In the eyes of modern people with our generally enlightened views, we tend to consider strict social classifications with little or no opportunity for social mobility or interaction an archaic concept. We see these systems as discriminatory and racist. Comment on the social system of the Aryans, but consider how this system may have benefited them.
Post by March 17.
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21 comments:
the system is racist as the darker people are repressed by the lighter one (common theme in history). it also causes problems, because if you are an untouchable, but a brilliant artist, than everyone is losing out. if there was little mobility, it meant little change and a very conservative society, so conservative, that the caste system lasted for over 3000 tears. it must have served india well, as indian hindu culture survived relativley unchanged, even through greek, islamic, mongol, mughal, british and corporate incursions into their culture and subcontinent. while bad for the lower five % it benefits everyone else. it provides relative economic stability and would almost eliminate unemployment (as someone didnt need to decide what they'd be or were theyd find work). despite providing stability to the economy, it was unfair because the people on the top did the least amount of work and the bottom did the most. (this how most systems tend to work).
In my opinion, I think the caste system was beneficial to the Indian society. Although the system was prejudice, in many ways it contributed to this thriving Indian culture. The system was in affect for over three-thousand years in India. If the system did not work then the Indian culture would not have been so successful. Only about five percent of the Indian people were affected in a bad way by the system. This was the lower caste. This system eliminated unemployment ensuring a stable economy. If its not broke don't fix it. This expression holds true in terms of the Indian society. The system was a contributer to the thriving and stable society that was India.
I think it is interesting how the Aryan people considered dark colored skinned people as lower and that idea was transmitted to our early culture and some people of today. I like how Alex put it. It is really a reoccurring theme in history. As for the social classes it was pretty affective system. The smart people and the people that could defend them at top so they have the most power. I also like how the commoners had their own place so they could flourish. I believe there should not be the even lower class they should have been more commoners so there would be more "citizens" with full rights.
well, first off this system wasnt too far off from many of the policies that existed through history. the dark-skinned and the poor were considered "untouchable" and were put in charge of animals or even the cleaning of public lavatories. many considered the untouchables themselves to be animals. but despite the racism and spite, by filling these positions with people that are payed little to none, businesses and the economy of india thrived. obviously it served as a good system due to the fact that it lasted so long through conquest and instability. only a very small fraction of the population was negatively influenced by this system. so though they were treated like crap, it still benefitted the larger portion of the population.
the system of the Aryans, although was very racist, benefited them greatly. Even though the lower class was untouchable and put in the lowest forms of jobs, it created a division of labor which is one of the key ingredients of a succesful civilization. This system could have also benefited them by making their economy soar by labor of the pariahs for no pay. This made for a very succesful period of time which made some very wealthy. I believe that our civlizationis very much like the Aryan's for so much racism and inequality exists within our everyday lives. Stereotypes of different religons and races reflect very much that of the Aryan's extreme disrepsect and treatment of the pariahs.
I believe that the social system of the Aryans suited their culture as well as the time period they lived in. The social classifications they had greatly benefited them considering the sucsess their people created. Although to us today their systems seem rather racist and unequal...during their time period it suited their culture and lead to apparent sucsesses. As Matt said, their economy benefited from having the minorities work. Obviously not everyone was treated "unfairly..." and actually only a small percent of peoples were.
justin
the caste system was very individual so it formed multiple lifestyles. it was like four countries in one. the reason i think why it worked so well is because of fear. fear drove them to stay in there place. the highest social class was weak but because the had more power which kept the untouchables in their place. this system worked for ancient India though. they had jobs for different groups which kept them united because they depended on one another. a member of a jati could depend on each other because if one was in trouble the others would help out. that is why the succeed but that also could have been disastrous.
I believe that this system while having some flaws overall benefitted the Indian society. Yes, they were racist, but as alex said it was a common theme in history. Also, there were benefits in lower classes as well like the vaisya were "twice born" meaning they had a special ceromony when you were initiated into adulthood. As many other people have said, this system lasted a while, obviosuly meaning they had success from it. It did more good then bad. It provided stability, had clear divisions and overall improved the Indian society, therefore making it beneficial.
The social system of the Aryans definitely seems to describe a society where strict rules don’t allow for people to have opportunities or search for a better life. The class system being unchangeable with people meant to live within the same class forever, including their future generation, controls every part of peoples lives, especially when occupation, status and salvation is all pre-determined. The “untouchable” class is hard to read about. Even though it is just 5% of the population, those in this class have no chance for any happiness, and that is a rotten way to be treated. I agree that it helped to benefit the economy from having the terrible jobs done by the untouchable class, even if it is horrible to think about. I also agree with Sarah that there were benefits to the way that the system was designed, or else it would not have lasted. People must have felt secure to know where they belonged in life, knowing what is expected. It must have been easier to stay with the system than to find a different way. The people in each class must have supported each other and helped with marriages, learning jobs and daily life. As long as a person wasn’t in the untouchable category, they must have felt that life was good.
