Sociology of South Africa: Supplementary Comments

Abstract

In their review of South African sociology in the Annual Review of Soci­ ology, Volume 5, Hare & Savage (1979) excluded more important infor­ mation than they included. For example, (a) no mention was made of the policy of apartheid (under its various names) or of the role sociologists have played in developing that policy; (b) nor was any mention made of the contribution of sociologists in presenting alternatives to apartheid. (c) The writings of outsiders such as Tiryakian, Pettigrew, Allport, Brotz, Hanf, Stone, Morse, Feit, and Van den Berghe were ignored. Heribert Adam was the only outsider to merit a mention. (d) The doyen of South African sociologists is Professor S. P. Cilliers of the University of Stellenbosch. Yet one would not know this or even be aware of his exis­ tence from a reading of Hare & Savage's review. (e) Neither author is sufficiently familiar with the Afrikaans language to be able to review or criticaIIy assess works that have appeared in this medium. (f) Although Hare & Savage purport to deal with the main directions of theoretical thinking and empirical (1979, p. 329), one has to search for the theoretical content, and the references to empirical research are not par-