Here is an excerpt from an article by Hari Bapuji, Kamini Gupta, Snehanjali Chrispal, and Thomas Roulet for the MIT Sloan Management Review. To read the complete article, check out others, and obtain subscription information, please click here.
Illustration Credit: Grundini/Ikon Images
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The South Asian system of socioeconomic stratification can shape inequities in the workplace. Managers should understand how it works to address it.
As globalization and workforce mobility make many organizations more multicultural, managers find themselves having to broaden their understanding of workplace discrimination’s possible forms. In particular, issues of bias related to caste identity are making headlines around the world more frequently, and maintaining a healthy and productive culture will require leaders to be able to identify, prevent, and mitigate caste-based discrimination.
The caste system is a sociocultural-economic hierarchy that is pervasive in South Asia and the sizable South Asian diaspora all over the world. An individual’s caste, inherited from their father, is determined solely by their birth and is unchangeable.
Numerous incidents of caste-based bias in Silicon Valley and elsewhere have been documented in the media. Studies conducted by academics, governments, and advocacy organizations have found that caste discrimination is prevalent in countries with significant South Asian populations, including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and Australia.
Within South Asia, which is home to a quarter of the world’s population, caste bias can have disastrous consequences for individuals and organizations. For example, in June 2023, Vivek Raj, an employee of Indian fashion retailer Lifestyle International, died by suicide after recording a statement alleging workplace caste discrimination. In another case, Indian food delivery company Zomato faced public backlash for a 2023 advertisement that reinforced derogatory caste stereotypes.
Multinational companies, such as Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Dell, and X (formerly Twitter), have recognized the importance of this issue by addressing caste-based discrimination in their corporate policies. Over 20 U.S. universities have also included caste as a protected category in their policies, alongside race, gender, religion, and others.
In February 2023, the city of Seattle passed a law to outlaw caste discrimination. A similar bill was passed by California’s legislature but was vetoed in October 2023 by its governor, who said that caste-based discrimination was already prohibited under the state’s existing laws. These legislative efforts are in line with laws in countries that have caste systems, such as India, whose constitution outlaws caste discrimination and guarantees affirmative action for low-caste individuals in public education, employment, and political offices.
Managers everywhere need to understand these issues to help protect employees of South Asian origin from caste-based discrimination, bullying, incivility, and harassment, and to avoid the legal jeopardy that can result from such acts in the workplace. Managers could also improve the well-being and performance of individuals and their organizations by addressing the influence of caste on activities such as hiring, corporate social responsibility, information sharing, and networking.
What Is Caste, and Why Is It Relevant?
The fundamental assumption underlying the caste system is the notion that humans are created as unequal groups. This inequality is manifested by arbitrarily assigning different levels of purity and value to groups of people on an artificially defined hierarchy that gives some of them socially enforced rights and privileges, including the right to practice certain sets of occupations.
The fundamental assumption underlying the caste system is the notion that humans are created as unequal groups.
Caste is a complex system comprising thousands of groups and subgroups across religions. Broadly speaking, among those who practice Hinduism, Brahmins are at the top of the hierarchy. Their occupations have traditionally included religious duties and knowledge professions like recordkeeping, science, and education. Next in the hierarchy are Kshatriyas (who have traditionally occupied military roles), followed by Vysyas (businesspeople and traders) and Shudras (workers and laborers). Similar groups and subgroups are found among those practicing other religions. For instance, among South Asian Muslims, there are high castes (Ashraf, consisting of the Saiads, Sheikhs, Pathans, and Mughals) and low castes (Ajlaf, consisting of artisans and other workers). Among those who practice Sikhism, there are high-caste groups like the Jatts and Khatris. Similarly, South Asian Christian congregations have formed around distinct caste-based identities.
Dalits are outside of, and well below, the above groups. They are considered by those following the norms of the caste system as inferior and impure to the point of being subhuman and are relegated to occupations that involve activities like cleaning up excrement and disposing of the dead. Dalits, found across religions, are stigmatized as “untouchable” due to the historic, and still prevalent, practice of other castes avoiding physical contact and spatial proximity with them.
Adivasis (meaning first inhabitants or, more generally, indigenous peoples) are another group outside the caste system who have historically lived in forest or hill areas remote from urban locations and have often been stigmatized as outlaws.
Although individuals from each group today engage in occupations other than those assigned to them by caste, an individual’s caste remains a significant determinant of the social and professional opportunities available to them.3
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