A contradictory class location?: the African corporate middle class and the burden of race in South Africa
SOURCE: Transformation
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2007
TITLE AUTHOR(S): G.Modisha
KEYWORDS: BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT (BEE), CULTURAL PLURALISM, MIDDLE CLASS, RACIAL SEGREGATION, WORKING CLASS
DEPARTMENT: Developmental, Capable and Ethical State (DCES)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 5124
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/5559
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/5559
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2007
TITLE AUTHOR(S): G.Modisha
KEYWORDS: BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT (BEE), CULTURAL PLURALISM, MIDDLE CLASS, RACIAL SEGREGATION, WORKING CLASS
DEPARTMENT: Developmental, Capable and Ethical State (DCES)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 5124
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/5559
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/5559
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
The existing literature on the changing nature of workplaces in South Africa either ignores the role played by the emerging layer of black managers, or views them as essentially conservative or as 'sell-outs'. This article problematises this perspective in two ways. First, through Eric Olin Wright's notion of 'a contradictory class location'. The author shows that a new middle class social status and power in the workplace is complicated by popular notions of how class and race intersect, both among fellow managers and how they are viewed by the primarily black workforces. Second, the author shows that the class position of the emerging African corporate middle class is closely linked to the communities that they come from and is influenced by decisions they make in relation to this. By considering how these managers experience living in the 'suburbs', we can better understand their contradictory class location and how this relates to issues of race and class. Based on 21 in-depth interviews with African managers in a range of industries, this exploratory study shows that far from just being conservative 'sell-outs', the emerging African corporate middle class has constantly to negotiate and re-negotiate its role and identity. It shows that they make different choices which are often informed by their social background. Those who come from a middle-class background tend to cut ties with their former communities, while those who come from working class and trade union backgrounds tend to maintain links with their communities. Indeed, some of these managers still see themselves as being part of the working class.-
Related Research Outputs:
- South Africa's emerging black middle class
- Cultural Implications of Socio-Economic Reconfiguration: Is black still black?
- Non-racialism and nation-building in the new South Africa
- "You can't write in Kaapse Afrikaans in your question paper ... the terms must be right": race- and class-infused language ideologies in educational places on the Cape Flats
- Breaking the impasse, beginning the change: labour market, unions and social initiative in Durban
- Empowerment and land reform
- Cultural diversity and developing countries
- Guest editorial: diversity and danger
- Informal finance in the informal economy: promoting decent work among the working poor
- An overview of poverty and inequality in South Africa
- Whose right it is anyway? equality, culture and conflicts of rights in South Africa
- Challenges of promoting and protecting the rights of cultural, religious and linguistic communities
- Shifting African identities
- The business of blackness: the Foundation of African Business and Consumer Services, democracy, and donor funding
- Socio-economic transformation in South Africa: black economic empowerment and small, medium and micro enterprises
- Disparities in attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA): a nationwide study
- Globalisation, identity and national policy in South Africa
- Preventing substance abuse among rural African-American and South African youths. Challenges and opportunities of cross-cultural collaboration
- The global debate on multiculturalism and women's human rights in South Africa
- Women, culture and inequality: human rights and the feminisation of poverty in South Africa