Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

In this provocative work, Wilkerson makes a compelling case for the existence of caste in the U.S., despite little consideration having been given to that term for historical societal or racial divides up until now. The parallels to other nations in which caste has played a significant role in creating and perpetuating inequalities and inhumane behaviors are staggering.

So many concepts presented in this book are revelatory. To list a few that were especially thought-provoking:
• Nazi Germany was impressed with and inspired by American treatment of Black people — a chilling thought.

• The concept of Dominant Group Status Threat is eye-opening in that it pretty much explains the Republican Party's stance on just about everything.

• show more This excerpt: "By the time they recognized their fatal miscalculation, it was too late. Hitler had risen as an outside agitator, a cult figure enamored of pageantry and rallies with parades of people carrying torches that an observer said looked like rivers of fire. Hitler saw himself as the voice of the Volk, of their grievances and fears, especially those in the rural districts, as a god-chosen savior, running on instinct. He had never held elected office before."

• This excerpt: "This [the sale of lynching postcards] was singularly American. "Even the Nazis did not stoop to selling souvenirs of Auschwitz," wrote Time magazine many years later."

• This excerpt: "If the lower-caste person manages actually to rise above an upper-caste person, the natural human response from someone weaned on their caste's inherent superiority is to perceive a threat to their existence, a heightened sense of unease, of displacement, of fear for their very survival. "If the things that I have believed are not true, then might I not be who I thought I was?" The disaffection is more than economic. The malaise is spiritual, psychological, emotional. Who are you if there is no one to be better than?"

• I became conscious only as an adult that, despite feeling ethically superior in the aftermath of the Civil War, "The North" doesn't have a lot to brag about in terms of racism. It was never the welcoming utopia commonly depicted, and in fact northern racism was in many ways more insidious than the overt racism of the South because its equally discriminatory behaviors (e.g., redlining, redistricting) were shrouded in obfuscation.

It's difficult to put into words what I took from this book. It has both made me feel both more aware and more hopeless about the state of my country, as so much seems irrevocably broken, and I feel at a loss for what to do with what I've learned. show less

One of my good friends told me that this was “the best book she ever read”. I now see why. It gave me a whole new perspective on humankind and how and why we behave with cruelty to some others. I found it especially important because it was research into a global phenomenon as acted out by three different cultures (the American South, Nazi Germany, Asian Indians). As part of explaining the narrative, specific stories were used of situations that actually happened. Some of these episodes were disheartening, but others were truly appalling. Yet this is the world we live in. I doubt if we can change it, but it helps me to understand it. In this way, I think I can do my part to do right by other human beings.

This is one of the most show more disturbing books I have read. The castes of Nazi Germany evoke great emotion in me as I lost my maternal grandparents in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. I now was rereading about this experience from the view of caste systems and realizing this is no different than the caste systems of India and the caste systems of the American South. The idea of castes is examined by the author from many viewpoints. This work is well researched with amazing detail and clear, beautiful writing. This book should be a “must read” for everyone. show less

A bright light from a dark time. Rarely has a book forced me to sit and think about so many of its ideas, which along with the pandemic might help to explain why it's taken me so long to finish it. Wilkerson weaves together whole fields of research and thought and somehow made me see things that were there all along for me to see, but I hadn't. Especially impressive to me was her ability to inject narratives, sometimes very personal ones, to illustrate some of the book's ideas. I am just shy of the dominant caste described in this book. Being gay may be the only significant thing that prevents me from laying claim to all its privileges. So I have much more in common with the white woman who is "radicalized" in a story near the end of show more the book than I do with Wilkerson. But through Wilkerson's work I find there is more than enough there for me to recognize those moments in my own life when I was slighted, ignored, or even punished for being who I am. And to feel the same righteous indignation Wilkerson saw in her white friend, "on my behalf, on her own behalf, and on behalf of all the people who endure these indignities every day." I suspect I will be thinking of this book for a long time to come. show less

This may be one of the most important books I’ve ever read, tracing the history of prejudice and repression in this country back to the very origins. And then augmenting the narrative with examples of the results, both the mundane, every day events along with the world-wide implications. The result is a quickening experience, causing the reader to see the world around them differently and more keenly. One of the best passages explains the backlash from the Obama era, the group disenchantment after the election of a member from other than the ruling caste. Taken along with the census numbers at the time, heralding the time when white people would no longer be a majority in the country – and, thus, not the ruling caste – the show more disenfranchisement grew to boiling point, leaving us where we are today. It’s obviously more complicated than that, but that should just make you want to read the book.

