From fatalism to mass action to incorporation to neoliberal individualism
Worker safety on South African mines, c.1955–2016
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11905992 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul Stewart (0000-0001-8902-1497, University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author), Dhiraj Kumar Nite (0000-0003-3307-9205, University of Johannesburg) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 152 |
| Publication date | 2017-04-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of African Political Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-6244 • E-ISSN: 1740-1720 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03056244.2017.1342234 |
| OpenAlex | W2736064359 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 24 |
The article resurfaces ‘tacit knowledge’ to periodise developments in worker safety in South African mines. ‘Tacit knowledge’ evolved over time, is orally transmitted, learned on the job, and is central to worker safety; it lay behind acts of resistance and demands for a safer mining workplace which underpinned unionisation, and which won worker safety representation under apartheid. Under democracy, a modern consultative tripartite legislative safety regime was instituted. With worker representation institutionalised, health and safety legislation enacted and tripartite institutions established, procedural compliance eclipsed workers’ ‘tacit knowledge’. The right to refuse to do dangerous work, state-initiated safety work stoppages and the impact on safety of inter-union rivalry are currently in the spotlight and are noted below. With the state firmly in neoliberal mode post-Fordism, this article concludes by noting the emergence of the individualisation of safety – ironically motivated by a behaviourist construal of ‘tacit beliefs’ underpinning a major industry safety initiative
Action (physics · Development economics · Economics · Epistemology · Fatalism · Individualism · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political economy · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · Philosophy · South African History and Culture
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A paradox of victory
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International Migration in Southern Africa
Challenging cheap-labour theory
Labour in the South African Gold Mines 1911-1969
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Striking Back
Managing the 1987 Mine Workers' Strike
The profits of death
The allure of violence
Maximum Average Violence
The future of mine migrancy in the context of broader trends in migration in Southern Africa
Ethnic violence on South African gold mines
Getting the Gold Out of the Ground
The Mills of God
Medicine, Politics and Disease on South Africa's Gold Mines
Getting on" and "getting by" underground
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,71 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2025 (7) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |