SOC1502 - Understanding South Africa: Families, Education, Identities And Inequality. A final revision document for sociology

SOC1502 - Understanding South Africa: Families, Education, Identities And Inequality. A final revision document for sociology.1. Sociology in South Africa was initially  Directed to the solution of local social problems  Combined with social work courses  Centered on the alleviation of poverty  Focussed on race relations 2. The foll statements reflect the study of Sociology  It is about all aspects of life  Studies both the abstract and unobservable as well as the concrete and observable  Studies interactions between people as well as institutions such as the economy  Concerned with understanding social change and the historical forces that bring about this change 3. The first universities to start teaching Sociology were (1932-`1937)  Stellies  Uct  Wits  Pretoria 4. Sociologists  Have a particular interest in groups because social life is carried out in a group context  Study both conflict and peaceful coexistence between people  Study interactions between people as well as institutions such as the economy and education 5. Concerns within the discipline of sociology in SA were  The research activities of Afrikaans and English speaking sociologists during the apartheid era  Study of South african society and its institutions  The race / class debate S - The study-notes marketplace Downloaded by: zodwantsie99 | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The study-notes marketplace a. Statification has to do with  Structured inequality  Being priviledged or not  Differences regarding access to power within society  Differences regarding ones status in society b. CLASS is  An indication of social ranking  The basis for patterns of consumption  An indication of access to means of production  A potential social actor c. The following are related to Karl Marx’s idea of Stratification  Surplus Value  Exploitation  Labour power d. Social Stratification is characterised by  The division of societies into rankings based on priviledge, prestige and power  Stuctured inequalities between different groups of people  Caste, slavery and estates in earlier societies The word stratification is derived from the word strata or levels. I often think of a ladder or staircase to help me assign social groups, such as race, ethnicity or class. In this tut we will focus on class. The hierarchy is indicative of inequality in modern society with some classes on the top (upper class) in the middle (working class) and the lower class (poor). Each class offers opportunities to move up or down the social ladder. This is referred to as mobility. Mobility is indicative of an open social system compared to a closed social system like the Indian caste system, were if one is born into a certain caste one dies in this social position. e. KARL MARX believed that  Stratification and social inequalities play an important function of maintaining order and stability within society  Modern societies are characterised by interdependent and co-operative class relations based on the division of labour within society. f. TALCOTT PARSONS believed that  In modern societies, race relations are predominantly exploitative and conflictual  Class conflict is a basis for social change and progress in human history. g. Social Mobility is basically  Ascribed status based on a persons own efforts to move up in society by studying hard, working hard and doing well for themselves.  Upward mobility is possible in a class system- (OPEN)  In an open system of stratification, a persons position is determined by achieved status S - The study-notes marketplace Downloaded by: zodwantsie99 | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The study-notes marketplace h. The CASTE System is a stratification system that is closed- there is NO upward mobility  Slavery  Caste  estate i. OPEN FORMS OF STRATIFICATION- mobility  Class j. Class is basically  A system people are born into.  They are able to influence their class position to a certain extent, by working hard, moving up in society  The nature of social relationships is impersonal  Class hierarchies are amongst others- defined by the jobs you have- a doctor has a better class than a teacher  Positions in class hierarchies are allocated in terms of common patterns of consumption. (what you buy, what you eat/wear ect)  CLASS- Indication of social ranking  A basis for patterns of consumption  Indication of access to means of production  A potentional social actor k. According to Crompton- class is described as a ‘potentional social and political actor’- this means that classes ...  Can act in their own interest  Have developed class consciousness  Can bring about organisational changes in society l. WEBER identifies three concepts related to social stratification  Class-groups of people with similar life chances, your class would depend on work, skills, education levels  Status- social prestige, honour depending on achievements- higher status given to professionals ect  Party-group of people working together to achieve a common goal regardless of class or education- eg political parties, unions S - The study-notes marketplace Downloaded by: zodwantsie99 | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The study-notes marketplace 1. An institution is  Part of society  An abstract structure responsible for patterns of behaviour  The family structure within which the socialisation of children occurs among others  The economic structure which centres on activities enabling people to make a living among others  Regulated by rules of behaviour that specifies right and wrong. 