[iftheshoefitss]

I would posit it’s not a caste system similar to India’s caste system or old school feudalism. Being an outsider definitely plays a part for instance the treatment of Italian immigrants. In my experience if you’re part of a certain group you might or will get mistreated but if you’re part of that group and also an outsider oof you’re in for one tortured existence. Which is kind of contradictory because the USA is one of the few places that openly welcomes outsiders (like you don’t see migrants trying to go to China or Russia) but at the same time if you’re deemed persona non grata like for whatever reason the land will mess with your life, health and so on unlike any other place

[graemep]

How is it not a caste system? A caste system can ALSO be hostile to outsiders on an ethnic or religious basis (plenty of examples of both in South Asia!) in addition to the caste system.

Feudalism is not a caste system. In a feudal system people can move up and down to some extent, and over generations people can move a lot. It was possible for people to marry to at least some extent. There is no notion of pure blood or pollution.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228717335_Was_there...

[gamblor956]

In a caste system, your "worth" is decided at birth based on what caste system you are born into, and your opportunities and relationships are determined by that.

The US has some of the highest rates of interracial marriages, relationships, etc. in the world. Mobility in America is driven by socioeconomic class, not race, and gender plays a heavy role in educational success in some races (more than race itself), but not others, for various historical reasons.

In order to cast U.S. racial relations into a type "caste" system, you'd have to stretch the definition of caste so thin that it wouldn't have any meaning.