Attitudes In South Africa Research Articles

“Fighting to Be a Real Man”: Constructions of Respectability and Contestations among African Migrant Men in Johannesburg

ABSTRACT Migrants have largely been viewed as forging solidaristic relationships in host countries as a response to unwelcoming attitudes from local populations. Yet, because they are gendered social actors embedded in multiple and diverse relationships within these contexts, they engage in identity constructions that sometimes result in contestations among them. In this article I show how divergent constructions of masculine respectability disrupt relations among African migrant men in Johannesburg. Based on individual in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with 20 young men from Ghana, Nigeria, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), I show that common beliefs about the provider role allow for homosocial bonding among them. However, in mobilising elements of distinction hinged on multiple intersectionalities such as age, marital and fatherhood statuses, work ethic around industriousness and laziness, class and economic hierarchisation, and educational levels, the men create and co-create each other as respectable entities, resulting in intra- and intergroup contestations. These findings contribute to research on men and African migration by exposing the complexities in migrant–migrant relations in the social spaces that masculine identities occupy in host countries. The article also nuances dominant narratives of local–migrant masculine contestations, particularly those associated with xenophobic attitudes in South Africa.

The Variation Between Subjective and Objective Class Positions in South Africa. The Distance Between Perception and Reality

ABSTRACT: The study is an exploratory attempt to assess the relationship between individuals' objective class position and subjective social positions in the South African hierarchy. While objective class dynamics have received much attention in South Africa, less is known about the subjective social position individuals place themselves. The study aims to make use of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) dataset and assess the relationship between objective and subjective class positions in South Africa. The results show considerable variation between objective and subjective class positions, with a strong middling tendency among all objective class groups in South Africa. The study also shows that this middling tendency has increased in the last decade in South Africa, predominantly due to individuals overestimating their social positions. With a large share of South Africans living close or below the poverty line, there is a clear biasedness of South Africans placing themselves in the middle of society, deviating from their lower objective position. The study further measures the variation between objective and subjective social positions to create a novel class scheme of inflated, deflated, and concordant class perceptions. These biased perceptions are then compared to socio-economic characteristics, showing that gender, race, and education are closely related to bias perceptions in South Africa. Furthermore, the increasing nature of high inequality and social unrest events in South Africa prompts the study also to assess the different social and political attitudes by varying objective and subjective class schemes. The results show that among the subjective class identification, individuals in higher perceived class positions tend to be less angered towards inequality, have lower redistribution preferences, and perceive a weaker conflict between the rich and the poor. These results confirm the impact perceived social positions and biased perceptions could have on social and political attitudes in South Africa. Attitudes that have been considered relevant in voting behavior and social policy formulation models. The results of the paper provides some vital information for policy makers on the dynamics behind subjective class and bias perceptions in South Africa.

The Variation Between Subjective and Objective Class Positions in South Africa the Distance Between Perception and Reality

The study is an exploratory attempt to assess the relationship between individuals' objective class position and subjective social positions in the South African hierarchy. While objective class dynamics have received much attention in South Africa, less is known about the subjective social position individuals place themselves. The study aims to make use of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) dataset and assess the relationship between objective and subjective class positions in South Africa. The results show considerable variation between objective and subjective class positions, with a strong middling tendency among all objective class groups in South Africa. The study also shows that this middling tendency has increased in the last decade in South Africa, predominantly due to individuals overestimating their social positions. With a large share of South Africans living close or below the poverty line, there is a clear biasedness of South Africans placing themselves in the middle of society, deviating from their lower objective position. The study further measures the variation between objective and subjective social positions to create a novel class scheme of inflated, deflated, and concordant class perceptions. These biased perceptions are then compared to socio-economic characteristics, showing that gender, race, and education are closely related to bias perceptions in South Africa. Furthermore, the increasing nature of high inequality and social unrest events in South Africa prompts the study also to assess the different social and political attitudes by varying objective and subjective class schemes. The results show that among the subjective class identification, individuals in higher perceived class positions tend to be less angered towards inequality, have lower redistribution preferences, and perceive a weaker conflict between the rich and the poor. These results confirm the impact perceived social positions and biased perceptions could have on social and political attitudes in South Africa. Attitudes that have been considered relevant in voting behavior and social policy formulation models. The results of the paper provides some vital information for policy makers on the dynamics behind subjective class and bias perceptions in South Africa.

