The slavery and caste systems do overlap, but have many distinctions between each other too.  One of the most obvious differences is that in the slave system, individuals are actually owned by others.  In most cases, this position of slavery cannot be escaped, other than in ancient Greece, slaves had little chance to become free.  Castes, instead of being determined by ownership of another human being, were usually determined by strict religious rules, such as the expectation of marrying within your own caste.

Some similarities between the two systems would be that the different ranks were “fixed and immobile.”  For the most part, both also had ascribed status, if a slave had a child, then they too were owned by their parents “master”.  Just as the slaves are seen as dirty and low, so too are the untouchables in the caste system.

          Different examples of conspicuous consumption I have seen here at college would include owning more than one computer or gaming system (i.e. a PlayStation 3 as well as an Xbox), large collections of shoes or hats, an enormous set of movies, and many others.  The more obvious ones to me are the multiple gaming systems, because when I walk into someone’s room they are usually the first thing visible.  The high market value for these systems also adds to the oddness of owning more than one.  They are at the front of the room, almost on display.  The hat collections I have seen are more subtle and I think it is mainly based on that hats are much cheaper than more obvious items, and so seeing 4 or 5 $25 hats is not as alarming as 2 or 3 items ranging from $200-300 each.