What is the caste system? Describe any conflicts there may be apparent between the classes.
Chapter 13 Essay Questions
A caste is an inherited social class. There are four major classes based on the caste system: the priests, warriors and princes, merchants and farmers, laborers, and the untouchables. The caste system influenced people greatly in the past and still today. The government is not working to reduce the influence of the caste system.
An example of the government not reducing the influence is that there still are violent clashes between higher and the lower classes. “Sometimes the high castes strike the lower castes who dare to uplift their status. Sometimes the lower caste gets back on the higher castes,” (Adaniel’s info site). When I went to India about two years ago, I observed that people had a young child stay at their house and make them do work that the people that lived there didn’t want to do (people who worked like this were called the untouchables). This also shows that the government isn’t reducing the influence of the caste system. Another example is that when people meet each other and someone from a lower class comes by, they would either walk away or ignore them.
In conclusion, the government has not reduced the influence of the caste system in India. People are still influenced by the caste system today. There are violent clashes between different classes. With the government not reducing the influence, these beliefs that people are not equal will continue on.