Caste in India and the United States

Caste in defined in such a way as to be useful cross-culturally. Comparison of race relations in the southern United States and relations between the untouchables and other castes in India demonstrates that the two systems are closely similar in operation despite differences of content. Low-caste status in India, as in America, is actively resented. Research emphasis upon the realities of structure and process as revealed by cross-cultural studies of caste interaction is more likely to lead to useful generalizations about this kind of social stratification and intergroup relations than is the more conventional emphasis upon differences of cultural content.