The caste system has been implemented at different times in history and different places of all over the world. Some examples of it are the separation into white people and other ethnics in the European colonialist empires.
The most important caste system in the world is maybe the Indian caste system which is a very old and widespread tradition especially in the rural sectors of the country.
The <em>caste system</em> have the following characteristics:
It is a social system in which personal status is awarded for life, therefore in societies organized by castes the different strata are closed and the individual must remain in the social stratum in which he was born.
The characteristics that differentiate the different social strata are: race, religion, etc. that he accidentally acquires at birth and with which he can not change.
Caste societies can be seen as a class society in which social class is acquired at birth. Caste systems reject close relationships with members of other castes.
That "purity" of castes is usually maintained by an inbreeding rule, marriage must be between persons of the same social group.
