Continuity and Distinction of Wealth Elites in Post‐Apartheid South Africa

Mapping the Social Space of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange

Bibliographic Data

ID24224502
AuthorsAroop Chatterjee (0000-0002-4962-7512, Southern Centre for Inequality Studies University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg South Africa), Comfort Molefinyana (0000-0003-1200-6330, Southern Centre for Inequality Studies University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg South Africa)
Year2026
Publication date2026-10-07
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-4446.70173
PMID42844793
OpenAlexW7220954250
LanguageEN
References cited73

This article provides the first systematic mapping of wealth elites on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), using original data on individuals linked to significant shareholding entities rather than corporate executives. Through Multiple Correspondence Analysis and cluster analysis, we identify four elite formations shaped by race, gender, age, education, directorship networks and shareholder type. The results challenge accounts of elite diversification by showing the continued centrality of incumbent white male elites in key ownership structures. New Black and female entrants are incorporated into elite spaces, but largely through transformation‐linked entities, public‐sector ties, business‐school credentials and dense directorship networks. The article contributes methodological and conceptual tools for analysing elite formation through ownership, particularly in post‐apartheid and post‐authoritarian contexts. It advances elite research by foregrounding ownership, organisational form and financial power as central to understanding inequality and elite reproduction in the Global South.

Black elites · elite formation · elite reproduction · financial power · Global South · Inequality · Johannesburg Stock Exchange · ownership structure · post-apartheid South Africa · Women entrepreneurs · Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism · Social and Cultural Dynamics · South African History and Culture

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