Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c78cf97d-hf2s2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-04-29T10:22:59.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Identity, Inequality, and Social Contestation in the Post-Apartheid South Africa

from Part I - Social Cohesion in Africa: Case Studies of Past and Present

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2019

Hiroyuki Hino
Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina and the University of Cape Town
Arnim Langer
Affiliation:
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
John Lonsdale
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Frances Stewart
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Get access

Summary

This chapter is about contestations in the South African society – its past, present and future. It provides historical accounts of formation of ethnic and race identities and offers some evidence that South Africans became less exclusive of people in other race groups during the early years of post-apartheid period, but have reversed this accomplishment over the last 10 years. The chapter then holistically examines inequality in the post-apartheid period; namely, at national level, between and within ethnic and race groups, and measured by income and by self-assessment of an individual’s life satisfaction. It identifies “inequality hot spots” on this basis, which need to be addressed if a more cohesive society is to be nurtured in the country. Finally, the chapter finds tentative signs of the emergence of a common citizenry, a national identity, which would also be needed for South Africa to transition to a cohesive society.

Information

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×