5 bones!!!!!
Highly Recommended – should be mandatory reading. show less

What do you think of when you think of "caste"? Probably India, where the caste system was part of the culture and religion for thousands of years, from the rich Brahmins to the "untouchable" Dalits, and the caste you were born in was where you stayed. But what if America operates under a caste system, using race as its basis?

That's the thesis of Isabel Wilkerson's newest book, Caste, which explores how caste operates with - do I really have to spell it out? - white people at the top, Black people at the bottom, and other "races" somewhere in the middle. Instead of discussing race, though, she'll describe the caste ("the dominant caste," for example), reframing the conversation in a way that addresses both racism and classism but argues show more that caste is the framework for both. She'll often use India and Nazi Germany to compare and contrast caste in America, as she discusses the way caste has impacted every aspect of life - not just the history of slavery and concentration camps, but health outcomes, election results, and more. There is a lot here to digest, some parts are really hard to read, but it's well worth the effort and, I believe, a compelling argument for how our system works. show less

Since 2008 our generations have had to come to grips with the fact that, faced with a choice between loyalty to one's friends and family and loyalty to white supremacy - an alarming number would choose the second.

The cruelty from chattel slavery, the terrorism under Jim Crow, to the policies written in code since the Voting Rights Act – is there for anyone who cares to see it. The effort so many put into minimizing the damage done to perpetuate the myth of innocence and to enable the system to stay in place, the rage felt when someone’s ideas transgress the boundaries set by a caste system, the fact that given a choice between white supremacy and relationships, even blood, many will choose white supremacy, and the fact so many will show more choose to eliminate programs that will make their lives better (schools, health, employment opportunity) to prevent another group from benefitting – shows the deep roots beneath the surface.

It offers insight into why the organizations that enforce caste - why a law and order person will accept some violations but not violations of the caste system, why churches will be resigned to presence of some sin but not to transgressions of caste, why some school critics will accept some difference of opinion but not questioning of caste, why some acquaintances (social media and face to face) will be triggered by some ideas that bring up caste. Wilkerson is mining territory that's psychologically deeper than laws and religious texts.

Wilkerson addresses this as a teacher does, employing every analogy at her disposal, to show how pervasive our national problem is. Where her work succeeds most, perhaps, is in its encyclopedic organization. The long list of receipts and the short chapters dealing with each way caste penetrates our surroundings, is made to be re-read. I don’t think any one event in history is surprising but one of the dangerous myths is that every atrocity is an isolated incident – a myth that is easier to dispel when so many events are stacked so well, and their connections laid out with research.

And the book that needs to stay on the desk, accessible, since the problems addressed are going nowhere. As we see the move toward new channels where people can harbor their destructive beliefs – an attempt to create separate but equal news sources, social networks and truths – an accurate history and an accurate cultural memory are much needed weapons. show less

Isabel Wilkerson's Caste was powerful and challenging. She weaves the history and present day stories of India, Nazi Germany and the United States. Our country is horrifyingly deficient both statistically and spiritually when it comes to both time periods. Germany addresses its Nazi past--a period of 12 years--in ways that promote remembrance and repentance. I know not all Germans buy into the collective shame and grief but large parts of our population seem to celebrate hundreds of years of enslaving and dehumanizing millions of people.

I pass the huge Confederate flag Wilkerson describes every time I venture up 95. Only recently did they rename the house where Stonewall Jackson died...it had always been the shrine. It sits in Caroline show more County, part of a hotbed of that mix of Tea Party/Confederates that has arisen in parts of Virginia. Hanover County, just south of Caroline, has an active KKK group that shows up now and then to protest at the courthouse. I pass through on my way to points north and its roadsides sprout with yellow bulletin boards espousing radical right wing values. They are particularly incensed with the renaming of schools that has been taking place in their county. Wilkerson hits it on the head as she describes the anger. One new bulletin board describes the effort to erase their heritage. One statement from late in the book sticks with me. Rommel was a great general. There are no statues to Rommel in Germany.

Virginia, of course, also has the claim to fame of closing its public schools for five years rather than be forced to integrate. I wrote about this history here.

I cannot recommend this book enough. The frame of caste instead of race gives a wider perspective because it helps shows the stratas of our society that go beyond black and white. Those are the extremes but where you fall on the continuum can make a huge difference. show less