Abstract
In my president's address last year I spoke about how we, the South African sociological community, are neglecting the concepts of race and racism. I related a number of personal vignettes of racism and I tried to place these anecdotes in a sociological context. This year, I focus on the amnesia around another crucial concept — social class. Since the theme for the congress concerns citizenship, I am also interested in exploring the manner in which class affects the possibility for realising the rights and privileges usually associated with being a citizen. In the South African case, I hope to explore the apparent paradox between political equality and material inequality. I am concerned to establish what the redistributive impact of democracy has been since 1994. In other words I want to consider to what extent the political rights of citizenship have led to social rights being extended to the former disenfranchised majority.
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