Revisitation and resurgence of the race-caste debate
Returning to the classical texts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12697362 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A Meghji (0000-0001-8311-3155, University of Cambridge, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Classical Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1468-795X • E-ISSN: 1741-2897 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1468795x261428412 |
| OpenAlex | W7140174947 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 43 |
In the early-mid 20th century, sociologists were interested in sketching out possible similarities between caste and race. Since then, this approach has both been defended and – more commonly – rejected. In this paper, I contend that critics of the race-caste approach have fundamentally misunderstood the central arguments of that said approach, often committing methodological errors in their criticisms. I contrast this approach to advocates of the race-caste comparison. My argument is that this loosely knit group of scholars generated a sociological programme to think about racial domination as: (a) historically specific, which (b) in particular moments can appear to be caste-like, whereby (c) there are degrees of realisation of how rigid or loose the caste system can be (i.e. there is a caste continuum). Classical authors of the race-caste approach argued that the concept of ‘caste’ could help to generate comparative insights into hierarchical relations across time and space, and could provide insights into the mismatch(es) between attitudes, practices, and social structure in the era of burgeoning capitalist social relations. The central thesis of this paper, therefore, is that the race-caste scholars of the classical era developed a sociological programme oriented not towards demonstrating an equivalence between race and caste, but rather oriented towards the relational empirical questions of when, how, and why , in certain specific moments, racial domination becomes caste-like
Argument (complex analysis · Caste · Equivalence (formal languages · Race (biology · Realisation · Social structure · Sociological theory · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Social and Economic Development in India · South Asian Studies and Diaspora
Black Metropolis
Deep South
Outline of a Theory of Practice
The Present Status of Race Relations in the South
The Modern Caste School of Race Relations
Social Changes and Their Effects on Race Relations in the South
Contesting Caste
A social portrait of John Gibbs St. Clair Drake
Resolving the Trouble with ‘Race’
From serosocial to sanguinary identities
Blood groups in India
The Scholar Denied
Du Boisian sociology after Du Bois
Universalism After the Post-colonial Turn
Early Remnants of Global Historical Sociology
Comparing Caste and Race
Patterns of Empire
Ethnic Classification in Global Perspective
Sociological Theory and Race Relations
On Brown Blood
The Racial Theories of Robert E. Park and Ruth Benedict
Class and Caste
The Present Status of Race Relations, with Particular Reference to the Negro
The Negro and the Present Crisis
The 'Colour Problem' in Britain
Berreman Revisited; Caste and the Comparative Method
The Study of the Negro Problems
Problems of Adjustment of Race and Class in the South
The odour of segregation
Race, caste and colonialism
Race and caste in the making of US sociology
Caste as Social Process
Caste in India and the United States
Caste, Economy, and Violence
Race and Caste
American Caste and Class
The Conflict of Caste and Class in an American Industry
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |