Struggle For Social Change Research Articles

MARKING AND BINDING

Political bloodpouring, in the context of nonviolent direct action, can be interpreted as an act of redefinition of social reality. Participants, by a process of “marking,” set themselves against one set of things, and at the same time, by a process of “binding,” they identify themselves with a different set of things. Blood can serve these two different functions in one and the same political action. The set of things from which activists distinguish themselves is in this article called structure, and the set of things with which they identify is called antistructure (or communitas), these terms being taken from the work of the anthropologist, Victor Turner. The article stresses the importance of symbolic action and its connectedness with struggle for social change in concrete historical situations.

The politics of contraception in South Africa

This article discusses the social relations surrounding the use of contraception amongst Africans in South Africa. It argues that women are oppressed by the opposing forces of apartheid and capital, interlocked as they are, on the one hand, and patriarchy on the other. The government population control programme seeks to limit the number of children that women have, in an effort to reduce the African population growth rate, as part of the overall strategy to maintain white political and economic domination. Capital to some extent colludes in this process in its desire for a stable workforce and its antagonism towards protective legislation, such as maternity rights, for women. Men, in contrast, tend to be antagonistic towards contraception and to resent the reproductive control which contraception affords women. This article suggests that the double-bind that women experience in this context can only be resolved if gender oppression is addressed within the process of antiapartheid politics so that the struggle for social change does not retain its patriarchal character.

The Exhaustion of Left and Right: Perspectives on the Political Participation of the Disadvantaged

While it is often assumed that those of a left political conviction favor the increased political participation of the disadvantaged and those of a more conservative bent oppose it, examination of the views of five ideologically defined intellectual tendencies raises doubts about this conclusion. Political orientations of a left-right character are not consistently linked to issue positions on this question. In general, Liberals call for measures to increase the participation of the disadvantaged and Conservatives warn against such action. But New Right Conservatives, surprisingly, also seek to mobilize the disadvantaged, and generally favor their participation. Western Marxists often argue that the disadvantaged must actively participate in the struggle for social change while the Marxist-Leninists contend that to attribute such an active role to the disadvantaged could seriously threaten the entire socialist-communist project. Fundamental values, in the form of philosophical assumptions about human nature are hypothesized to be as helpful as political ideology of a left-right character in understanding views on the participation of the disadvantaged. Western Marxists and Liberals are both optimistic about human nature and they favor participation of these groups while Conservatives and Marxist-Leninists are pessimistic about humankind and discourage it. The New Right characterizations of human nature are contradictory and their enthusiasm for the political participation of the disadvantaged can be interpreted as either a deeply held emotional commitment, or merely one element in a calculated electoral strategy.

The struggle for social change in southern Africa: visions of liberty

The applicability of Khun's to the struggle for social change in southern Africa origins of colonial paradigm the structure and function of the colonial paradigm education for Africans as an instrument of sustaining the colonial paradigm initiative for a paradigm shift - the struggle for social change the problems of creating a new paradigm.

A Phenomenological Analysis of Victimization. The Experience of Having One's House Attacked and Damaged

The science of victimology aims at understanding and alleviating the pain or experience of being a victim. Phenomenology is an approach which seeks to understand the life-world of a subject. A phenomenological analysis appears to be an appropriate method of gaining an understanding of the experience of being a victim. In South Africa a number of people have recently had their houses petrol bombed or burnt down. In the case of criminal victimization such as rape or theft, the aim of the victimizer is usually personal gain. The incidents discussed in this study are related to social change rather than personal benefit. The aim of the victimizers in this study appears to have been to curtail the socio-political activities of the victim. Whatever the motive of the victimizer, the victim remains the sufferer. The purpose of this study is to present a phenomenological analysis of this type of victimization in the hope that it will increase our understanding of victimization in general. Six victims were interviewed. The interviews were unstructured. One interview was used for idiographic analysis and the remaining protocols were used for a general analysis. The results yielded a rich description of the experience of having one's house attacked. Certain experiences were are common to all subjects. The victims are pawns in a struggle for social change.