'Just Deserts': Race, Class and Distributive Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa

dc.contributor.authorSeekings, Jeremy
dc.date.accessioned2016-05-13T12:52:19Z
dc.date.available2016-05-13T12:52:19Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.date.updated2016-05-13T12:49:08Z
dc.description.abstractThis article examines how racial differences affect perceptions of distributive justice in postapartheid South Africa. In 'divided' societies, citizens might be expected to discriminate on the basis of race or culture in assessing the justice of other citizens' claims. South Africa is a prime example of a 'divided' society in which, in the past, legislation and racial elite culture combined in pervasive discrimination. Given the continued importance of race in daily life in South Africa, we might expect that attitudes about distributive justice would continue to be racialised, with people considering members of the same 'racial group' as themselves as being more deserving than members of other groups. But evidence from both national datasets and a new data-set for Cape Town in particular suggests that race has complex and often counter-intuitive effects on perceptions of distributive justice. By some criteria, and some analytic techniques, people do not discriminate on the basis of race when assessing 'just deserts'; by other criteria, and other analytic techniques, 'just deserts' appear still to be somewhat 'coloured' in post-apartheid South Africa. Overall, however, the evidence suggests that the effects of race are either weak or work in counter-intuitive directions. Rich and white Capetonians are certainly more generous in their views on redistribution than is generally assumed.en_ZA
dc.identifierhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057070701832874
dc.identifier.apacitationSeekings, J. (2008). 'Just Deserts': Race, Class and Distributive Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa. <i>Journal of Southern African Studies</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19651en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationSeekings, Jeremy "'Just Deserts': Race, Class and Distributive Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa." <i>Journal of Southern African Studies</i> (2008) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19651en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationSeekings, J. (2008). ‘Just Deserts’: Race, Class and Distributive Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies, 34(1), 39-60.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0305-7070en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Seekings, Jeremy AB - This article examines how racial differences affect perceptions of distributive justice in postapartheid South Africa. In 'divided' societies, citizens might be expected to discriminate on the basis of race or culture in assessing the justice of other citizens' claims. South Africa is a prime example of a 'divided' society in which, in the past, legislation and racial elite culture combined in pervasive discrimination. Given the continued importance of race in daily life in South Africa, we might expect that attitudes about distributive justice would continue to be racialised, with people considering members of the same 'racial group' as themselves as being more deserving than members of other groups. But evidence from both national datasets and a new data-set for Cape Town in particular suggests that race has complex and often counter-intuitive effects on perceptions of distributive justice. By some criteria, and some analytic techniques, people do not discriminate on the basis of race when assessing 'just deserts'; by other criteria, and other analytic techniques, 'just deserts' appear still to be somewhat 'coloured' in post-apartheid South Africa. Overall, however, the evidence suggests that the effects of race are either weak or work in counter-intuitive directions. Rich and white Capetonians are certainly more generous in their views on redistribution than is generally assumed. DA - 2008 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town J1 - Journal of Southern African Studies LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2008 SM - 0305-7070 T1 - 'Just Deserts': Race, Class and Distributive Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa TI - 'Just Deserts': Race, Class and Distributive Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19651 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/19651
dc.identifier.urihttp://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057070701832874
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationSeekings J. 'Just Deserts': Race, Class and Distributive Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies. 2008; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19651.en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.publisherTaylor & Francisen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentCentre for Social Science Research(CSSR)en_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.sourceJournal of Southern African Studiesen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cjss20/current
dc.subject.otherRace
dc.subject.otherClass
dc.subject.otherPost-Apartheid
dc.subject.otherSouth Africa
dc.title'Just Deserts': Race, Class and Distributive Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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