Comment by smallnamespace
9 years ago
The fear of recognizing a caste system is that once you use words to describe something, the words themselves become a tool to reinforce and then codify that system.
I mean, India itself seems to be a prototypical example of that.
Is it? The caste system is mostly defunct. In my experience (admittedly, as an outsider who lives in mostly elite circles) there is actually a more significant caste-like system, but much like in the states there are no real words to describe it.
The best explanation I've seen of it is Chetan Bhaget's novel Half Girlfriend: http://amzn.to/2im0Cxq It's a masala romance novel, blah, but it's the only real discussion of the issue that I've seen.
He's also written a few newspaper columns on it: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/The-underage-optimi... http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/The-underage-optimi...
Very few people can even discuss these subtle, un-named caste systems, let alone argue against them. I can't stand Chetan Bhaget, yet I link to him anyway simply because he's really one of the very few who actually discuss it. Consider how difficult it is to even discuss Trump's victory in these terms as well.
I think that the best protection the caste system has is that we refuse to even give it a word.
On the contrary, without the words to describe such structures, they remain hidden from discourse and direct criticism. This protects the implicit structures by rendering them unassailable by democratic processes.
I am half remembering an issue with feminism and hierarchies; groups would naturally form hierarchies anyway, but without any formalism or recognition of them, the effects were made far more insidious
I think this is what you are referring to: http://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm
But they become far more assailable by social processes, and often without a fight at all.