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Journal Article 8.1 Nandwani, B. (2016). Caste and class. Review of Market Integration, 8(3), 135–151. DOI: 10.1177/0974929217706807
Abstract: This article revisits the question of intersection of caste and class in India by employing the concept of cross-cuttingness. Using five rounds of the National Sample Survey, we find that disadvantaged groups are heavily concentrated in the lower economic class category and this pattern has changed only marginally over time. Results also show that disadvantaged castes possess smaller landholdings and mainly reside in rural areas, which offer less economic opportunities as compared to urban. These findings point that for some caste groups in India access to economic opportunities is still correlated with their caste, even after decades of affirmative action. However, an encouraging finding is that the impact of caste on education outcomes is progressively falling over time. This has the potential to lower the influence of caste on the attainment of future economic opportunities.

Learning Objective: LO 8-3. Explain the differences between a class system and a caste system and give examples of each.

Journal Article 8.2 Chapman, R. R., & Berggren, J. R. (2005). Radical contextualization: Contributions to an anthropology of racial/ethnic health disparities. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 9(2), 145–167. DOI: 10.1177/1363459305050583
Abstract: There is indisputable evidence of deep and persistent racial/ethnic inequalities in health status and health care in the United States. Growing awareness of these disparities has fueled a cross-disciplinary debate about appropriate approaches to racial/ethnic disparities in public health research and policy discourse, yet anthropologists have been marginalized in this discourse. What does the current work of anthropologists have to offer that is most useful in the crucial work of understanding and eliminating health disparities? We examine anthropological research and practice that constitute core contributions to an anthropology of racial/ethnic health disparities. We identify the following themes: (1) using ethnography as a tool for new inequality knowledge; (2) studying up; and (3) formulating alternative models of biosocial pathogenesis. These elements of anthropological methods, theory and practice can contribute to a better understanding of the social processes that underpin racial/ethnic health disparities and help identify opportunities for interrupting them.

Learning Objective: LO 8-6. Describe the relationship between social stratification and ethnicity and give examples where ethnicity is and is not important in social stratification.