2. The foll factors were associated with the rise of mass education as an INSTITUTION separate from the family  Industrialisation  urbanisation 3. The following best explains the development of education as a separate institution  The education received in the family had to be supplemented by teaching specialised subjects due to industrialisation/ urbanisation  In the wake of modernisation there was an increased need for specialised skills S - The study-notes marketplace Downloaded by: zodwantsie99 | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The study-notes marketplace a. Some South African sociologists – like  Geoffrey Cronje  HF Vervoed Aligned themselves much more closely with the ideology of apartheid than other south African sociologists. b. The South African Education System .....  In pre-colonial SA knowledge was informally passed by story telling, poetry (oral) and kin-ship rituals  Colonialism provided a social foundation for separate racial education in south Africa  The apartheid govt refined and legislated separate and unequal education  Mission schools made a big contribution to education of black children prior to the introduction of apartheid in 1948. c. The rise of female headed households was a result of  Apartheid legislation such as influx control and migrant labour  Emancipation of black women  Increasing changes in the extended and nuclear family as a primary socialisation unit.  Rural women were deserted by their husbands who went to work in the cities d. In South Africa.......  Other family types exist besides nuclear and extended  Female headed,single parent families are increasing  Some nuclear families are structurally removed from the extended family because of work arrangements Petty Apartheid- segregation of public facilities Resedential-group areas act e. The ideology of GRAND apartheid included.......  Segregation of black people into so called homelands  The identification of black ethnic groups  Developing some of the homelands into independant states f. The Following is consistent with the idea of ‘resedential segregation’under apartheid  The development of Black townships in urban areas  The development of separate coloured and Indian residential areas in urban areas under the Group Areas Act. S - The study-notes marketplace Downloaded by: zodwantsie99 | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The study-notes marketplace g. According to Deborah Posel, the main problem with the instrumentalist view of apartheid was  It ignored the anomalous (abnormal) nature of south African society  It failed to consider the contradictions,fissures and tensions within the state Instrumentalist Marxism is a view of the role of the state from a conflict perspective or Marxist perspective. The state is seen as an instrument of the dominant class of the society as in dominant ideology thesis of Karl Marx and is assumed to operate at its behest. Instrumentalist Marxism view has now been largely displaced by a the structuralist approach or structurally-focused analysis. Instrumentalist Marxism approach stresses the importance of the intimate connection of the capitalist class to the state power apparatus and argues that it is this interconnection that explains political and economic policies in capitalist societies. "Instrumentalist Marxism can be salvaged by adoption of the concept of 'relative autonomy'." h. With the imposition of western values and colonialism in South Africa.....  Traditional African family structures changed  Christian Missionaries questioned the custom of polygamy  Ascribed statuses of African kinship networks were questioned  A new distribution of power was introduced within traditional societies i. As a result of unhappiness among black intellectuals with the white liberal opposition against apartheid a new organisation called SASO [south African students association] started in the 1960’s j. The most outstanding characteristic of Pre-Colonial African families is the fact that the larger kin group played a more significant role in pre-c families than currently. A plural society is defined by Fredrik Barth as a society combining ethnic contrasts: the economic interdependence of those groups, and their ecological specialization (i.e., use of different environmental resources by each ethnic group). k. The distinguishing features of a plural society inSouth Africa in the 50’s and 60’s were...  Joint strike action by both black and white workers  One national economy with little social integration of different race groups  The urbanisation of black workers only  The industrialisation of various area in South Africa  Disparate groups combined and participated in a shared economy l. The foll statements about race relations in the 20th century South Africa is correct....  Segregation preceded apartheid S - The study-notes marketplace Downloaded by: zodwantsie99 | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The study-notes marketplace j. The foll are consistent with the idea of separate development under apartheid....  Creation of homeland areas  Enactment of group areas act  Formation of the Black consciousness movement k. The following statements about “non racialism”ideology is correct  It is a policy of common national identity, equality and recognition of cultural and religious diversity. m. What was typical of the liberal views of the English speaking sociologists in the 50’s  They called for the achievement of a type of society based on the values of individual freedom and universalism n. The following are consistent with the idea of ethnicity from above  Setting up of homelands  State repression of organised forces that resisted apartheid legistlation  Racial classification of South Africans by legistlation  The construction of separate Indian and coloured neighbourhoods .