Shadows of the Past: Unmasking Caste, Gender, and Class in the Modern World

Abstract The continuation of historic social hierarchies in modern social and economic frameworks is critically examined in this essay. By arguing that caste, gender, and class hierarchies have not been eliminated but rather experienced a discursive transformation, it challenges the prevalent modernist concept of linear development. Despite being supposedly missing from their legitimising beliefs; these systems of hierarchy now appear in the form of a phantom persistence that haunts contemporary institutions. To break down the mechanisms behind this continuous upkeep, the present research employs a theoretical method that combines post-structuralist interpretation alongside an intersectional viewpoint. It explores the ways in which caste is transformed into cultural capital, how the logic of global capitalism conceals and embeds gendered disparities, and how the governmental nature of neoliberalism normalises divides between classes. The article makes the case that in order to genuinely rethink these classifications, a theoretical analysis of the language of identity, merit, and advancement that underpins their modern functioning is required. It comes to the conclusion that in order to challenge these spectral hierarchies, it is necessary to expose their co-constitutive structure and question the fundamental presumptions of the contemporary subject.