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Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

reuters.com

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Re: Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

#61

Post by Thorrez »

raincom wrote: post #31

There are so many issues conflated around 'caste' and Indians. Let me unravel a bit using my experiences in the corporate world and anecdotes from friends. 1. Whoever first came to USA on H1-B (just before Y2K) are in high positions at many companies. They are VPs, not because they have good managerial skills, not because they have great competence in solving technical problems. Just they came early, these folks got…

>They are VPs, not because they have good managerial skills, not because they have great competence in solving technical problems. Just they came early, these folks got green cards so fast, and they got Exec MBA from weekend/night schools.

This seems kind of weird to me. Regardless of how fast they get a green card, they're going to face competition existing Americans. I don't think speed of green card would matter much unless there's a very large shortage of qualified existing Americans.

Re: Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

#62

Post by bodhiandpysics1 »

vsskanth wrote: post #50
raincom wrote: post #31

There are so many issues conflated around 'caste' and Indians. Let me unravel a bit using my experiences in the corporate world and anecdotes from friends. 1. Whoever first came to USA on H1-B (just before Y2K) are in high positions at many companies. They are VPs, not because they have good managerial skills, not because they have great competence in solving technical problems. Just they came early, these folks got…

Very detailed and very accurate picture of the state of Indian office politics in the US

a bit racist to be honest...

Re: Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

#63

Post by anon291 »

Being from a minority religion in India and being an American of Indian origin, it is strange working on tech, because my family's presumed caste (which I assume is very low because we're not Hindu [1]), ends up dictating a lot of interactions with indians from India. Most American born ones don't seem to care.

[1] the wife of my dad's friend who is high caste brahmin refused to enter our home and stayed in my brother's bedroom during the whole visit because we eat meat. Then she made a big fuss about being brahmin and how awful it must be to be a minority in both America and India. She was not very nice

Re: Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

#64

Post by hendlcb »

thematrixturtle wrote: post #57
vsskanth wrote: post #29

I wonder what's gonna happen once these reporters find out about regionalism (people favoring those who speak their mother tongue or those from the same state they grew up in India). These type of professional networks at work are so much more common. Many seem to forget India is a very diverse nation and you end up with entirely different cultures in the same nationality.

"Countryism" is a thing in Europe as well, eg Ubisoft is well known for favoring French people in its leadership roles. And in the US many people from the South learn to disguise their accents to avoid prejudice from snooty West or East Coasters.

‘Sns

Re: Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

#65

Post by hendlcb »

thematrixturtle wrote: post #57
vsskanth wrote: post #29

I wonder what's gonna happen once these reporters find out about regionalism (people favoring those who speak their mother tongue or those from the same state they grew up in India). These type of professional networks at work are so much more common. Many seem to forget India is a very diverse nation and you end up with entirely different cultures in the same nationality.

"Countryism" is a thing in Europe as well, eg Ubisoft is well known for favoring French people in its leadership roles. And in the US many people from the South learn to disguise their accents to avoid prejudice from snooty West or East Coasters.

> people from the south

Is such a useless broadbrush; it exists only as a dogwhistle for “reverse-discrimination” (which isn’t a thing; that’s just discrimination).

Make no mistake the southern drawl cannot be masked. *Everyone knows*. Words and actions give one away more than the drawl.

Re: Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

#66

Post by raincom »

Thorrez wrote: post #61
raincom wrote: post #31

There are so many issues conflated around 'caste' and Indians. Let me unravel a bit using my experiences in the corporate world and anecdotes from friends. 1. Whoever first came to USA on H1-B (just before Y2K) are in high positions at many companies. They are VPs, not because they have good managerial skills, not because they have great competence in solving technical problems. Just they came early, these folks got…

>They are VPs, not because they have good managerial skills, not because they have great competence in solving technical problems. Just they came early, these folks got green cards so fast, and they got Exec MBA from weekend/night schools. This seems kind of weird to me. Regardless of how fast they get a green card, they're going to face competition existing Americans. I don't think speed of green card would matter m…

A good criticism indeed. But look at the growth of the IT sector since y2k. Companies need managers, and it was easy to become a a manger when the field was new. It is like startup, where early joins end up in high positions if they play their cards right.

So a a manger in 2003 will become a vp today, unlike the manager of 2015.

Re: Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

#68

Post by xwdv »

29athrowaway wrote: post #27
margalabargala wrote: post #19

I see the claim made that caste-ism doesn't fall under existing discrimination laws, but I don't really see how it's actually any different from run-of-the-mill racism. Caste is familially inherited. So a person is being judged based upon their ancestry. The only difference between "that group of families is inherently inferior" and "that race is inherently inferior" seems to be how broadly/narrowly you define "race"…

The law should simply say: do you observe any beliefs that make you treat a group of people in a favorable or unfavorable way, based on criteria other than academic or professional qualifications? If so, you should declare your conflict of interest at the beginning of each meeting and document and be excluded from professional decisions involving hiring, firing, promotions, etc. Ideally, this should also apply to inv…

Why should it apply to investors? It is no one’s business where an investor chooses to put their money, their goal is to make a return, not uphold some moral code.

Re: Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

#69

Post by khazhoux »

As a white male who's lived in the US most of his life, I confess that I read these articles about caste-based racism and comments with a measure of disbelief, because to me it is entirely invisible. Mind you, I first learned about India's discriminatory caste system in high school, so I've been aware of it and I know it's real, but it exists in an alternate dimension I simply can't see. I've never noticed people asking where someone is from or their diet, and I've never considered that a last name might be telling me about a person's "status."

But... I don't want to learn which last names are low or high caste. I don't want to learn which regions are low or high. I rather appreciate my ignorance on the matter.

Re: Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

#70

Post by amzn-sdethrow »

This is a weird one. I am sure it happens in certain pockets, but I can't say that I have ever heard or directly experienced any form of casteism in my 16 years in North America. Having said that, my background is Tamil brahmin but I am not religious, don't go to temples, and don't wear a poonal (identifying sacred thread). As naive as it may sound, I hope my 6 year old son never hears the word caste in his life.
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