Casteism
Topic: Gender, Religion and Caste in Politics · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 3 "Gender, Religion and Caste"
Meaning
Casteism is the belief that caste is the only basis of social community. It holds that people of one caste form a natural community with the same interests. It also holds that people from any other caste do not share those interests. NCERT rejects this. Experience shows caste is only one part of a person's identity, along with class, gender, region and political views. Casteism matters because politics based only on caste can divert attention from poverty, development and corruption, and can lead to tension and violence.
Example
A leader tells voters to back "our caste's man" because only he will look after their interests. That ignores the fact that rich and poor members of the same caste often want different things from government.
Don't confuse with
- Communalism: the same kind of narrow belief, but based on religion. It holds that followers of one religion share the same interests and cannot form one community with followers of other religions.
- Caste in politics: the wider ways caste shows up in politics. Some of these can be positive, such as giving a voice to castes once treated as low.