Apartheid and identity redefinition : a conflictual analysis

Prinsloo, Rachel C

Apartheid and identity redefinition : a conflictual analysis

Master Thesis

1990

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Psychology

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

This study has attempted to examine how the imposition of Apartheid identity constructs has adversely impacted upon the processes of and to describe the extent to which the participants have allowed the present hegemony to influence the structuring of their consciousness. The structural inequalities inherent in the system of Apartheid have required the conceptualization of identity construction as a process mediating important choices, rather than - the uncritical acceptance of the existing structural arrangements. The conflictual perspecive adopted facilitated a more complex and differentiated picture of social representation , on the assumption that individuals and groups be understood in terms of being constituted through the social domain and actively engaging with and challenging the restrictive aspects embodied in it. The qualitative phase sought to examine the extent to which two levels of consciousness, the personal or systemic causal attribution of their circumstances , had influenced their agendas. A self-administered interview schedule, consisting of open-ended questions, provided the basic demographic information with regard to age, sex and organisational affiliation. The major issues which were perceived to cause both personal difficulty and which presented problems for their cohort were also elicited. An analysis of the reasons which induced both pessimism and optimism about the present condition of society provided an account of the trepidations with which oppressed youth view adult society. The descriptive categorisations of the three societal components, I, We, and They, as South Africans now , were intended to further clarify how the sample perceived the sociopolitical arrangements of our polarised and estranged society.

Description

Includes bibliography.

Keywords

Psychology

Reference:

Collections

Masters

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