The African Middle Class in South Africa 1910–1994

Abstract

ABSTRACTContemporary interest in the black African middle class requires holistic attention to how this class has developed historically. In what follows, the origins of the African middle class are located in the efforts of Christian missionaries to create a literate, ‘civilized’ African elite. The resultant middle class was defined by its employment in professional, service and clerical spheres, and was noted for its orientation towards material improvement. However, confronted by racial barriers which stunted its opportunities for upward mobility, the African middle class played a key role in the establishment of the African National Congress (ANC). Although significant debate attends the extent to which middle-class leaders of the ANC connected with the masses during the inter-war years, there is strong for backing for the claim that the radicalization of the movement in the 1950s saw middle-class elements move into political alliance with the black working class. Thereafter, however, the banning of the liberation movements 1960 led the African middle class to lapse into political quiescence, although some of them pursued the limited advances offered by the bantustan programme. In turn, these were to be overtaken by political developments of the 1980s alongside accompanying reformist efforts to promote a collaborationist middle class within African urban communities. Ironically, this paved the way for the African middle class to line up behind the ANC, and for the ANC to become a predominantly middle class formation after 1994.