Browsing by Subject "Children - South Africa"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Identity and worldview issues in rural development : a case study : reintegration of ex-street children into communities in rural Transkei
    (1992) De Wet, Jacques; Cumpsty, John S
    This study explores the complex problem of socio-cultural change and continuity in Africa; the basic human drives for physical survival and identity; and how the danger of self-alienation and anomie might be overcome. Worldview Analysis and Human Scale Development are brought together and focused on a particular context of socio-economic development in a situation of competing worldviews in rural Transkei. People in rural Transkei experience competing worldviews and values out of a dual quest for economic advancement in an increasingly industrialized society, on the one hand, and the maintenance of identity, on the other. The prioritizing of economic development is seen to contradict the value of an African cultural identity. In the absence of a mediating symbolic network to facilitate the renegotiation of identity, these values remain in tension. In PART ONE I discuss the problem in the context of the necessity for economic growth and Human Scale Development in a democratic South Africa. My general research hypothesis is founded on this discussion. It states that "Social and economic development, in a situation of competing worldviews, depends on the mediation of conflicting symbols in a manner which is not inconsistent with the economic imperatives." In PART TWO this macro-study is scaled down to an empirically testable, research project. The hypothesis of the micro-study reads as follows: "Integrated identity and belonging for ex-street children, in a situation of competing worldviews, depends on the mediation of conflicting paradigmatic symbols." Both hypotheses are informed by theories of religion, identity and development drawing on the works of Max-Neef and Cumpsty. The situation of competing worldviews experienced by a group of ex- street children is described. I then show that social development in this context is impeded by the lack of mediation between conflicting paradigmatic elements and values. Thereafter, much attention is given to the difficult task of designing tools to map identity and values of individuals, locating critical points of tension between conflicting values and, finding mediating symbols. Finally, I examine a range of corporate strategies that demonstrate ways of mediating between the conflicting paradigmatic symbols.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    The impact of exposure to civil
    (1988) Rabinowitz, Sharon René; Levett, Ann
    The investigation aims at examining the effects of exposure to civil. violence on 304 'black' and 'white' children's evaluations of violence whilst controlling for gender and socio-economic status differences. The study tests the hypothesis that children exposed to civil violence tend to accept the use of violence towards all authority figures. The rationale behind comparing black and white children lies in the phenomenon that civil "unrest" has been. concentrated in black areas in Greater Cape Town and media,restrictions have further insulated whites from this violent reality. The instrument employed to measure these children's evaluations of violence describes 8 incidents, each involving the use of violence either by an authority figure against a child or vice-versa. The authority figures include a policeman, soldier, parent and teacher. A ninth incident involves the use of violence by a husband to a wife. The children were requested to rate each scenario according to its degree of 'wrongness'. Data were analysed by statistical procedures. No differences between gender or socio-economic status were yielded. Comparisons across race were inconclusive although black children were significantly more accepting of a child's violence to a soldier, a finding attributed to the role of the SADF in the "unrest". In general most children in the sample condemned the use of violence, but condoned the use of physical force by teachers and mothers. An overwhelmingly high frequency of corporal punishment in the classrooms was evident, with children generally accepting this. While no definite findings regarding the influence of civil "unrest" on children's evaluations of violence emerged, the politicisation of children was evident in some findings. Violence and evaluations thereof emerged as context-bound, involving the ideological and political views of the respondent. Findings raised doubt around the validity of traditional tools, such as the instrument employed in this study, as measures of ideologically bound concepts such as violence.