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South Africa's Emerging Black Middle Class: A Harbinger of Political Change?

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  • Robert Mattes

Abstract

While South Africa has seen a significant increase in the post‐apartheid period in the size of the Black middle class, the attitudinal consequences of indicators of the middle class, as of 2011, are inconsistent and modest in size. While they are no more likely to hold democratic values than other Black South Africans, they are more likely to want the government to secure ‘higher‐order’ rather than basic survival needs. They are less likely to identify with the governing African National Congress and to turn out to vote. They are also less likely to ‘voice’ their concerns by contacting officials or joining in conventional or unconventional forms of collective action. Yet while intra‐racial class differences amongst Black people remain muted, intra‐class racial differences amongst South Africa's middle class are still substantial. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of International Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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  • Robert Mattes, 2015. "South Africa's Emerging Black Middle Class: A Harbinger of Political Change?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(5), pages 665-692, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:27:y:2015:i:5:p:665-692
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.3100
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    Cited by:

    1. Porten, John & Rhee, Inbok & Gibson, Clark, 2022. "Ethnicity is not public service destiny: The political logic of service distribution in South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    2. Simplice Asongu & Joseph Nnanna, 2020. "Inclusive human development in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(2), pages 183-200, May.
    3. Simplice A Asongu & Sara Le Roux, 2019. "Understanding Sub-Saharan Africa’s Extreme Poverty Tragedy," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 457-467, April.
    4. Schotte, Simone, 2017. "The Anxious and the Climbers: Ambivalent Attitudes towards Democracy among South Africa's Middle Class," GIGA Working Papers 304, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    5. Amory Gethin, 2020. "Extreme Inequality and the Structure of Political Cleavages in South Africa, 1994-2019," World Inequality Lab Working Papers halshs-03022282, HAL.
    6. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2021. "Income Levels, Governance and Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(1), pages 71-103, February.
    7. Simplice A. Asongu & Samba Diop, 2022. "Bribing to escape poverty in Africa," Working Papers 22/090, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    8. von Fintel, Dieter & Orthofer, Anna, 2020. "Wealth inequality and financial inclusion: Evidence from South African tax and survey records," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 568-578.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu & Sara le Roux, 2018. "Understanding Sub-Saharan Africa’s Extreme Poverty Tragedy," Research Africa Network Working Papers 18/012, Research Africa Network (RAN).

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