Politics of pride : why do people participate in civil society in South Africa?

Abstract

Civil society in South Africa is generally celebrated as a space for action to promote social justice, either through organisations that play the role of “watchdog” or through mobilisation by the poor themselves around their own concerns. However, civil society can reflect and reproduce many of the pathologies and injustices of the wider society. Sometimes it works to benefit a specific ethnic group or political group, and also reflects some unsatisfactory aspects of culture to which the constituents of civil society belong. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative analyses show that the associational activities and social movements in Cape Town reflect some kind of pathologies or injustices of the wider society. Sometimes it works to benefit a specific ethnic group or political group, and also reflects some unsatisfactory aspects of culture to which the constituents of civil society belong. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative analyses show that the associational activities and social movements in Cape Town reflect some kind of pathologies or injustices of the wider society.