Do South Africa's unemployed constitute an underclass?

dc.contributor.authorSeekings, Jeremy
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-25T08:29:17Z
dc.date.available2016-04-25T08:29:17Z
dc.date.issued2003
dc.date.updated2016-04-25T08:27:52Z
dc.description.abstractHigh rates of long-term unemployment pose difficulties for the mapping of the class structure. In South Africa, the high rate of long-term unemployment raises the question of whether or not the unemployed constitute a separate class or underclass. An underclass should only be distinguished if it has some theoretical foundation (i.e. the members of this class share some systematic disadvantage) and empirical consequence (i.e. that membership of this class is associated with experiences or attitudes that differ from those associated with membership of other classes). In South Africa, evidence from the mid-1990s suggests that, at the end of the apartheid era, one section of the unemployed suffered systematic disadvantage in terms of access to employment. Given that people get jobs in South Africa primarily through friends and family, people without such social capital are relegated to an especially disadvantaged position in the labour market and society in general. Some but not all of the unemployed can be located within an underclass defined in terms of acute disadvantage. The limited evidence available suggests that these unemployed people and their dependants constitute an 'underclass', experiencing more acute poverty, worse living conditions and less satisfaction with their lives than the members of other classes (including other unemployed people who do not fall into the underclass).en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationSeekings, J. (2003). <i>Do South Africa's unemployed constitute an underclass?</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Social Science Research(CSSR). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19165en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationSeekings, Jeremy <i>Do South Africa's unemployed constitute an underclass?.</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Social Science Research(CSSR), 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19165en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationSeekings, J. (2003). Do South Africa's unemployed constitute an underclass?. Centre for Social Science Research: University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Working Paper AU - Seekings, Jeremy AB - High rates of long-term unemployment pose difficulties for the mapping of the class structure. In South Africa, the high rate of long-term unemployment raises the question of whether or not the unemployed constitute a separate class or underclass. An underclass should only be distinguished if it has some theoretical foundation (i.e. the members of this class share some systematic disadvantage) and empirical consequence (i.e. that membership of this class is associated with experiences or attitudes that differ from those associated with membership of other classes). In South Africa, evidence from the mid-1990s suggests that, at the end of the apartheid era, one section of the unemployed suffered systematic disadvantage in terms of access to employment. Given that people get jobs in South Africa primarily through friends and family, people without such social capital are relegated to an especially disadvantaged position in the labour market and society in general. Some but not all of the unemployed can be located within an underclass defined in terms of acute disadvantage. The limited evidence available suggests that these unemployed people and their dependants constitute an 'underclass', experiencing more acute poverty, worse living conditions and less satisfaction with their lives than the members of other classes (including other unemployed people who do not fall into the underclass). DA - 2003 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2003 T1 - Do South Africa's unemployed constitute an underclass? TI - Do South Africa's unemployed constitute an underclass? UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19165 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/19165
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationSeekings J. Do South Africa's unemployed constitute an underclass?. 2003 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19165en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentCentre for Social Science Research(CSSR)en_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
dc.titleDo South Africa's unemployed constitute an underclass?en_ZA
dc.typeWorking Paperen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceResearch paperen_ZA
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