“Caste” by Isabel Wilkerson: Book Review
If you’re looking for a book to help you understand race in the United States better, consider Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. While I’m only learning here, for me Caste was one of the most insightful books that I’ve read about this topic.
Summary
In Caste, Wilkerson explores how a caste system has been created in the United States, as a way to understand race in the US. The most famous caste system is probably in India, where family background, vocation, and location determine someone’s caste and therefore their place in the social hierarchy. Wilkerson shows how race discrimination in the US is actually a caste system and explains why caste systems become so deeply entrenched and difficult to change.
In the early years of slavery in the US, people were initially categorized primarily by religion – Protestant, Catholic, non-Christian. Only the Protestants were considered (by themselves at least) to be of the highest caste. But, Catholic immigrants were able to gradually assimilate into a broader category of “white,” leaving Blacks as the outgroup, the lowest caste.
“No one wants to be in last place.” This is one of the most important principles that Wilkerson uses to explain the persistence of caste, and racism, in the US. Among non-Blacks, caste levels are less clear, with economic status, gender, and race influencing a person’s status. But, no one wants to be last, so many people in the dominant caste, especially those at the bottom of the white caste, will fight hard to ensure that there are others below them in the hierarchy – Blacks. This, says Wilkerson, is one of the core reasons that some white groups so strongly oppose changes that will benefit Black people, even if those changes would benefit the white groups too.
Vivid examples from the author’s own life illustrate how active prejudice still is in the US. Silence from people in higher castes perpetuates caste by tacitly allowing prejudiced behavior to continue. People in lower castes may be forced to stand by, allowing prejudice, for fear of repercussions from speaking up. Caste and race impact people far beyond overt racism. Black people experience worse health in ways that can’t be explained by genetics, for example.
Review
This is an excellent book. It’s also a heavy book. For me at least, I found this more helpful for understanding race in the US than some other recent books on the topic. Wilkerson does an excellent job of demonstrating how race is a caste system. Framing race as a caste system helps explain why people in the upper castes have such an incentive to keep things they way they are. It also shows why race is so ingrained both in the systems of society and in the way almost all of us think and behave. Overt racism is not the only kind, and we need to be more aware of our unconscious biases and how we reinforce caste unintentionally. It’s not a solution, but I think this understanding is a valuable step toward more awareness of our own prejudices and blind spots.
Rating
Overall: 4.5. A very good book for understanding race in the US.
Audiobook: 4.5. The narrator was easy to listen to and clear.
About the author: Isabel Wilkerson
Isabel Wilkerson was the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize, for her work as the Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times. Her first book, The Warmth of Other Suns, came out in 2011 and received high acclaim and awards for its examination of the Great Migration.