‘A foreigner is not a person in this country’: xenophobia and the informal sector in South Africa’s secondary cities

South Africa’s major cities are periodically wracked by large-scale xenophobic violence directed at migrants and refugees from other countries. Informal sector businesses and their migrant owners and employees are particularly vulnerable targets during these attacks. Migrant-owned businesses are also targeted on a regular basis in smaller-scale looting and destruction of property. There is now a large literature on the characteristics and causes of xenophobic violence and attitudes in South Africa, most of it based on quantitative and qualitative research in the country’s major metropolitan areas. One of the consequences of big-city xenophobia has been a search for alternative markets and safer spaces by migrants, including relocating to the country’s many smaller urban centres. The question addressed in this paper is whether they are welcomed in these cities and towns or subject to the same kinds of victimization as in large cities. This paper is the first to systematically examine this question by focusing on a group of towns in Limpopo Province and the experiences of migrants in the informal sector there. Through survey evidence and in-depth interviews and focus groups with migrant and South African vendors, the paper demonstrates that xenophobia is also pervasive in these smaller centres, in ways that both echo and differ from that in the large cities. The findings in this paper have broader significance for other countries attempting to deal with the rise of xenophobia.

Psycho-social correlates of wellbeing among South Africans: An exploration of the 2017 South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS)

Wellbeing is a public health variable as it is an index of societal development. According to the most recent World Happiness Reports, South Africa ranks low in the self-reported wellbeing of its citizens. This study set out to understand the contributory factors to wellbeing of South Africans. This study explored the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) of 2017, a national survey of social attitudes in South Africa for variables that are related to the wellbeing of the citizens. Group identification, national identification, hopefulness for group's future, positive interracial contact, belief in sustaining memory of apartheid, attitude towards immigrants, frequency of group's discrimination experience, and life satisfaction were identified. Statistical analysis showed that these variables are significantly associated with wellbeing for the total sample. Also, analysis by population groups showed that these variables had differential significance for members of different groups. Life satisfaction emerged as the most important predictor of wellbeing for the total sample and Black Africans, Indian/Asians, and Colored groups. The findings of this study showed that different psycho-social factors are critical to the wellbeing of South Africans. It was suggested that the life experiences of the different population groups could influence how important a factor is in wellbeing and this should be considered in efforts to improve wellbeing of the citizens.

YouTube marketing communication demographic and usage variables influence on Gen Y's cognitive attitudes in South Africa and Romania

AbstractThe primary purposes of this study are to consider the influence of YouTube marketing communication (YMC) on awareness and knowledge among Generation (Gen) Y cohort respondents in South Africa (SA) and Romania (RO) and to establish if country, demographic, and usage (independent) variables have an effect on this cognitive attitudinal association. Multistage sampling was employed, and a survey was conducted among 400 respondents in SA and 400 respondents in RO. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the hypothesized associations. The findings confirm that awareness had a favorable influence on knowledge for the total sample, SA and RO. The results also show that awareness displayed a significantly larger positive effect on knowledge among Romanian Gen Y in comparison with South African Gen Y. This study confirms that age (demographic variable) and access, usage length, log‐on frequency, log‐on duration, and advertisement viewership numbers (usage variables) have a significant effect on cognitive attitudinal responses due to YMC among Gen Y in SA and RO. Organizations should consider adapting YMC strategies to stimulate awareness, which will stimulate favorable knowledge attitudinal responses, as well as consider the aforementioned demographic and usage variables when targeting the infamously unpredictable Gen Y due to the positive cognitive attitudinal association in developing countries.

Implicit Language Attitudes Toward Historically White Accents in the South African Context

This study explores the use of Implicit Association Test as an effective research tool to investigate language attitudes in South Africa. We aim to show how Standard South African English and Afrikaans-accented English are cognitively managed by young L1 South African indigenous language speakers. Results corroborate (a) participants’ statistically significant negative attitudes toward Afrikaans-accented English speakers, (b) the indexical nature of accents in triggering language attitudes, and (c) a main effect of modality when processing visual versus audio inputs.

