Social Dynamics ( IF 0.483 ) Pub Date : 2021-09-21 , DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2021.1981580 Jimmy Pieterse 1 , John Sharp 2
ABSTRACT
Many Afrikaans-speaking people in Pretoria’s white working-class suburbs during the apartheid era lost their jobs in the 1990s when the heavy industries in which they worked were downsized or closed down. This paper explores the livelihood strategies open to the next generation – the ex-workers’ children who are confronted by wage employment opportunities very different from those open to their parents. Popular interpretations of the position of members of the apartheid-era white working class in South Africa today are contradictory. One narrative holds that their present circumstances mark the return of the “Poor Whites” of the early twentieth century, while a second contends that they continue to benefit uniformly from the “wages of whiteness.” The evidence we draw from our ethnographic field research in the former white working-class suburbs suggests that both of these understandings simplify a complex situation. We show the ways in which young people endeavour to fashion livelihoods at present, and discuss how the differences between their various livelihood strategies shape their understanding of what it means to be Afrikaans and white in the post-apartheid era.
中文翻译:
不稳定的就业和不稳定的生活:比勒陀利亚白人工人阶级郊区的青年和工作
摘要
在种族隔离时代,比勒陀利亚白人工人阶级郊区的许多讲南非荷兰语的人在 1990 年代失去了工作,当时他们工作的重工业规模缩小或关闭。本文探讨了对下一代开放的生计策略——面临与父母开放的截然不同的有薪就业机会的前工人子女。今天,对南非种族隔离时代白人工人阶级成员的立场的流行解释是相互矛盾的。一种说法认为,他们目前的处境标志着 20 世纪初“贫穷的白人”的回归,而另一种说法则认为,他们继续从“白人的工资”中统一受益。”我们从前白人工人阶级郊区的民族志实地研究中得出的证据表明,这两种理解都简化了复杂的情况。我们展示了目前年轻人努力塑造生计的方式,并讨论了他们各种生计策略之间的差异如何影响他们对后种族隔离时代南非荷兰语和白人意味着什么的理解。