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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - VIII. Social Stratification - 31. Caste and Class - 1. The Concepts “Caste” and “Class”
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668 An American Dilemma
relatively large di-fference in freedom of movement between groufs. This
difference is foremost in marriage relations. Intermarriage between Negroes
and whites is forbidden by law in 30 states of the Union and even where
it is not legally forbidden it is so universally condemned by whites that it
occurs extremely infrequently.*^ The ban on intermarriage is one expres-
sion of the still broader principle, which is valid for the entire United
States without any exception, that a man horn a Negro or a white is not
allowed to fass from the one status to the other as he can ’pass from one
class to another In this important respecty
the caste system of America
is closed and rigidy
while the class system is, in a measurey
always open and
mobile. This has social significance because, as is evident from the preceding
chapters, being a Negro means being subject to considerable disabilities in
practically all spheres of life.
It should, however, be clear that the actual content of the Negro’s lower
caste status in America, that is, the social relations across the caste liney
vary considerably from region to region within the country and from class
to class within the Negro group. It also shows considerable change in time.
But variation and change are universal characteristics of social phenomena
and cannot be allowed to hinder us from searching for valid generaliza-
tions. It will only have to be remembered constantly that when the term
’^caste relations” is used in this inquiry to denote a social phenomenon in
present-day America, this term must be understood in a relative and quan-
titative sense. It does not assume an invariability in space and time in the
culture, nor absolute identity with similar phenomena in other cultures.’
It should be pointed out, incidentally, that those societies to which the term
“caste” is applied without controversy—notably the ante-bellum slavery
society of the South and the Hindu society of India—do not have the “stable
equilibrium” which American sociologists from their distance are often
inclined to attribute to them.*’
Much of the controversy around the concept caste seems, indeed, to be
the unfortunate result of not distinguishing clearly between the caste
relation and the caste line. The changes and variations which occur in the
American caste system relate only to caste relations, not to the dividing line
between the castes. The latter stays rigid and unblurred. It will remain
fixed until it becomes possible for a person to pass legitimately from the
lower caste to the higher without misrepresentation of his origin. The
American definition of “Negro” as any person who has the slightest
amount of Negro ancestry has its significance in making the caste line
* See Chapter 29, Section 2.
**
A person can pass if he misrepresents his orgin, which it is impossible to do in most cases.
For discussion of “passing” see Chapter 5, Section 7. Also see Section 4 of this chapter.
A Hindu acquaintance once told me that the situation in the United States is as much,
or more, describable by the term “caste” as »*s the situation in India.
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