Exploring the views of University of Witwatersrand university students on racial classification in application forms in the new South Africa
Date
2016
Authors
Marumo, Benita
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Abstract
In apartheid South Africa, racial classification was infused by the idealism. It was hierarchal, having white people at the topic and people of other races at the bottom of the hierarchy. Today racial classification is used in various polices and mainly for statistical purpose. This study took into account the information regarding the fact that racial classification was created and was used in the apartheid era as a way of dividing people in this country. The primary aim of this research study was to be able to look at why racial classification still exists as it is clearly a legacy of apartheid and to put its existence into question taking into account that this is the new era. The problem however with racial classification is that it tends to divide people into categorises based of which racial group they belong to rather than bringing them together. The research study adopted a qualitative research method. The study was exploratory as it looked at the proposed question in detail and the researcher searched for information from the participants. The people who took part in this study were the students of the Witwatersrand University and the reason for selecting them was due to the fact that they were raised when South Africa was independent. Due to this the opinions that they will offered were expected to be less subjective but more objective. A sample size of ten people was used for the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interviews allowed for the use of open ended questions and here the respondents answered each of them in whichever way they wished to. The research tool that was used is interview schedules. Interviews were conducted face to face. This way the gathered information was organised and was easy to read. The research study will help with knowledge advancement in the field of Social Work about the proposed topic. This is significant because the Social Work profession puts people first and knowing their perceptions about a certain issues like this one that involves the social history of South Africa is relevant.
Key words: Race, Apartheid, Racial classification, Racial categorisation and Classifying criterion
Description
The Department of Social Work
School of Human Development
Faculty of Humanities
University of Witwatersrand
In partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree Bachelor of Social Work