Transformation from below?
Subtitle: white suburbia in the transformation of apartheid South Africa to democracy
By: Ursula Scheidegger
Series: Basel Southern Africa studies -- 9
Publisher: Project Muse; Basler Afrika Bibliographien
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Baltimore, Maryland; Basel, Switzerland
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] :
Number of pages: 158
ISBN-13: 9783905758719; 9783905758580
Subjects: Democratization; Suburbs; Social aspects; Neighborhoods; Social change; Social conditions; Race relations
Other titles: Project Muse UPCC books.
Description: South Africa is an example of a relatively successful political transition. Nevertheless, the first democratic elections in 1994 did not change the systemic and structural inequalities, the socioeconomic legacies of discrimination or the alienation of the different population groups. At the centre of this study is the transformation potential of two formerly white neighbourhoods in Johannesburg - Norwood and Orange Grove. Both neighbourhoods have experienced considerable demographic changes and the various population groups differ in terms of their expectations and their willingness to adjust to the changes provoked by the transition. At the local level, patterns of discrimination and oppression continue. Spaces, opportunities and leverage of social networks engaged in the community are influenced by the resources people are able to access. Moreover, cooperation is contested in a context of pervasive inequality because there is no incentive for privileged groups to change arrangements that benefit them. In this context of conflicting interests and unequal access to power and resources, decentralisation and the promotion of participatory structures in local communities are a problem and the reliance on local networks as agents of development is questionable.
Notes: Issued as part of UPCC book collections on Project MUSE.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-149) and index.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Description based on print version record.
Table of contents: title: Social dynamics in two formerly white Johannesburg neighbourhoods : an introduction; title: 1. Social dynamics and the concept of social capital; title: 2. The challenges of democratic consolidation in South Africa; title: 3. Urban neighbourhoods and challenges of cooperation and order; title: 4. Local communities and the ambiguity of transformation; title: 5. Local schools and their impact on integration, civic engagement and neighbourhood sociability; title: 6. Religious communities and responses to the challenges of transformation, value changes and inequality; title: 7. Five years later : what has changed?; title: 8. Conclusion : transformation from below?; title: Appendix.