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The Caste system is a closed system of social stratification

which means people designated to the caste system is treated as

property and has little or no control over their lives. A Caste

system of social inequality in which peoples status is

permanently determined at birth based on their parents ascribed

characteristics (Kendall 211). In India, families typically

perform the same type of work from generation to generation. The

opposite happens with the caste system in South Africa. The

caste system of South Africa was based on racial classification

and the belief of white South Africans that were superior to the

black majority. Whites held almost all of the desired jobs while

blacks worked as manual laborers and servants.

The Class system is a type of social stratification based on

the ownership and control of resources and on the type of work

people do (Kendall 214). In class systems, people of class

systems can join a class other then their parents through inter

and intragenerational mobility. For example, a person may get a

pay increase and a more prestigious title but still not move

from one class to another. By contrast, movement up or down from

the class structure is vertical mobility (Kendall 214). People

may experience downward mobility, cause by any number or

reasons, including a lack of jobs, low wages and employment

instability, marriage to someone with fewer resources and less

power than oneself, and changing social conditions (Kendall

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214).

In contrast the class system is more open then a caste

system because caste systems are completely closed because class

systems can change classes but if your in a caste system you are

designated to the caste system. The boundaries between classes

are less distinct then with a caste system. In a caste system

the people are permanently determined their status by their

parents ascribed characteristics. In a class system the people

get their statuses based on their ownership and control of

resources and based on the type of work people do.

In comparing the two social stratifications of caste and

class systems, both systems have struggles. In a caste system,

they have the obvious struggles of having no boundaries and no

control over their lives. In a class system, they have the

struggles of trying to prove themselves to try to get higher in

their class. Trying to own the most resources and always

competing for the work because depending on the kind of work you

do determines the type of class you are in.

The both of the systems are the similar and different but if I

had a choice I do not think anyone should be in a caste system.