Caste

Timeline

• 1896With the Gabo reform of 1896, the class system of Korea was officially abolished.
• 1901Starting with the 1901 Census of India led by colonial administrator Herbert Hope Risley, all the jātis were grouped under the theoretical varnas categories.
• 1930Lloyd Warner at the University of Chicago, a group of sociologists sharing similar principles came to evolve around the creed of caste in the 1930s and 1940s.
• 1959There were three main feudal social groups in Tibet prior to 1959, namely ordinary laypeople (mi ser in Tibetan), lay nobility (sger pa), and monks.
• 2012As of 2012, the socio-economic limitations of the caste system were noted to have been reduced due to urbanisation and affirmative action.

Read

• American GodsNeil Gaiman · 2001Book
• Norse MythologyNeil Gaiman · 2016Book
• Cast, in order of disappearanceSimon Brett · 1975Book
• CasteIsabel Wilkerson · 2020Book

Listen

• Hagars Daughter. A Story of Southern Caste PrejudicePauline Elizabeth HopkinsPodcast
• Breakfast QuestNick Amadeus and Lars CasteenPodcast
• Caste IdentityEkalavya HansajPodcast
• The Indian Caste systemMathias HansenPodcast

By the numbers

• 8.2BWorld population — global, 2025 (World Bank)
• 57.8Urban (% of people) — global, 2025 (World Bank)

Debates

• Is caste exclusively a South Asian phenomenon?One view: Some scholars argue that caste, with its unique religious and historical foundations, is distinct to South Asia. · Another: Others contend that similar hierarchical systems exist globally, suggesting broader parallels in social stratification.Open question
• Is the influence of caste diminishing in modern society?One view: Modernization, urbanization, and legal protections are weakening traditional caste structures and discrimination. · Another: Caste identities persist and adapt, influencing politics, marriage, and social networks in new ways.Open question

Glossary

• CasteA rigid system of social stratification, often hereditary, based on birth and traditional occupation.
• VarnaThe four broad hierarchical categories in ancient Hindu texts: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras.
• JatiA sub-caste or community group, traditionally linked to specific occupations and often numbering thousands.
• DalitA term meaning 'broken/scattered,' adopted by groups formerly considered 'untouchable' outside the Varna system.
• EndogamyThe practice of marrying only within one's own specific social group, caste, or community.
• DiscriminationUnfair treatment of a person or group based on prejudice, often due to their caste identity.

Careers

Roles this can lead toward

Threads 5

Where this connects to other fields — and why it's worth knowing.

• Religion and Morality Religion

  Caste tied your social rank to religious ideas of purity, so questioning the ranking meant questioning the whole religious universe. That's why people fighting caste often had to start entirely new religions. To escape the ladder, they had to leave the building.

• Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Technology

  An AI deciding who gets a loan or bail learns from old records — records shaped by caste. So it quietly repeats that bias while looking neutral and "data-driven." Caste gets outlawed on paper but survives inside the algorithm.

• Genetic Engineering & CRISPR Health

  Imagine gene upgrades for smarts or strength that only rich families can afford. Then their advantage stops being just money passed down and becomes actual biology passed down. That's a caste system written straight into people's DNA.

• Economic Development Economics

  Loans, job tips, and referrals often travel through who you know, and those networks quietly run along caste lines. So even a market that officially ignores caste keeps sorting people by it behind the scenes. It becomes money's invisible filing system.

• Genetics & DNA Science

  For thousands of years, caste rules meant people only married within their own group. That social habit left a real mark in DNA: distinct genetic patterns and clusters of certain diseases. A hierarchy invented in people's minds ended up printed in their genes.