Class in white South Africa

Abstract

This paper sketches the broad lines of class structure in the white community in South Africa. Aside from the efforts of a small group of scholars, this issue has not received the attention it deserves in recent years. Indeed there is an implicit assumption that because there are no class parties, class is a negligible factor in white politics. While a general discussion of the literature is beyond the scope of this paper, the major assumptions which are embedded in recent analyses by liberal and conservative historians and sociologists might be summarised briefly as follows: Whites are members of a broadly egalitarian caste divided politically along language and cultural lines within a system of racial stratification. Political power reflects cultural groupings rather than class formations. Political elites are the representatives of cultural formations rather than dominant class interests. Class and community constitute alternative and exclusive bases for political action. Racial prejudice is seen as the determinant force in the present configuration of power.