6 ms·

You're almost right, but "class" and "caste" are not synonyms and cannot be used interchangeably.

by samsari 5mo ago

rob74 5mo ago
Well, as social mobility between classes becomes increasingly difficult, they become more and more like castes...
- baxtr 5mo ago
  OP is right. Status games take many shapes, distinct castes is one special shape.
- 21asdffdsa12 5mo ago
  You can already hear the pseudo-theories, justifying the differences for eternity. Blue blooded, of lazy blood, etc. Apply yourselfs and you will win.. adding insult to injury, when you can not win, you must in addition be lazy with only yourself to blame.
  - deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
  - darepublic 5mo ago
    I don't think it's really as simple as that. Source: lazybones
- Dylan16807 5mo ago
  Being in Congress is very mobile, and they're the ones with the special exemption.
dyauspitr 5mo ago
Sounds like people’s lot in life is becoming hereditary. Caste can be used.
alistairSH 5mo ago
Except in the United States it is true. Something like 80% of new military recruits come from military families (parent, sibling, uncle/aunt, or grandparent). Similarly over the last few decades the number of medical doctors who have immediate family who are also doctors has grown. Social and economic class in the US is increasingly set in stone and hereditary.
- mothballed 5mo ago
  Medical schools require a lot of volunteering and things like 'slinging hot dogs to pay tuition' don't count unless you grew up without clothes surviving on rabid dogs in the holler of W Virginia working the coal mines from age 8. We all know who has time to volunteer or do minimum wage healthcare instead of work the best paying shitty side job they can get: the rich. It's set up heavily tilted so you have to be rich, or dirt poor enough for a sob story, or a desired minority. Even if you do volunteer a lot and are middle class, you probably didnt know anyone that could help you into the most prestigious positions. A middle class person of equal aptitude would likely go into something like engineering or law which have fewer class-signalling non-academic purity tests.
  - alistairSH 5mo ago
    That gating on medical training has always been there (at least for 40 years, if not more). But the number of doctors from doctor families has increased. And just generally, socioeconomic mobility has decreased in the US across the population.
    - mothballed 5mo ago
      Always been gated. But the slider has been dragged even further in the purity test direction. The intelligent un-pure now tend to become NP or PA, those programs still let you practice independently and slide more towards academics and less at whether a rich person set you up to be taken care of while you play mother Teresa until the switch flips the day you are accepted.
  - triceratops 5mo ago
tcp_handshaker 5mo ago
class, cast, scum... the tokens are not really relevant, only the facts: "‘Absurd Corruption’: Disgust as Eric Trump Brags About Scoring $24 Million Pentagon Deal" - https://www.commondreams.org/news/eric-trump-pentagon-contract https://www.commondreams.org/news/eric-trump-pentagon-contra...
- simonh 5mo ago
  The thing is, a LOT of people voted for this, knowing perfectly well what they were voting for.
  - lukan 5mo ago
    Peace, cheap energy, release of the Epstein files, ..
sleepybrett 5mo ago
caste and class reinforce each other.
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
adolph 5mo ago
As I read through the distinctions between "class" and "caste" helpfully provided by search engine AI, a sensation that formal caste systems are more honest than inexplicit "class" systems grew in my mind. The claims are that different outcomes in income, occupation, education, marriage, etc can result in changes in a person's "class." But even in the statistically insignificant number of Horatio Alger stories, did the person's class really change? Did Eliza from Pygmalion change classes or just learn how to "code switch?"
themafia 5mo ago
They are synonyms as that includes "nearly the same." The only difference I can detect is that "class" allows members to move between groups and "castes" do not; however, all the outcomes are identical. So they are absolutely synonymous in most peoples eyes.

You're almost right, but "class" and "caste" are not synonyms and cannot be used interchangeably.

by samsari 5mo ago

You're almost right, but "class" and "caste" are not synonyms and cannot be used interchangeably.

rob74 5mo ago

Well, as social mobility between classes becomes increasingly difficult, they become more and more like castes...

baxtr 5mo ago
OP is right. Status games take many shapes, distinct castes is one special shape.
21asdffdsa12 5mo ago
You can already hear the pseudo-theories, justifying the differences for eternity. Blue blooded, of lazy blood, etc. Apply yourselfs and you will win.. adding insult to injury, when you can not win, you must in addition be lazy with only yourself to blame.
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
- darepublic 5mo ago
  I don't think it's really as simple as that. Source: lazybones
Dylan16807 5mo ago
Being in Congress is very mobile, and they're the ones with the special exemption.

dyauspitr 5mo ago

Sounds like people’s lot in life is becoming hereditary. Caste can be used.

alistairSH 5mo ago

Except in the United States it is true. Something like 80% of new military recruits come from military families (parent, sibling, uncle/aunt, or grandparent). Similarly over the last few decades the number of medical doctors who have immediate family who are also doctors has grown. Social and economic class in the US is increasingly set in stone and hereditary.

mothballed 5mo ago
Medical schools require a lot of volunteering and things like 'slinging hot dogs to pay tuition' don't count unless you grew up without clothes surviving on rabid dogs in the holler of W Virginia working the coal mines from age 8. We all know who has time to volunteer or do minimum wage healthcare instead of work the best paying shitty side job they can get: the rich. It's set up heavily tilted so you have to be rich, or dirt poor enough for a sob story, or a desired minority. Even if you do volunteer a lot and are middle class, you probably didnt know anyone that could help you into the most prestigious positions. A middle class person of equal aptitude would likely go into something like engineering or law which have fewer class-signalling non-academic purity tests.
- alistairSH 5mo ago
  That gating on medical training has always been there (at least for 40 years, if not more). But the number of doctors from doctor families has increased. And just generally, socioeconomic mobility has decreased in the US across the population.
  - mothballed 5mo ago
    Always been gated. But the slider has been dragged even further in the purity test direction. The intelligent un-pure now tend to become NP or PA, those programs still let you practice independently and slide more towards academics and less at whether a rich person set you up to be taken care of while you play mother Teresa until the switch flips the day you are accepted.
- triceratops 5mo ago

tcp_handshaker 5mo ago

class, cast, scum... the tokens are not really relevant, only the facts: "‘Absurd Corruption’: Disgust as Eric Trump Brags About Scoring $24 Million Pentagon Deal" - https://www.commondreams.org/news/eric-trump-pentagon-contract https://www.commondreams.org/news/eric-trump-pentagon-contra...

simonh 5mo ago
The thing is, a LOT of people voted for this, knowing perfectly well what they were voting for.
- lukan 5mo ago
  Peace, cheap energy, release of the Epstein files, ..

sleepybrett 5mo ago

caste and class reinforce each other.

deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]

adolph 5mo ago

As I read through the distinctions between "class" and "caste" helpfully provided by search engine AI, a sensation that formal caste systems are more honest than inexplicit "class" systems grew in my mind. The claims are that different outcomes in income, occupation, education, marriage, etc can result in changes in a person's "class." But even in the statistically insignificant number of Horatio Alger stories, did the person's class really change? Did Eliza from Pygmalion change classes or just learn how to "code switch?"

themafia 5mo ago

They are synonyms as that includes "nearly the same." The only difference I can detect is that "class" allows members to move between groups and "castes" do not; however, all the outcomes are identical. So they are absolutely synonymous in most peoples eyes.