caste

a hereditary class in Hindu societya group of people who are all interdependent and interconnected by their cultural connections; they live in patterned ways and their behaviors in various circumstances are well established; for instance in the Western world most people adhere to lines (cue) at bus stops, or movie theaters, or when checking out at a grocery store; patterned and regular ways of doing things are expected and accepted, distinguished by relative degrees of ritualA ritual is not necessarily religious; but it most often is.  It is an established or prescribed procedure.  In anthropology a ritual is described as formal, repetitive, and stereotyped.  It requires human behavior, which is performed in certain places, at set times.  Rituals are necessitated by participants, rather than audiences.  They are usually passed down from generation to generation; but a ritual can also be individualistic and started anew by anyone at any time, such as a baseball player touching a base or something else to bring luck during the game. purity or pollution and of social status; an ascribed statusa social position a person is born into (think King Charles of England today) More that cannot be changed