THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CASTE AND CLASS
The Important Distinctions between Class and Caste Stratifications in societies are:
Caste Stratification is inherited and Class Stratification is mostly achieved:
Caste is inherited. A child at birth takes the status of his parents and as such, the latter attribute of his life cannot change what birth has given to him. Membership in a class does not depend on hereditary factors; rather depends on the worldly achievement of an individual.
Caste Stratification is Static, whereas Class Stratification is Dynamic:
Membership of caste cannot be left by an individual. Class, on the other hand, is a flexible system of social division. The child at birth belongs to the caste to which his or her parents belong. In the case of class, a child belongs to the class of his parents. However, in later life, his own attributes, mostly the results of his worldly achievements, determine the status and class of an individual.
He may climb to a higher class, he may slip into a lower one, or he may remain stationary in the same class, he may slip into a lower one, or he may remain stationary in which he was born. Caste, however, remains unaffected by any of those things.
Caste Stratification is Endogamous, whereas Class Stratification is not endogamous:
The choice of marriage partners in the caste system is strictly endogamous. Members have to marry within their own groups. If an individual marries outside his own group or caste boundaries, he is treated as outcaste.
No such restrictions exist in the class system, at least in their rigid form. A wealthy person may generally prefer to marry a wealthy family, but he may, without being out-casted from the wealthy class can, marry with a poor partner.
Caste Stratification is rigid, while Class Stratification is Flexible:
Caste system of social stratification, in order to preserve its closed characteristic and rigidity, placed many secondary restrictions on the conduct of its members.
These restrictions are meant to keep the solidarity of a particular class and at the same time, the nature of the restrictions act as distinguishing features of that caste. Free association of different castes is checked. A class does not place restrictions on the conduct of its individual members.
Caste Occupations are Traditional, whereas Class Occupations are Optional:
The caste, in the past, was generally associated with a common traditional mode of occupation and hence the occupational opportunities in the caste system are limited. The class allows its members to adopt the occupation of their liking.
Caste is Religious, while Class is Secular:
Caste is frequently religious in its sanctions. No religion is basically required for the class system itself. There is no restriction to the choice of any religion by individual members and each member is free to discard the religion at all. While the relative prestige of castes is fixed, that of classes is dynamic and mobile relative prestige of the different castes is well established and is jealously guarded. But in a caste system, despite the feeling of superiority and inferiority, there is no intensely relative order of prestige. People of different classes may eat, drink and associate with each other.
The above points clearly show the difference between class and caste stratification.
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