Caste critical race theory (CasteCRIT): Caste in the United States and its implications for psychological education, advocacy, research, and practice.

Based on the centuries-old ideology, caste is the core, structural organizing principle for Indians and Indian Americans, emphasizing graded hierarchical oppression. In the United States, caste functions at the intersection of race, immigration, gender, class, and religion, profoundly affecting the lived experiences of caste-oppressed people. This article theorizes caste critical race theory (CasteCRIT), grounded in Dalit feminist epistemology, and stands as an anticasteist, anti-racist, and anticolonial psychological theory. CasteCRIT builds on critical race theory as its necessary foundation, employing Caste × Race as the explanatory construct and drawing from the experiences of caste-oppressed individuals in the United States. This framework has four core tenets: (a) caste is a socioreligious construction based on graded hierarchical oppression; (b) caste is normal, pervasive, and deeply embedded versus rare or incidental; (c) caste dominant groups directly benefitted from the Civil Rights Movement; and (d) caste-oppressed people's testimonies are necessary counternarratives. The psychological applications of CasteCRIT are examined in relation to education, training, research, practice, and advocacy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).