Abstract
This paper is an exploration of grievance formation among black and white South Africans during the transition years from 1994 to 2000. Representative samples of black and white South Africans were surveyed annually. Respondents were asked about their objective circumstances and their (dis)satisfaction with their personal situation and the situation of the group with which they identified most strongly. Black South Africans reported higher levels of personal grievance in comparison with white South Africans, but white South Africans reported higher levels of group grievance in comparison with black South Africans. Respondents’ race and class predicted their levels of satisfaction, but over the 7 years of the study, race became a less important predictor and class became a more important predictor. However, grievances—at the individual and the group level—are mostly determined by comparisons, especially comparisons with others that people perceive to be in a better position.
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Notes
The composition of the seven samples is:
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
Blacks
1,235
1,431
1,435
1,419
1,474
1,592
1,768
Whites
542
426
414
416
401
339
337
Gauteng and Western Cape were defined as center, the other provinces as periphery. Gauteng with cities Pretoria and Johannesburg and Western Cape with Cape Town are modern westernized regions, unlike the other provinces.
Pearson corr. of race and living standard hovered between .62 and .71 over the years.
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The author wants to thank two anonymous reviewers and the guest editors for their valuable comments to previous versions of the paper.
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Klandermans, B. Grievance Formation in Times of Transition: South Africa 1994–2000. Soc Just Res 28, 123–142 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-014-0232-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-014-0232-4