Many countries around the world have an "untouchable" class. I'm most familiar with the burakumin in Japan (disclosure: lived next to a burakumin community whil

Many countries around the world have an "untouchable" class. I'm most familiar with the burakumin in Japan (disclosure: lived next to a burakumin community while teaching there). These untouchable classes function in society as a way to keep the lowest rungs of the "official" social classes in line. If you don't do your terrible job we can always cast you down there. The United States has untouchable classes as well, they're just called "homeless" or "undocumented" and we are taught to believe that "it's their own fault" rather than the result of a shitty traditional caste system. The last couple decades have expanded this class and made it more visible. I don't think this was a conspiracy, but the existence of this class is certainly advantageous to corporations that want to keep people down.