Suchergebnisse

South Africa had the privilege of learning from how other countries responded to the crisis engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this opportunity seems to have been lost as the South African government made the mistake of transposing a developed world preventive response onto a largely developing-world populace. The government failed to map out how factors such as South Africa's demographic composition, spatial architecture, the incidence of poverty and informality, and competing epidemics would interact synergistically and shape epidemiological outcomes. In this article shaped by sociological insights, we show how the application of governance systems can give rise to many unintended social consequences when the knowledge forms upon which they are based are not suitably tailored to meet the needs of the specific local context. We highlight how informality can play a valuable role in fighting the COVID crisis and suggest that, to truly succeed, the government should include rather than override informal principles of governance. Significance: We present a brief comparative analysis of the responses of different nation states to the COVID-19 pandemic. The insights contribute to the sociological literature as well as to other disciplines, highlighting how local contextual factors are (re)shaping the form of policy responses as well as their associated consequences. More specifically, we focus on the importance of adopting a political economy approach in the analysis of informality and motivate how and why this may be useful for consideration in areas related to policy development and governance more broadly.

Several qualitative researchers using discursive methodologies have noted how opposition to homosexuality has not necessarily diminished, despite the general expression of liberal tolerance in many settings. Instead, heterosexist rhetoric has shifted to accommodate political change. Our research builds on this observation within the South African context, using a discursive psychology approach. We examine rhetorical strategies of "heterosexual recuperation": the ways that heterosexual boundaries and the dominance of heterosexuality are maintained by speakers, at the same time as they attempt to avoid being heard as heterosexist. Drawing on data from a qualitative study conducted with heterosexual-identifying Black South Africans from four provinces, we focus on talk that was resourced by a "discourse of tolerance" and characterised by speakers' concern to avoid the attribution of heterosexism. This talk was analysed using thematic analysis, to which discursive psychology techniques were applied. We identified two ways of speaking that relied on this discourse – (1) "As long as they do it in private", and (2) "Flashing their homosexuality" – and show how they ultimately worked to recuperate heterosexuality and marginalise non-normative sexualities. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to a critical psychology that works to challenge hetero-patriarchal norms. ; http://www.pins.org.za/issue.php?num=51 ; am2017 ; Humanities Education

Eurocentric bias in three social science disciplines -- economics, psychology & social anthropology -- is compared. It is argued that in economics & psychology, metaphysical assumptions embedded in the European philosophical traditions of abstract individualism & universalism have been applied uncritically in the study of non-European societies; social anthropology is responsible for the opposite type of bias -- the maintenance of superiority through a reluctance to universalize, ie, maintaining excessive particularism. Analyzed is how the biases are manifested in each discipline & how "discipline-centrism" can exacerbate the biases. Consequences of Eurocentrism are discussed, eg: (1) it has damaged non-European societies through the "colonization" of their intellectuals; (2) it has impoverished the academic disciplines themselves, which remain unaware of alternative sources of knowledge outside mainstream development; & (3) it functions, regardless of intention, to legitimate international inequality. 34 References. Modified AA

While the world has seen a decline in absolute poverty, it has also seen a simultaneous rise in economic inequality. This is the case in all of the major economies as well as in emerging ones, including South Africa. Is there a South African explanation of poverty and inequality that is distinctive and different from an explanation of poverty and inequality that would be used in other contexts and countries? What are the familiar constants that characterise the interdependence of this ubiquitous pairing? How can the discussion on poverty and inequality be taken forward? Is wealth taxation a viable instrument to reduce wealth inequality in South Africa? In Poverty and Inequality: Diagnosis, Prognosis and Responses, the authors explore these and many others gritty questions as they analyse the complexity of poverty and inequality beyond an over-determination of the concepts by the economic or the wealth index in South Africa. -- Publisher's description

What are public intellectuals? What is their role in social, cultural, political, and academic contexts? What compels them to put forward their ideas? The rich tapestry created in The Fabric of Dissent helps to answer these questions. Offering concise portraits of some seventy-five influential South African public intellectuals, past and present, the book not only showcases an astonishing array of achievements, but also explores the context, influences, and unique tensions shaping each individual's life and bears testimony to their continuing relevance