Twenty Years of Social Cohesion and Nation-Building in South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4603144 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Caryn Abrahams (0000-0002-5028-4393, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 95-107 |
| Publication date | 2016-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070.2016.1126455 |
| OpenAlex | W2295200944 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
Social cohesion is seen to be an urgent pursuit in post-apartheid South Africa, and is often invoked as a means to achieve a just and equal society, to quell xenophobic sentiment or violence, and to encourage support for a united nation. Even though, at its crux, the pursuit of a socially cohesive society is fundamentally about a compact between the government and the governed, the content of social cohesion is very much articulated by government as its ‘template’ for nation-building, directed at the populace for enacting such a vision. This article considers the changing nature of the social cohesion discourse in South Africa over the first two decades after democracy. It shows how the notion has evolved over time to contextualise social policy concepts emergent elsewhere, but ultimately has become inextricably connected to nation-building. The article argues that this formulation is deeply political. The social cohesion project, being so intimately connected with nation-building, essentially instantiates a version of nation that is based on and produces a narrative that seeks to solidify the African National Congress’s hegemony
Democracy · Hegemony · Narrative · Nation-building · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Community Health and Development · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Law · Youth Development and Social Support
Social cohesion in Gauteng
Les mouvements culturels en faveur des « droits culturels » des habitants des quartiers ségrégués du Cap, de Salvador de Bahia et de Toulouse
Promoting “Cultural Rights” for Inhabitants of Segregated Neighbourhoods in Cape Town, Salvador de Bahia, and Toulouse. From “Cultural Insurrection” to Epistemic Action
Forging a Resilient Social Contract in South Africa
The (ab)sense of a conceptualization of social cohesion in social work
Discordant dreams
No Rainbow yet in Sight
The ‘science’ of superiority
Rainbow is not the new black’
Shutting the Gates in South Africa
Liberation movements and stalled democratic transitions
| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,22 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2025 (9) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 11 |