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CULTURES
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Class and caste Social classes are usually defined as the hierarchical arrangements of people in society as economic or cultural groups, although humans have invented numerous ways to classify people - by wealth, power, or prestige; by ability, education, or occupation; even by where they live. The higher classes in any system tend to have more power and may be viewed as ‘the elites’, and those higher up the scale tend to hold onto the privileges this affords and to view those beneath them as inferior. When the arrangement is economic or geographical, it may be possible to move up the class ladder (by education, hard work, by marriage or by moving from your home area although this may need to be accompanied by changes in language or accent); this is less easy when the division is cultural or religious and people are not expected to move from the class of their birth. For further defintions and discussion see Class system and Class structure. A caste is a combined social system of occupation, endogamy, culture, social class, and political power. Caste should not be confused with class, in that members of a caste are deemed to be alike in function or culture, whereas not all members of a defined class may be so alike. For descriptions of caste systems in various parts of the world see the Wikipedia page on Caste. While it is not possible to obtain figures as to the proportions of trafficked people from different classes or castes, those lower down the social scale are at risk of 'pull factors' that show them the option of moving from their low status, even if these turn out to have been false promises as is so often the case with the tricks used by traffickers. And while people remain in inferior positions of wealth, health, education and employment they are more likely to be 'pushed' by these factors into risky behaviour that leaves them open to being preyed upon by those who would exploit them.
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