Pub Date : 2020-04-02DOI: 10.1080/21528586.2020.1828158
Gift Mupambwa, J. Zaaiman
ABSTRACT This article critically examines power relationships amongst actors in a local housing development project in the Khutsong township in South Africa. For this purpose, actors’ interpretations and actions of their project praxis are linked critically to Stephen Lukes’ dimensions of power. These are the first-dimensional decision-making and policymaking power, the second-dimensional attempts to control agendas and the third-dimensional capacity to frame public issues in a way that influences people’s perceptions of their interests. Lukes upholds a normative position toward power. It is important for him to identify those who dominate for their own interest. The Khutsong housing project is an interesting case study to apply Lukes’ theory. In this project powerholders attempted to implement their interpretations of reality as dominant. But the study demonstrates that there were several definitions and rationalities competing for dominance. The first dimension of power established a major outcome—the extensive housing project. On the second and third dimensions, space was identified for role players to also insert their interpretations into the project. This demonstrates that in this project domination was more complex than a straightforward relationship among power, agency and responsibility. Different parties affected agendas and the perceptions of interests.
{"title":"The Khutsong Housing Project and Power Relationships: An Application of Lukes’ Three Dimensions of Power","authors":"Gift Mupambwa, J. Zaaiman","doi":"10.1080/21528586.2020.1828158","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2020.1828158","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article critically examines power relationships amongst actors in a local housing development project in the Khutsong township in South Africa. For this purpose, actors’ interpretations and actions of their project praxis are linked critically to Stephen Lukes’ dimensions of power. These are the first-dimensional decision-making and policymaking power, the second-dimensional attempts to control agendas and the third-dimensional capacity to frame public issues in a way that influences people’s perceptions of their interests. Lukes upholds a normative position toward power. It is important for him to identify those who dominate for their own interest. The Khutsong housing project is an interesting case study to apply Lukes’ theory. In this project powerholders attempted to implement their interpretations of reality as dominant. But the study demonstrates that there were several definitions and rationalities competing for dominance. The first dimension of power established a major outcome—the extensive housing project. On the second and third dimensions, space was identified for role players to also insert their interpretations into the project. This demonstrates that in this project domination was more complex than a straightforward relationship among power, agency and responsibility. Different parties affected agendas and the perceptions of interests.","PeriodicalId":44730,"journal":{"name":"South African Review of Sociology","volume":"07 1","pages":"16 - 32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86175251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21528586.2020.1806919
C. Govender
ABSTRACT South African (SA) first-year university students are especially at risk due to poor performance, high dropout and student protest marches. They face challenges of academic performance, retention and decreased throughput rates. While some students overcome their challenges and risks to succeed into their second year of study, some fall prey to their challenges. These students become “at risk” of not succeeding into their second year of study. For student support strategies to work, listening to student voices may be necessary. The academic voices of students, especially those of first-year at-risk students should be heard by educators, society and policy makers. The study research question was: what do at-risk first-year students perceive to be their hopes, challenges and goals of their learning at a South African higher education institution? An open-ended survey questionnaire was administered to a purposive sample (n = 64) to capture student narrative perceptions. Thematic analysis explored three themes with subthemes. Subthemes of theme 1, student hopes, are to gain knowledge, understanding and motivation. Theme 2, student challenges, revealed subthemes of a lack of understanding, keeping pace with lecturers, rowdy classrooms and time management. Theme 3, student goals, produced one subtheme: to pass their modules. The study contributes theoretically by adding to the body of knowledge on first-year at-risk student perceptions. Practically, the findings offer educators, business, government and society insight into student academic, social and personal voices. Further research on first-year at-risk student voices in Africa is recommended.