Influence of Facebook Commercial Communications on Generation Z's Attitudes in South Africa

AbstractThe tremendous proliferation of social media (such as Facebook) has provided digital information and communications technology (ICT) platforms that enable Generation Z to instantaneously and uninterruptedly interactive one another and the rest of the globe. The primary aim of this research is to investigate the influence of Facebook commercial communications (FCC) on the hierarchy‐of‐effects model attitude stages amongst Generation Z, and to establish whether several usage (access, usage length, log‐on rate, log‐on duration and profile update incidence) and demographic (gender, age and population group) factors had an effect on the attitudinal responses. A survey was used to sample over 6 200 teenagers through structured self‐administered questionnaires in South Africa (SA). A generalised linear model was utilised for the data analysis. This paper determined that FCC had a positive effect on cognitive, affective and behavioural attitudes amid South African adolescents, which is in correlation with the communications effects pyramid model. This study also makes a notable contribution to attitudinal discourse in emerging nations, where there is a paucity of research on FCC. South African organisations should consider implementing and/or adapting their FCC strategies based on the varying impact of usage and demographic factors, which were disclosed in this study, when targeting the increasingly profitable and technologically savvy, but unpredictable Generation Z.

Abortion attitudes among South Africans: findings from the 2013 social attitudes survey

Abortion is legal in South Africa, but over half of abortions remain unsafe there. Evidence suggests women who are (Black) African, of lower socioeconomic status, living with HIV, or residents of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, or Limpopo provinces are disproportionately vulnerable to morbidity or mortality from unsafe abortion. Negative attitudes toward abortion have been documented in purposively sampled studies, yet it remains unclear what attitudes exist nationally or whether they differ across sociodemographic groups, with implications for inequities in service accessibility and health. In the current study, we analysed nationally representative data from 2013 to estimate the prevalence of negative abortion attitudes in South Africa and to identify racial, socioeconomic and geographic differences. More respondents felt abortion was ‘always wrong’ in the case of family poverty (75.4%) as compared to foetal anomaly (55%), and over half of respondents felt abortion was ‘always wrong’ in both cases (52.5%). Using binary logistic regression models, we found significantly higher odds of negative abortion attitudes among non-Xhosa African and Coloured respondents (compared to Xhosa respondents), those with primary education or less, and residents of Gauteng and Limpopo (compared to Western Cape). We contextualise and discuss these findings using a human rights-based approach to health.

Efficacy of Tailored Clinic Trainings to Improve Knowledge of Men Who Have Sex with Men Health Needs and Reduce Homoprejudicial Attitudes in South Africa.

An urgent need exists for training on men who have sex with men (MSM) health needs at public health clinics across Africa. There is also a need to consider the impact of specific training for clinicians and clinic support staff, both of whom come into contact with MSM. Consideration must also be given to the relationship between two key outcomes of such training: increased knowledge regarding MSM and their health and reductions in homoprejudicial attitudes. This article explores the impact of training for clinicians and clinic support staff in the Western Cape, South Africa (n = 196), where some training modules were undertaken by both groups and some modules only by clinicians. Participants were evaluated at baseline and post-training on MSM knowledge and homoprejudicial attitudes. After training, both clinicians and clinic support staff showed an increase in knowledge and a reduction in homoprejudicial attitude scores, with similar proportional improvements for both groups. Additional trainings for clinicians also resulted in significant improvements in their knowledge. However, reductions in homoprejudicial attitudes were related to the type of knowledge obtained. A threshold effect in post-training knowledge scores of 9 or greater on sensitivity material significantly increased the likelihood of a reduction in homoprejudicial attitudes. These findings show that training for both types of clinic workers is important and effective, but facilitators should be mindful of complex relationships between knowledge and homoprejudicial attitudes.

Primary school teachers' opinions and attitudes towards stuttering in two South African urban education districts.

