The white-collar workforce is almost entirely made up of people from the so called upper castes. The idea that caste has anything to do with the toxic behaviour in corporate India simply doesn't hold up.
No way! 100% untrue. There are so many co-workers I have had over the years who were from mid-level to very low caste. Lots of my co-workers grew up where their parents were barely above sustenance/subsistence farming. They worked very hard in school, got into IIT, then their career skyrocketed. In their first year of employment, they earned multiples of their parents.
Where I have noticed discrimination in hiring in India is non-Muslims (Hindu, Christian, etc.) hiring Muslims. Generally (and sadly), if a Muslim is hired, they are offered the lowest position. To be clear, I can only speak from my personal experience. Maybe it is different (and better) in other industries.
Seems like that would influence the behavior we're talking about. Maybe it's culturally independent of the caste system, but it feels like it would be connected. I don't have much personal experience here so I may be wrong.
> Maybe it's culturally independent of the caste system
Is exactly my point.
There seems to be tendency among Western observers to treat the caste system as a catch-all explanation for social dynamics in India. That kind of reductionism doens't have a lot of explanatory value.
Thank to write this post. It drives me crazy on HN how many people tout this reductionist view of Indian culture. One thing I tell myself: The Indian nation is changing so fast that it is a new country every 10 years.
The white-collar workforce is almost entirely made up of people from the so called upper castes. The idea that caste has anything to do with the toxic behaviour in corporate India simply doesn't hold up.