caste system in America

[Guest guest]

>He argues that American society

> has its own caste

> system.

 

Hello. I am Sister Usha, born in India but living in

the USA for many years.

Yes, of course America has castes, if by this you

mean different groups of people each with its own

position in the society. There are groups based on

levels of income, and others based on the national

origin of one's ancestors. But these groups are

flexible, not rigid. It is possible to change from one

group to another.

It is possible for a person who is born poor to

become middle class or even rich. This does not happen

nearly as often as Americans like to pretend, but it

does happen. The opposite is of course true as well.

As for ethnic groups, there is a huge amount of

intermarriage: Italians marrying Poles, Irish marrying

Japanese, Mexicans marrying Swedes, etc., etc. Note

that the custom in the United States is that the wife

adpots the family name of the husband, so that a woman

whose husband is Polish might be perceived as Polish

herself even if her parents were German. Children of

such mixed marriages think of themselves as Americans,

not identifying very strongly with the countries of

any of their ancestors. The exception is of course

African-Americans who marry whites or Asians only

occasionally.

This whole system is far different from India,

where castes are long codified by many centuries of

tradition.

 

Sister Usha

 

=====

Sister Usha Devi

Founder, Divinely Female and worshipper of the Sacred Flame that shines inside

every woman

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Hi All:

 

I agree that there is an amount of flexibility in American caste system that

Indian caste system HAD lost.

But please remember that there are SOME castes that are well nigh impenitrable

in the US of A. and that in India the Caste system is loosing its hold by and

large with intermarriages.

I think slowly american "Caste System" is falling into the trap of rigidity that

we in India had for a long time and is breaking down now. But US of A is slowly

entering the phase we are slowly getting out of.

Sister Usha Devi wrote:>He argues that American society has its own caste

system.

 

Hello. I am Sister Usha, born in India but living in

the USA for many years.

Yes, of course America has castes, if by this you

mean different groups of people each with its own

position in the society. There are groups based on

levels of income, and others based on the national

origin of one's ancestors. But these groups are

flexible, not rigid. It is possible to change from one

group to another.

It is possible for a person who is born poor to

become middle class or even rich. This does not happen

nearly as often as Americans like to pretend, but it

does happen. The opposite is of course true as well.

As for ethnic groups, there is a huge amount of

intermarriage: Italians marrying Poles, Irish marrying

Japanese, Mexicans marrying Swedes, etc., etc. Note

that the custom in the United States is that the wife

adpots the family name of the husband, so that a woman

whose husband is Polish might be perceived as Polish

herself even if her parents were German. Children of

such mixed marriages think of themselves as Americans,

not identifying very strongly with the countries of

any of their ancestors. The exception is of course

African-Americans who marry whites or Asians only

occasionally.

This whole system is far different from India,

where castes are long codified by many centuries of

tradition.

 

Sister Usha

 

=====

Sister Usha Devi

Founder, Divinely Female and worshipper of the Sacred Flame that shines inside

every woman

 

 

 

 

 

 

News - Today's headlines