IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v652y2014i1p70-86.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Social and Political Implications of Demographic Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Jeremy Seekings

Abstract

The cohort of young people born between the early 1980s and early 1990s consitute a demographic bulge in the South African population. The sheer size of this cohort renders it especially important in terms of the changing political, economic, and social life of the country. The cohort grew up for the most part after apartheid had ended, entered the labor market at a time of high unemployment, is having children as marriage is in decline, and reached voting age just as the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) moral stature began to decline. All these factors might be expected to result in distinctive disaffection and a propensity for dissent. In terms of their attitudes and behavior, however, this cohort looks much like older (or immediately preceding) cohorts of South Africans. Where this cohort is likely to leave its mark is in entrenching some of the social, economic, and political changes that, until recently, might have appeared transient.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremy Seekings, 2014. "The Social and Political Implications of Demographic Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 652(1), pages 70-86, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:652:y:2014:i:1:p:70-86
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716213508265
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716213508265
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0002716213508265?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Servaas van der Berg, 2006. "How effective are poor schools? Poverty and educational outcomes in South Africa," Working Papers 06/2006, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    2. Jewkes, Rachel & Dunkle, Kristin & Koss, Mary P. & Levin, Jonathan B. & Nduna, Mzikazi & Jama, Nwabisa & Sikweyiya, Yandisa, 2006. "Rape perpetration by young, rural South African men: Prevalence, patterns and risk factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(11), pages 2949-2961, December.
    3. Stephan Klasen & Ingrid Woolard, 2009. "Surviving Unemployment Without State Support: Unemployment and Household Formation in South Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE), vol. 18(1), pages 1-51, January.
    4. Demombynes, Gabriel & Ozler, Berk, 2005. "Crime and local inequality in South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 265-292, April.
    5. Servaas van der Berg, 2007. "Apartheid's Enduring Legacy: Inequalities in Education-super- 1," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 16(5), pages 849-880, November.
    6. Derek Yu, 2012. "Youths in the South African labour market since the transition: A study of changes between 1995 and 2011," Working Papers 18/2012, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicola Branson & Julia Garlick & David Lam & Murray Leibbrandt, 2012. "Education and Inequality: The South African Case," SALDRU Working Papers 75, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    2. Fabrice Murtin & Thomas Laurent & Geoff Barnard & Dean Janse van Rensburg & Vijay Reddy & George Frempong & Lolita Winnaar, 2015. "Policy Determinants of School Outcomes under Model Uncertainty: Evidence from South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 83(3), pages 317-334, September.
    3. Debra L. Shepherd, 2011. "Constraints to school effectiveness: what prevents poor schools from delivering results?," Working Papers 05/2011, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    4. Hendrik van Broekhuizen, 2016. "Graduate unemployment and Higher Education Institutions in South Africa," Working Papers 08/2016, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    5. Chris van Wyk, 2015. "An overview of Education data in South Africa: an inventory approach," Working Papers 19/2015, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    6. Mia de Vos, 2011. "Quantitative and qualitative aspects of education in South Africa: An analysis using the National Income Dynamic Study," Working Papers 06/2011, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    7. Grace Bridgman, 2020. "Correspondence between mathematics and mathematical literacy scores: an analysis from 2010 to 2018," Working Papers 03/2020, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    8. Derek Yu, 2012. "Youths in the South African labour market since the transition: A study of changes between 1995 and 2011," Working Papers 18/2012, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    9. Debra Shepherd, 2013. "A question of efficiency: decomposing South African reading test scores using PIRLS 2006," Working Papers 20/2013, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    10. Asmus Zoch, 2017. "The effect of neighbourhoods and school quality on education and labour market outcomes in South Africa," Working Papers 08/2017, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    11. Oosthuizen, Morné J., 2015. "Bonus or mirage? South Africa’s demographic dividend," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 5(C), pages 14-22.
    12. Posel, Dorrit & Grapsa, Erofili, 2017. "Time to learn? Time allocations among children in South Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-10.
    13. Tomoki Fujii, 2013. "Geographic decomposition of inequality in health and wealth: evidence from Cambodia," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(3), pages 373-392, September.
    14. Baomin Dong & Peter H Egger & Yibei Guo, 2020. "Is poverty the mother of crime? Evidence from homicide rates in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-22, May.
    15. Marisa Coetzee, 2013. "Finding the Benefits: Estimating the Impact of The South African Child Support Grant," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 81(3), pages 427-450, September.
    16. Manea, Roxana Elena & Piraino, Patrizio & Viarengo, Martina, 2023. "Crime, inequality and subsidized housing: Evidence from South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    17. Alloush, Mo & Bloem, Jeffrey R., 2022. "Neighborhood violence, poverty, and psychological well-being," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    18. Bhana, Deevia, 2009. ""AIDS is rape!" gender and sexuality in children's responses to HIV and AIDS," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 596-603, August.
    19. Pieter Serneels, 2004. "The Nature of Unemployment in Urban Ethiopia," CSAE Working Paper Series 2004-01, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    20. Yoonseok Lee, Donggyun Shin, Kwanho Shin, 2013. "Social Consequences of Economic Segregation," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 29, pages 189-210.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:652:y:2014:i:1:p:70-86. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.