en social class and caste easier by his statement: 48
The caste and the clan may be roughly described as horizontal and vertical divisions respectively of a population. [This is a direct denial of the Young-Warner-Dollard definition that castes are vertical divisions.] Castes, therefore, are a special form of social classes, which in tendency at least are present in every society. Castes differ from social classes, however, in that they have emerged into social consciousness to the point that custom and law attempt their rigid and permanent separation from one another.
A social class is a homogeneous unit, from the point of view of status and mutual recognition; a caste is a homogeneous unit from the point of view of common ancestry, religious rites and strict organizational control. There are two kinds of homogeneity represented here.
There are instances where a caste happens to distribute work opportunities in gild-like fashion, a caste may stand in relation to the other parts of the community much in the manner of a local social class, with additional powers of social control over its members. But most of the castes, because of internal complexities of status or because of their similarity in status with other groups are not characterized by social status and do not stand in a social status relationship to other groups. Their exclusiveness, nonetheless sharp and severe, is not one of social class; it is to be compared somewhat to the exclusiveness caused by differences in nationality.
The manner in which the caste is closed both in the organizational and biological sense causes it to differ from social class. And its emphasis upon ritual and regulations pertaining to cleanliness and purity differs radically from the secular nature and informality of social class rules.
The nature of social distance. It is obvious that there must necessarily by not one but several kinds of social distance. Races are divided from each other by some feeling of strangeness, based on the differences in their features and the manner in which these have been the objects of attention. Religions stand apart because of feelings of strangeness based on other considerations. Social distance of another kind remains even where friendship and intimacy may enter, as between a man and his valet.
45. Taken from Ketkar, op. cit., pp. 13-14.
46. Vincent A. Smith, The Oxford History of India (Oxford, 1928) p. 34.
47. Taken from Westermarck, op. cit., pp. 63-64.
48. Kroeber, op. cit., p. 254.