty. [1] However, South Africa still remains one of the most unequal societies on the planet today.
Social apartheid is de facto segregation on the basis of class or economic status, in which an underclass is forced to exist separated from the rest of the population. [1]The word "apartheid", an Afrikaans word meaning "separation", gained its current connotation during the years of South Africa's Apartheid system of government-imposed racial segregation, which took place between 1948 and ...
Isaac Schapera writes about the Southern Bantu in general in "The Bantu Speaking Tribes of South Africa": "Polygyny is practised; but, except in the case of Chiefs and other prominent or wealthy men, not to any marked extent. Among the Shangana-Tonga, Venda, and Tswana the first wife married is normally the great wife, the rest ranking as minor ...
Social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of society about social class, wealth, political influence. A society can be politically stratified based on authority and power, economically stratified based on income level and wealth, occupational stratification about one's occupation.
[72] [73] [74] The specifics of the caste systems have varied in ethnically and culturally diverse Africa; however, the following features are common – it has been a closed system of social stratification, the social status is inherited, the castes are hierarchical, certain castes are shunned while others are merely endogamous and ...