BackgroundAs teachers form an important part of the intervention process with children who stutter in primary school, the primary aim was to describe primary school teachers’ attitudes in South Africa. The secondary aim was to compare teachers’ attitudes towards stuttering in South Africa with those from a pooled group of respondents in the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering (POSHA-S) database from different countries collected in 2009–2014.MethodA quantitative, cross-sectional survey research design was used. Primary schools in two education districts in Western Cape, South Africa, were sampled. The POSHA-S, a self-administered questionnaire, was completed by a cluster sample of 469 participants.ResultsOverall positive attitudes towards stuttering were found, specifically related to the potential of people who stutter, although the result should be interpreted with caution as the sample was not homogenously positive. Teachers still had misconceptions about personality stereotypes and the cause of stuttering. The attitudes of the South African sample were slightly more positive compared with the samples in the current POSHA-S database.ConclusionWhen developing stuttering intervention strategies, there are a number of key considerations to take into account. The study provides a basis for speech-language therapists to think about intervention with teachers and which areas of stuttering to consider.

Historical Trends in South African Race Attitudes

This article presents an historical survey of intergroup attitudes in South Africa, tracing social distance scores back to 1934 and semantic differential scores back to 1975. We compare the attitudes of different race groups towards each other over time by standardizing the scores from different historical periods on a common metric. This enables us to pursue two lines of investigation: (1) to chart the effect that racial classification has had on ingroup bias patterns, and (2) to assess the impact of changing historical contexts on intergroup attitudes — especially the threatening and competitive context of the post-1976 struggle for liberation and the post-1994 context of democracy and reconciliation. The data indicate that dramatic changes may be taking place, with white respondents showing declining levels of prejudice, the inversion of the historically asymmetric attitude ‘colour bar’, and a slight, perhaps negative, change in attitudes of black African respondents toward other groups.

Patterns of intergroup attitudes in South Africa after 1994

In the heterogeneous South African society, race has become not only the major organizing principle, but also the primary unit of social analysis. The concept “intergroup relations” has consequently predominantly been associated with racial relations and “intergroup attitudes” with “interracial attitudes”. Interest in South African race relations has furthermore been enhanced by the tumultuous struggle against apartheid. A substantive body of research acquired during apartheid indeed points to interracial tension. The advent of a new political dispensation in 1994 has been accompanied with expectations that increased intergroup contact, in particular, would result in improved interracial relations. The current study investigates intergroup attitudes after 1994. Three countrywide surveys were conducted in 1998, 2001 and 2009 using representative samples of all major racial groups. The results indicate that overall attitudes were more positive among more affluent and urbanized communities. However, there are indications of prevailing negative relations, in particular between Blacks and Afrikaans-speaking Whites. While the attitudes of Afrikaans-speaking Whites seem to have become more positive, that has not been the case to the same extent for Blacks. Blacks also appear to be less positive towards English-speaking Whites than during apartheid. Overall, the results point to more positive intergroup attitudes in some instances, but also to potential emerging points of tension.

Racial Contact and Change in South Africa

We investigate the effects of sociopolitical change on intergroup contact and social distance attitudes in South Africa, and the effect of these variables on intergroup attitudes and racial policy attitudes. The data come from secondary analysis of surveys conducted between 1991 and 2005, as well as a dedicated survey conducted in 2006. The results reveal widespread racial isolation among Black people; ambivalent attitudes to racial integration among Whites, who support integration in principle but are opposed to it personally; and contrasting outcomes of contact for Blacks and Whites. Increased intergroup contact was associated with reduced stereotyping and increased support for transformation policies among Whites but was associated with increased opposition to transformation policies among Blacks. Contrary to the predictions of contact theory, attitudes of Blacks and Whites toward Coloured and Indian compatriots were generally more negative in provinces with high levels of intergroup contact between these groups.

Trade Unions and Democracy: Cosatu workers’ political attitudes in South Africa (review)

Trade Unions and Democracy: Cosatu workers’ political attitudes in South Africa (review)

The mutability of distributive justice attitudes in South Africa

Even after ten years of democratic government, South Africa remains an unusually unequal society. Inequalities in the distribution of incomes both reflect and reproduce inequalities of opportunity. Yet curiously little research has been conducted on what South Africans think about inequality, and their views on distributive justice. The limited extant research suggests that most South Africans believe that their country is too unequal, that there is strong support for government action to reduce inequalities, and that class consciousness and racial identities are both widespread. This paper uses existing and new data to show that distributive justice perceptions and attitudes in South Africa are mutable: perceptions and attitudes change according to the precise question posed, have changed over time, and change in the face of counter-arguments. South Africans, like people in many other parts of the world, see some poor people as more deserving than others, with perceived desert reflecting recognised needs (e.g. the elderly), responsibilities (e.g. bread-winners) and behaviour (with respondents being hostile to support for chronic drinkers, for example). Some, but not most, South Africans also become less supportive of the government supporting the poor if taxes are to be increased. Overall, South Africans seem to recognise a wide range of deserving poor, and even richer elites are inclined toward generosity, but support for redistribution is far from unconditional.

