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Risks and Aspirations: Strategies for Coping with Uncertainty

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Book cover Inequality, Socio-cultural Differentiation and Social Structures in Africa

Part of the book series: Frontiers of Globalization ((FOG))

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Abstract

The one-shot measurement of income is insufficient to describe social position, because economic volatility is the main factor leading to economic uncertainty and vulnerability of the majority of Africans across different income strata. With regard to safeguarding a certain social position, the central element is the welfare-mix. It includes risk minimisation through a combination of different sources of income, means of formal social security and semi-formal and informal security networks that reach across income strata. At the same time, the semi- and informal security networks may be a heavy load for better-off network members, because of the obligations to support other network members. This interplay between vulnerability and strategising of security provision, a vulnerability-security nexus, has a crucial influence on social positioning.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Welfare mix refers to the “welfare triangle” of market economy, state and household that contributes in different combinations to the welfare of people (Evers 1990, 8–12).

  2. 2.

    We need to be careful not to qualify formal employment as “secure” and self-employment as “insecure”. The study of Maike Voigt shows that Kenyan small business owners‚ see self-employment as better way to secure a regular income (Voigt 2018).

  3. 3.

    For a comparative analysis of social policy in Africa, a couple of recent papers published in the Swiss online journal Social Policy are helpful (Künzler and Nollert 2017; Noyoo 2017; Seekings 2017); see also Bähre (2011)‚ Dau (2003)‚ Dorfman (2015)‚ and Seekings (2013). For the previous discussion, see Dixon (1987), Fuchs (1985), Midgley (1984), Midgley and Sherradon (1997), Neubert (1986a), and Sooth (1992).

  4. 4.

    A simplified calculation with reference to the year 2009 may help to assess the amount of the pension: With a comparatively high salary of 500 US$ over 30 years the payment might be more than 20,000 US$. However, with a life expectancy of 70 the pension would be about 170 US$ a month.

  5. 5.

    Chad, Djibouti, Gabon; Kenya, Malawi; Mauretania; Mauritius; Sierra Leone; South Sudan; Togo. More than 60% of the lower quintile is reached by Botswana, Lesotho, Liberia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda (World Bank 2015, appendix G).

  6. 6.

    The company “Livestock Wealth” makes such an offer. See http://www.livestockwealth.co.za/ (accessed 2 January 2018).

  7. 7.

    E.g. summarised for two Kenyan ethnic groups (Kikuyu and Luo) in Neubert (1986a).

  8. 8.

    In a critical and pejorative way, these obligations are addressed in public discussions in South Africa as the “black tax”.

  9. 9.

    Alber (2016, 185), Ferraro (1971), wa Githinji (2000, 53–56), Häberlein (2018), Kroeker (2018, 281), and Steinwachs (2006, 119–124).

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  1. University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

    Dieter Neubert

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Neubert, D. (2019). Risks and Aspirations: Strategies for Coping with Uncertainty. In: Inequality, Socio-cultural Differentiation and Social Structures in Africa. Frontiers of Globalization. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17111-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17111-7_6

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