The socioeconomic dimensions of racial inequality in South Africa: a social space perspective

Branson, Nicola, Hjellbrekke, Johs, Leibbrandt, Murray, Ranchhod, Vimal, Savage, Mike ORCID: 0000-0003-4563-9564 and Whitelaw, Emma (2024) The socioeconomic dimensions of racial inequality in South Africa: a social space perspective. British Journal of Sociology, 75 (4). 613 - 635. ISSN 0007-1315

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Abstract

It is well evidenced that South Africa is characterised by extreme socioeconomic inequality, which is strongly racialised. We offer an original sociological perspective, which departs from established perspectives considering the dynamics of vulnerability and poverty to focus on the structuring of classed and racialised privilege. We map how stocks of economic, cultural, and social capital intersect to generate systematic and structural inequalities in the country and consider how far these are associated with fundamental racial divides. To achieve this, we utilise rich, nationally representative data from the National Income Dynamics Study and employ Multiple Correspondence Analysis to construct a model of South African ‘social space’. Our findings underscore how entrenched racial divisions remain within South Africa, with White people being overwhelmingly located in the most privileged positions. However, our cluster analysis also indicates that forms of middle-class privilege percolate beyond a core of the 8% of the population that is white. We emphasise how age divisions are associated with social capital accumulation. Our cluster analysis reveals that trust levels increase with economic and cultural capital levels within younger age groups and could therefore come to intensify social and racial divisions.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14684446
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s).
Divisions:	Sociology
Subjects:	H Social Sciences J Political Science H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
JEL classification:	A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A14 - Sociology of Economics D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
Date Deposited:	17 Jun 2024 14:54
Last Modified:	12 Nov 2024 18:24
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/123895

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