Causes of casteism

 

There are multiple causes of casteism:

 

• The feeling of caste prestige: The feeling of superiority / inferiority by the members of a caste over the rest may be construed as an important cause of casteism. The Hindu society is divided into many castes on the basis of superordination and subordination. The members of any caste want to enhance the prestige of their own caste group. Therefore, they endeavour to stabilize the position of their own caste, which ultimately results in casteism.
  
• Connubium: The practice of caste endogamy, which proclaims that a person can marry only within her/his caste, has been responsible for the emergence of the feeling of casteism. By restricting the circle of marriage to one's own caste, people have developed different degrees of social distance within and outside their own caste.
  
• Lack of scientific worldview: Though science and technology have advanced in India, we have not been able to develop scientific worldview in our practices. A nation becomes stronger based on its scientific and technological outlook, not on the basis of superstition, orthodoxy and obscurantism propagated by casteism.
  
• Lack of urbanization: Urbanization, and to a lesser extent industrialization, emerged in colonial India. Even after India's independence, the mode of production hardly changed. The ruling class in India has used casteism for its political mileage. The sluggish pace of industrialization has resulted in the continuity of caste feeling in the Indian psyche.