{"title":"Hopes, Challenges and Goals—Voices of First-Year At-Risk Higher Education Students in South Africa","authors":"C. Govender","doi":"10.1080/21528586.2020.1806919","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2020.1806919","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT South African (SA) first-year university students are especially at risk due to poor performance, high dropout and student protest marches. They face challenges of academic performance, retention and decreased throughput rates. While some students overcome their challenges and risks to succeed into their second year of study, some fall prey to their challenges. These students become “at risk” of not succeeding into their second year of study. For student support strategies to work, listening to student voices may be necessary. The academic voices of students, especially those of first-year at-risk students should be heard by educators, society and policy makers. The study research question was: what do at-risk first-year students perceive to be their hopes, challenges and goals of their learning at a South African higher education institution? An open-ended survey questionnaire was administered to a purposive sample (n = 64) to capture student narrative perceptions. Thematic analysis explored three themes with subthemes. Subthemes of theme 1, student hopes, are to gain knowledge, understanding and motivation. Theme 2, student challenges, revealed subthemes of a lack of understanding, keeping pace with lecturers, rowdy classrooms and time management. Theme 3, student goals, produced one subtheme: to pass their modules. The study contributes theoretically by adding to the body of knowledge on first-year at-risk student perceptions. Practically, the findings offer educators, business, government and society insight into student academic, social and personal voices. Further research on first-year at-risk student voices in Africa is recommended.","PeriodicalId":44730,"journal":{"name":"South African Review of Sociology","volume":"1 1","pages":"55 - 69"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83673919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21528586.2020.1741443
A. Khan, Kopano Ratele
ABSTRACT Violence against women in the home is a serious global social, health and human rights problem which transcends every level of society. Many countries have enacted and implemented specific legal policy interventions, often referred to as the “Domestic Violence Act”, in order protect women from violence at home. Although the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2010 was an important landmark in policy-making in Bangladesh, legal recourse by survivors of violence in the home using this Act appears to be exceedingly low in some districts. Using a qualitative case-study approach, this article, part of a broader investigation on violence in the home, critically assesses the implementation of the Act in the Bangladeshi administrative district of Mymensingh. Since enactment of the law until the study period in 2014, only two cases were lodged under this Act in this district. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with the concerned implementers and the survivors of domestic violence. Furthermore, relevant documentary evidence was also consulted. This assessment reveals that policy implementation of the Act suffered from various drawbacks, in particular lack of coordination, non-compliance, implementation delays, lack of commitment and the capabilities of the implementers. We then reflect on lessons from this assessment for South Africa, pointing out some possibilities for overcoming the problems associated with implementation of laws against violence against women in the home.
{"title":"Assessing the Policy Implementation of the Bangladeshi Domestic Violence Act: Any Lessons for Protecting South African Women in their Homes?","authors":"A. Khan, Kopano Ratele","doi":"10.1080/21528586.2020.1741443","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2020.1741443","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Violence against women in the home is a serious global social, health and human rights problem which transcends every level of society. Many countries have enacted and implemented specific legal policy interventions, often referred to as the “Domestic Violence Act”, in order protect women from violence at home. Although the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2010 was an important landmark in policy-making in Bangladesh, legal recourse by survivors of violence in the home using this Act appears to be exceedingly low in some districts. Using a qualitative case-study approach, this article, part of a broader investigation on violence in the home, critically assesses the implementation of the Act in the Bangladeshi administrative district of Mymensingh. Since enactment of the law until the study period in 2014, only two cases were lodged under this Act in this district. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with the concerned implementers and the survivors of domestic violence. Furthermore, relevant documentary evidence was also consulted. This assessment reveals that policy implementation of the Act suffered from various drawbacks, in particular lack of coordination, non-compliance, implementation delays, lack of commitment and the capabilities of the implementers. We then reflect on lessons from this assessment for South Africa, pointing out some possibilities for overcoming the problems associated with implementation of laws against violence against women in the home.","PeriodicalId":44730,"journal":{"name":"South African Review of Sociology","volume":"24 1","pages":"17 - 36"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74831407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21528586.2020.1761873
D. G. Kassa
ABSTRACT Democratic transitions and consolidation stalled in many parts of Africa in the past three decades. Ethiopia followed a similar pattern of democratic recession, after promising openings at two important junctures, i.e. 1991 and 2005. In fact, the ruling party claimed a “100 percent victory” winning all the national parliament seats in the latest May 24, 2015 election. This article employs the case of Ethiopia to point at the limits of existing theoretical models on democratic transition explaining electoral authoritarianism. Consequently, the article underscores the need to go beyond the confines of institutional design, elite patronage, and modernization theory to factor in broader sociohistorical factors that buttress electoral authoritarianism. These, I submit, ought to include: (a) the historical sociology about the origin and development of the respective states themselves, and (b) their respective political cultures, and not least their histories of political violence.
