Money in Black: A Socio-Psychological Study of Economic Practices among Black Professionals in South Africa

Abstract

This thesis takes on the task of exploring money from more than just its technical function, which is usual explored in the social sciences largely in Economics. Rather the study examines the psycho-social and everyday economic practices of black professionals in the context of democratic South Africa. The central thesis is that in the post-apartheid context, black professionals have inherited inequalities which shape their relationship with money as an object, icon and symbol. The thesis employed qualitative interviews with black professionals aged between 21-50. The research explored their meaning making of money by examining cultural values, familial responsibility, systematic barriers and discourse in the contemporary socio-economic conditions that shape money attitudes, behaviours and cultures. In the framework of this research ‘Money’is theorised not merely as a tool of exchange but as a socio-psychological object. Money embodies a social ontology, as an object which moves at the Will of collectives and individuals. Money practices as such are socio-psychological responses to power relations and socio-economic realities. Findings reveal trans-generational tensions between familial obligation such as building family homes, collective discourses of black tax, Ubuntu and the aspiration for financial independence and upwards class mobility. The framework a Racialised ontology of Money explores money as a mirror of social ontology. Money in both social and individual contexts embodies racial sensibilities that cannot be explained by economic and financial models. The framework considers the subject positions (black) and ongoing discourses (social, legal, historical and history) that construct everyday behaviour and thought