Certainly no one wants to say that classifying people from high to low matters, but the Aryan’s sure make a good argument. Though I can’t blame the people of that time to think that way, they didn’t know anything about if that was wrong or right. I mean even today that topic brings an argument. Though the way Indian culture worked there were trial and tribulations with lack of democracy and unusualness. I will agree with the rest of my class mates when I say, the Aryans had to be doing something right; because the quality, and duration of their civilization is to be admired for. UI would also like to apologize to my fellow classmates and Mr. Yip for my absence.
The Aryans caste system is no doubt what we consider racist today but I agree with everyone else that although strict and racist it benefitted them and worked for them. Their system gave you your place in society, I can imagine moving up your family in class was nearly impossible. If people had their place and knew what their jobs were there would be no clawing at each others throats for power, or ripping off the common people to benefit yourself.(Rome.) Say if your family was in the surdra class and you made pottery, then you already have a job. Your kids will learn how to do that job, then even if they don't they'll just have some other form of work that they'll pass on to their kids. Creating little unemployment and benefitting the entire civilization.
I find this situation very ironic. These people viewed and treated darker-skinned people different than them selves, yet with this issue of prejudice, were still very succesful (long-lasting). It is ironic because many years later, America did the same thing; treated darker colored skin people differently (as slaves) and we too were (and are) a very succesful nation. Also, some wealthy people in America today don't want to associate themselves with poor people. When will the world learn?
This system may seem to us and our government today as very racist and look down upon it. Well in my opinion I agree partially with them; I do find the system to be racist but in this situation it seemed to have worked. For the Aryan people the beings with the lighter skin are placed in a higher position in society. Like Alex said it would be a shame if an extremely talented man or women was born into a lower class, and was therefore unable to share their talent with their nation. Though this system seems a bad thing to us now with our “generally enlightened views” but it seemed to have worked, due to the fact that it lasted for so long.
Matt Hoey
I agree with Ramzi's comment in which he stated that the system wasnt too far off from many of the policies that existed through history. The system was racist because they considered dark-skinned people to be "untouchables" in which they were placed in very low and informal jobs. I also like how Ramzi stated that they were sometimes even considered "animals." But as others have said, having a minority work on the very bad jobs made the Aryans more successful and last longer since civilizations need people to work in such labor.
I agree with tom and rambzi because i think that we do view them a racist due to skin and social classification. Although, this seems racist to our modern societ, this doesn't mean that it wasn't effective for india. The lower body or group of the system are doing most of the work which lessens the work for the others but the higher groups protect them all which also benefits the lower class and middle class. Everyone knew what to do which made the economy stable and people's live remained mostly unchanged.
The social system of the Aryans was complex, unfair and racist. whatever class you were put in you could not get out of, and that rule remained the same for many generations. They put the people who were most important to their survival in the upper class, and basically the people who just made a living there in the lower class. Which I guess in a way did benefit their survival time, but It shut out new ideas and change. Every person in the Aryan society had their own identity and that also helped for their survival. Another way this system benefited them was the fact that the people who ran the Aryan civilization stayed in the upper class for many generations, so since their leadership worked while they were in power the next generations also worked while they were in power.
The system in the Aryan's point of view wasn't "racist" as it would be considered so in the future, and troubling to most. Rather they benefited from this because they had the lower class do the other types of jobs no other class wanted to perform. The other jobs being taken care of by the lower class would have achieved yet again another successful "year". Should they have impeded this act assignments wouldn't be completed, and theres a possibly chance of a slow decline. The way that I view this is that they had to either make a sacrafice by classifying people, or finding an alternative to compete with the other tasks. Yet we see they did not hesitate to choose one.
As Sarah has said, the system was right for the time period that the Indians were in. Sure, they might have given off the vibe of some discrimination, but everyone feels a certain pull to their own people and country that you don't feel to others. Racists are a kind of like a sub group of this because you tend to view people of different races kind of lower than what you view yours. However, find one person in this world besides probably someone like Mother Teresa, who does not value their own people higher amongst their friends than others.
Edward Cummins
The Aryans benefited them because the social groups provided stabilty for as the book said political turmoil. The caste system is racist as the darker people are thought of less than the lighter-skinned people as Alex said which evolved as a common theme in history. The minorities or the lower caste system contributed to the stability of economy as they knew it. So in conclusion this Aryan caste system was very effective.
discrimination is big buisness. by forcing the extremeley poor to work in conditions that would only make them poorer, but kept them alive, it allowed the economy to thrive, and made a rebellion virtually impossible. In spartacus, the rebels were trained fighters. if such a thing happened here, the rebels would be starved, diseased, and so far beaten by life, that they would been easily put down. A genius system. With American views, it is wrong, but it sure as heck worked for the aryans.
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