{"title":"Beyond the Limits of Theory: Qualifying Electoral Authoritarianism in Ethiopia (2005–2015)","authors":"D. G. Kassa","doi":"10.1080/21528586.2020.1761873","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2020.1761873","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Democratic transitions and consolidation stalled in many parts of Africa in the past three decades. Ethiopia followed a similar pattern of democratic recession, after promising openings at two important junctures, i.e. 1991 and 2005. In fact, the ruling party claimed a “100 percent victory” winning all the national parliament seats in the latest May 24, 2015 election. This article employs the case of Ethiopia to point at the limits of existing theoretical models on democratic transition explaining electoral authoritarianism. Consequently, the article underscores the need to go beyond the confines of institutional design, elite patronage, and modernization theory to factor in broader sociohistorical factors that buttress electoral authoritarianism. These, I submit, ought to include: (a) the historical sociology about the origin and development of the respective states themselves, and (b) their respective political cultures, and not least their histories of political violence.","PeriodicalId":44730,"journal":{"name":"South African Review of Sociology","volume":"6 1","pages":"70 - 82"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82411086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21528586.2020.1792971
P. Daniels, T. Adonis
ABSTRACT The quality assurance of community engagement was flagged as a major problem during the last cycle of audits of South African Higher Education Institutions (SAHEIs) by the Higher Education Quality Committee. Through the implementation of critical literature review methodology and comparing similarities and differences among SAHEIs in their reporting of their attempts at benchmarking, this article will present concrete proposals for a pathway to effective benchmarking of community engagement at SAHEIs. SAHEIs have looked at conceptual models to enable high-quality community engagement, but effective measuring tools have eluded their efforts. Through evaluating the critiques and recommendations of the Higher Education Quality Committee at all SAHEIs regarding community engagement as well as the responses thereto, this article will discuss the obstacles to developing quality assurance of community engagement and the prospects for overcoming them. Insights into key elements required in the benchmarking of community engagement will be drawn from the history of community engagement at SAHEIs from apartheid to democracy.
{"title":"Quality Assurance of Community Engagement in South African Higher Education Institutions: Problems and Prospects","authors":"P. Daniels, T. Adonis","doi":"10.1080/21528586.2020.1792971","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2020.1792971","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The quality assurance of community engagement was flagged as a major problem during the last cycle of audits of South African Higher Education Institutions (SAHEIs) by the Higher Education Quality Committee. Through the implementation of critical literature review methodology and comparing similarities and differences among SAHEIs in their reporting of their attempts at benchmarking, this article will present concrete proposals for a pathway to effective benchmarking of community engagement at SAHEIs. SAHEIs have looked at conceptual models to enable high-quality community engagement, but effective measuring tools have eluded their efforts. Through evaluating the critiques and recommendations of the Higher Education Quality Committee at all SAHEIs regarding community engagement as well as the responses thereto, this article will discuss the obstacles to developing quality assurance of community engagement and the prospects for overcoming them. Insights into key elements required in the benchmarking of community engagement will be drawn from the history of community engagement at SAHEIs from apartheid to democracy.","PeriodicalId":44730,"journal":{"name":"South African Review of Sociology","volume":"6 1","pages":"37 - 54"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79827332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21528586.2020.1741442
Joanne Phyfer, K. Durrheim, A. Murray
ABSTRACT This article makes a contribution to literature on “white-talk”. Existing literature shows how whiteness has been defended by criticizing black people, culture and government in subtle (and not so subtle) ways that allow speakers to deny racism. In contrast to denial, we focus on how white South Africans confess to feeling guilty for their privilege in comparison with their domestic workers. Confessions of guilt are ways of taking ownership of white privilege, while accountability is achieved by intragroup comparisons with whites whose standards and practices are not motivated by appropriate guilt. We conclude by reflecting on the costs of such confessions of guilt, namely in propping up whiteness and maintaining extant power structures.