The race game: sport and politics in South Africa

ROBERT CHAPPELL - BRUNEL UNI -This important book deserves place on the shelf of all university libraries, as it is an excellent addition to those books already available. New Zealand International Review- traces the development and changes in racial attitudes in South Africa, particularly with regard to sport, from the 19th century - whilst reading it, the thought that was never far away...was how useful this book would have been thirty years ago for those of us who were on the anti-apartheid campaign trail. Choice - November 1998 book is recommended reading for all interested in sport as crucial player, not only in sociocultural development, but in nation building. African Affairs: The Jnl of the Royal African Society- The Race Game is both scholarly and readble history of sport...A major strength of the work is the sharp analysis of the changing relationship between sport and politics from 1948 to the collapse of apartheid, including an excelllent reappraisal of the development and contribution of the anti-apartheid international sports Ethnic and Racial Studies- In an illuminating and often invigorating exposition of the process through which race and national identities have shaped the political development of sport, Douglas provides history of the complex interplay between sport, race and class relations in South Africa...It is abundantly clear that in sport, the years of political, racial and class divisions in South Africa will not be solved overnight, and Douglas is to be commended for articulating and chronicling the reasons why in such forthright and succinct manner. Mass Phenomena- Sociological Abstracts The Sports Historian, at http://www.umist.ac.uk/sport/revs182.html Booth is supplying an in-depth and wide ranging critique of the politics surrounding South African sport since the 1960s. His work is built on an intricate knowledge of the specific sporting history of his topic, of the key figures and organisations ... In all his coverage shows solid understanding of the politics of South Africa, both black and white, and offers sensible critique and assessment of the policy of sports boycott. The International Journal of the History of Sport essential reading for anyone with an interest in the socio-political or cultural history of South Africa...a seminal work in its field Nationalism and Ethnic Politics: a perceptive historical analysis... an excellent resource for anyone interested in racial politics of Southern Africa.

Political Attitudes in South Africa - R. W. Johnson and Lawrence Schlemmer (eds.): Launching Democracy in South Africa: The First Open Election, April 1994, Yale University Press, 1996, xiv +375 pp., £19.95

Political Attitudes in South Africa - R. W. Johnson and Lawrence Schlemmer (eds.): Launching Democracy in South Africa: The First Open Election, April 1994, Yale University Press, 1996, xiv +375 pp., £19.95 - Volume 32 Issue 1

National symbols: cultural negotiation and policy beyond apartheid

SUMMARY National monuments as cultural symbols embody not only the attitudes of contemporary political players, but also the baggage of much wider historical associations. In this article, the residues of historical ideas of nation and nationhood are related to South African national monuments policy debates, with specific reference to the impact of previous policy decisions based on an identification of the concepts of 'nation' and 'culture'. It is argued that the present plurality of national-cultural attitudes in South Africa, fomented by apartheid policies of division, can be viewed as a resource with which to rearticulate the symbolism of existing monuments in ways which turn the divisions of the past into the basis for a future founded on democratic pluralism.

The Structure of Sociopolitical Attitudes in South Africa

Research on the structure of sociopolitical attitudes has uncovered three models of structure in diverse populations: unidimensional, multidimensional and orthogonal, and a fuzzy set of intercorrelated dimensions. The cross-cultural stability of the dimensions of sociopolitical attitudes, as well as the degree of association between the dimensions, was examined in a South African sample of students from three population groups. The results support the fuzzy set thesis and suggest both similarities and differences between the structure of ideological attitudes in South Africa and other Western democracies. These findings lead to questions about the validity of the assumption that personality functions as the sole structural agent; they suggest that attitudinal structure may also be influenced by situational and ideological factors and group status.