Policy, Politics and Poverty in South Africa

by Seekings, Jeremy; Nattrass, Nicoli

• ISBN13: 9781137452689
• ISBN10: 1137452684
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-07-22
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

When South Africa finally held its first democratic elections in 1994, the country had a much higher poverty rate than in other countries at a similar level of development. This was the legacy of apartheid. Twenty years later, poverty was still widespread. Seekings and Nattrass explain why poverty has persisted in South Africa since 1994. They demonstrate who has and who has not remained poor, how public policies both mitigated and reproduced poverty, and how and why these policies were adopted. Their analysis of the South African welfare state, labour market policies and the growth path of the South African economy challenge conventional accounts that focus only on 'neoliberalism'. They argue, instead, that policies were, in important respects, social democratic. They show how social democratic policies both mitigate and reproduce poverty in contexts such as South Africa, reflecting the contradictory nature of social democracy in the global South.

Author Biography

Jeremy Seekings is Professor of Political Studies and Sociology and Nicoli Nattrass is Professor of Economics at the universities of Cape Town and Yale. Their previous books include Class, Race and Inequality in South Africa. They have written widely on South African politics, economics, society and history, on AIDS and on the comparative history of the welfare state.

Table of Contents

Contents
Figures And Tables
Acknowledgements
1: Neo-Liberalism, Social Democracy And Poverty
1.1. The Legacy Of Poverty And The Promise Of Change
1.2. Disappointment And The Spectre Of Neo-Liberalism
1.3. The Ambiguities Of Post-Apartheid Policy
1.4. Social Democratic Distributional Regimes
1.5. Outline Of Our Argument
2: Poverty Amidst Affluence
2.1. The Inheritance: Poverty At The End Of Apartheid
2.2. The Ambiguous Riches Of Data
2.3. The (Probable) Rise And Fall Of Income Poverty
2.4. Alternative Measures Of Poverty And Well-Being
2.5. High (And Probably Worsening) Income Inequality
2.6. Conclusion
3: Workers, The State And Wages
3.1. Data On Earnings
3.2. Trends In Earnings
3.3. The Earnings Of Trade Unions' Members
3.4. The 'Informalisation' Of Work
3.5. State, Market And Culture In Wage-Setting
3.6. Conclusion
4. The Economic Growth Path
4.1. The Economic Inheritance
4.2. Economic Planning During The Transition To Democracy
4.3. Macroeconomic Stabilisation: From The RDP To GEAR
4.4. Contested Visions For Labour-Market Policy, Employment And Growth
4.5. Profitability And Accumulation
4.6. The Enduring Employment Crisis And Government Strategy, 2007-12
4.7. Conclusion
5. Class And Status
5.1. Poverty And Class
5.2. Continuity And Change In The Class Structure
5.3. The Upper Classes
5.4. The Lower Middle And Working Classes
5.5. The Lower Classes: The Working Poor And The Underclass
5.6. Class Differences Between The Lower Middle, Working And Lower Classes
5.7. The Contradictions Of Social Democracy In The Global South
6: Income Support Through The Welfare State
6.1. The Welfare State, Decommodification And Neoliberalism
6.2. The Expanding Size But Unchanging Shape Of The Welfare State
6.3. The Promise Of A Comprehensive System
6.4. Ideological Contestation
6.5. Conclusion
7: The Welfare State, Public Services And The 'Social Wage'
7.1. Public Education
7.2. Public Health
7.3. Municipal Services And Housing
7.4. Conclusion
8: The Capacity And Accountability Of The Democratic State
8.1. The Capacity Of The State
8.2. The Institutional Architecture Of Democracy
8.3. Voters, Elections And Party Politics
8.4. Conclusion
9: The Power Of Business And Labour
9.1. The Power Of Big 'White' Business
9.2. The Power Of 'Black' Business
9.3. The Power Of Organised Labour
9.4. Working-Class Power, Class Compromise And The Limits Of 'Neo-Liberalism'
10: The 'Rebellion Of The Poor', Social Movements And The Limits Of Insurgent Citizenship
10.1. Continuity And Change In Urban Protest
10.2. Civic Organisation At Local And National Levels
10.3. The 'New Social Movement' Organisations
10.4. Popular Support And Local Protests
10.5. Achievements And Effects
11: Conclusion
11.1. States, Markets And Poverty
11.2. The State, Development And The Constitution Of Markets
11.3. The Politics Of Reform
11.4. Class Compromise And The Contradictions Of Social Democracy In The Global South
Bibliography