{"title":"Buttressing Whiteness by Confessing Guilt and Rejecting Racism: A Study of White-Talk about Paid Domestic Labour","authors":"Joanne Phyfer, K. Durrheim, A. Murray","doi":"10.1080/21528586.2020.1741442","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2020.1741442","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article makes a contribution to literature on “white-talk”. Existing literature shows how whiteness has been defended by criticizing black people, culture and government in subtle (and not so subtle) ways that allow speakers to deny racism. In contrast to denial, we focus on how white South Africans confess to feeling guilty for their privilege in comparison with their domestic workers. Confessions of guilt are ways of taking ownership of white privilege, while accountability is achieved by intragroup comparisons with whites whose standards and practices are not motivated by appropriate guilt. We conclude by reflecting on the costs of such confessions of guilt, namely in propping up whiteness and maintaining extant power structures.","PeriodicalId":44730,"journal":{"name":"South African Review of Sociology","volume":"8 1","pages":"16 - 3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87600752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21528586.2020.1741444
Christopher G. Thomas
{"title":"Development, social policy and community action","authors":"Christopher G. Thomas","doi":"10.1080/21528586.2020.1741444","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2020.1741444","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44730,"journal":{"name":"South African Review of Sociology","volume":"97 5 1","pages":"83 - 85"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87703574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-12-18DOI: 10.1080/21528586.2019.1699441
Sandla Nomvete, John Mashayamombe
Writing from a participant observation point of view with supplement of in-depth interviews, this article presents UPrising, a student-led movement that emerged at the University of Pretoria's Hatf...
本文以参与观察的角度，辅以深度访谈，呈现由比勒陀利亚大学(University of Pretoria)哈特夫学院(Hatf)兴起的学生运动“起义”(UPrising)。
{"title":"South Africa’s Fees Must Fall: The Case of #UPrising in 2015","authors":"Sandla Nomvete, John Mashayamombe","doi":"10.1080/21528586.2019.1699441","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2019.1699441","url":null,"abstract":"Writing from a participant observation point of view with supplement of in-depth interviews, this article presents UPrising, a student-led movement that emerged at the University of Pretoria's Hatf...","PeriodicalId":44730,"journal":{"name":"South African Review of Sociology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2019-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83006143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-11-11DOI: 10.1080/21528586.2019.1678070
L. Sinwell
ABSTRACTThe core activities associated with the #Fees Must Fall (FMF) movement in South Africa may be understood as forms of “disruptive power” (Piven [2006]. Challenging Authority: How Ordinary Pe...
{"title":"The #Fees Must Fall Movement: “Disruptive Power” and the Politics of Student-Worker Alliances at the University of the Free State (2015–2016)","authors":"L. Sinwell","doi":"10.1080/21528586.2019.1678070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2019.1678070","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThe core activities associated with the #Fees Must Fall (FMF) movement in South Africa may be understood as forms of “disruptive power” (Piven [2006]. Challenging Authority: How Ordinary Pe...","PeriodicalId":44730,"journal":{"name":"South African Review of Sociology","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2019-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78447197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-10-02DOI: 10.1080/21528586.2019.1699442
Zanetta L. Jansen
{"title":"Autoethnographic Reflections on Student Mobilisation for Educational Reform: From Apartheid to Democracy and the 2015 #Fees-must-fall Student Uprising in South Africa","authors":"Zanetta L. Jansen","doi":"10.1080/21528586.2019.1699442","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2019.1699442","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44730,"journal":{"name":"South African Review of Sociology","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2019-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89863520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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