The ideology to create a classless society is often ridiculed as a pipe dream. It is a blatant truth especially in India. Any attempt to create a classless society fails here, only politics triumphs.
Sometimes as a human being I wonder, what pleasure do people derive out of being classified under several heads? How can any rational man accept himself being judged on predisposition or stereotypes? And if he does not like it for himself, how can he do it for others? The answer is rather disappointing. Even as most people might think the same way, the society has never been classless. And since I hail from India, I know it is a daydream to anticipate a civilization based on equal terms for everyone.
Does classless society exist?
No, it never existed, not even thousands of years ago. We know from the ancient history about the Vedic age in India that comprised of Aryans which were considered the most civilized race then. The society then was divided into four distinct levels of hierarchy namely, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. Similarly, the medieval Europe consisted of many social groups such as Royals, Peers, Barons, Knights, Gentleman, Yeoman, Husbandman, Cottagers and so on.
Interestingly enough, England before the 19th century was divided into the classes U and Non-U based on language vocab. U represented the Upper and Upper middle class, whereas Non-U comprised of lower middle class. See the table given below about their vocabulary difference-
U
|
Non-U
|
Vegetables
|
Greens
|
Scent
|
Perfume
|
Graveyard
|
Cemetery
|
Spectacles
|
Glasses
|
False Teeth
|
Dentures
|
Napkin
|
Serviette
|
Sofa
|
Settee or Couch
|
Lavatory or Loo
|
Toilet
|
Lunch
|
Dinner (for midday meal)
|
Pudding
|
Sweet
|
Any talk about social class would be incomplete, if you forget the world champions of modern culture, USA. It is not an exception to above mentioned rule. You can see the income based categorization of various social groups in USA.
There is a great income disparity between the various female races in USA. I got this image from davidduke.com, which I thought is worth having a glance at.
If you are not impressed, here is something that cannot be ignored. The below given picture claims of the under-representation of the whites in one the leading universities like Harvard.
What is so special about the Indian social classification?
India is one of the most ancient civilizations that is still persistent with very little transformation. It has gained cultural prosperity by the accumulation of various customs and beliefs borrowed from different contemporaries through ages. That is why it contains some of the deadliest flaws in its society. These flaws are purposely hidden by people who intend to benefit by them. And the story goes on and goes on forever.
The most common social classifications prevalent in India
- Male-female classification
- Forward-backward classification
- Hindu-muslim classification
- Urban-rural classification
- Educated-uneducated classification
- Rich-poor classification
- Resourceful-weak classification
- Modern-outdated classification
- North-south classification
- Hindi-English classification and so on.
Why is classless society a pipe dream in India?
- Politicians have divided people into castes and religions to consolidate their vote bank. The classification based on regions (north and south) is also a gift of dirty politics.
- The news papers and media are prompt in highlighting the unnecessary issues to boost up their TRP. This promotes hatred and intolerance among the various social classes.
- Many of the television shows are aimed at encouraging and endorsing stereotypes, advertisements not being an exception. For example, TV show Big Boss continuously shows maniac arguments loaded with various stereotypical conversations that a normal person will never say or act like. This has a great impact on the behavior and character of the person who watches it.
- If someone tries to become classless, he/she is boycotted by the society. The biggest cause for this is people’s insecurity about coming out of their comfort zone.
- Indian law has helped in consolidating the caste system by designing caste based reservations which so far has not improved the condition of even a single poor in the last 65 years, but has broken the society.
- Indian education system is so hollow that the uneducated people are in reality more cultured than the ones that boast of high degree. This level of thought process can never create a classless society.
- Common men have adjusted to the way of somehow leading their life on God’s grace. The upper social class being the beneficiary of all this is never willing to sacrifice its position.
There is a long saga about how Indian society has made itself a unity under diversity. I have just summarized a few of them. To justify this diversification, the only thing that can be said is that it is not possible for a classless society to exist anyway. I will discuss this topic in some other post for sure. But for now, I just have a single query for you- Should we sit down and accept this situation? Is it not our duty to create a classless society, to provide everyone with what he needs, to give it a try? Isn’t it better to laugh with someone than to laugh at someone?
Sources (images and graphs):
Wikipedia
Davidduke