Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson | Book Club

Book was suggested by: Eugene

Pages to read: 371
ISBN: 9780593230268 (Originally listed edition & edition I am using)

While reading the book, consider the below questions:
•What is the raison d’etre of the book? For what purpose did the author write the book?
•What are some limitations of the book?
•What is a caste system?
•What is the difference between caste and class?
•How does a caste system sustain itself?
•What are the difference types of caste systems?
•What is race?
•What is racism?
•How to resolve the social problems created by caste?
•How does effective stigmatization work?
•What happens to those who disagree with the caste system?
•What happens to those who step outside their roles with the caste system?
•What does it mean to become enlightened?
•What impact does identifying offenders have?
•How to forgive?
•Why does caste create scapegoats?
•What is the significance of statues?

Your questions are important and will take priority. If you have questions about the book's content or related ideas, either let me know what your questions are or raise them during the discussion.

My review of the book:
https://www.inquiryreviews.com/2022/07/review-of-caste-origins-of-our.html

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Summary from Goodreads:
In this book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people's lives and behavior and the nation's fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people--including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball's Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others--she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.