A caste system often uses discriminatory notions of purity and contamination. It continues to have an impact on contemporary society in many areas of the world.

Caste is an ancient system of social hierarchy based on one’s birth that is tied to concepts of purity and social status. Its history, evolution and current state are complicated.

Caste and race are so interwoven in America that it is hard to separate the two. When a country has developed and perfected ...

1. A System Built on Qualities, Not Birth. The term "Varna" comes from the Sanskrit word for "color" or "quality." It wasn’t about your family lineage or the name you carried at birth.

In California, members of an under-the-radar, minority religious community are stepping into the public eye to advocate for making the state the first in the nation to outlaw caste bias.

Nearly 5.4 million South Asians live in the U.S., most of whom trace their roots to Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan or Sri Lanka, according to the group South Asian Americans Leading ...

Recent events are a reminder that the caste system still determines American life—but we can overcome it, writes Isabel Wilkerson. Sign Up for Our Ideas Newsletter POV. Subscribe Subscribe.

This week, years of work culminated in a historic win: On Feb. 22, Seattle became the first American city to explicitly ban discrimination on the basis of caste, after a vote by the city council ...

Cox’s book refuted the “caste school” of race relations. For nearly a decade, Cox had challenged scholars who compared U.S. race relations to the caste system in India—caste being a religious-social ...

The origins of the caste system in India date back 3,000 years. A proposed ordinance in Seattle would add caste to the city's anti-discrimination laws. Fox News Media ...

Caste is an ancient system of social hierarchy based on one’s birth that is tied to concepts of purity and social status. Its history, evolution and current state are complicated. A move to ...