Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 14, 2006|Volume 34, Number 26

Panel discussion will focus on 'Class,
Race and Inequality in South Africa'

Jeremy Seekings and Nicoli Nattras, co-authors of the recent book "Class, Race and Inequality in South Africa," will discuss the theme of the book with a panel of scholars on Wednesday, April 19, at 4 p.m. in Rm. 202 of Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave.

Seekings, a professor in the sociology and politics departments at the University of Cape Town, and Nattras, who teaches economics there, contend in the book that in 2004, 10 years after the transition to democracy in South Africa, the distribution of incomes in the country was probably more unequal than it had been under apartheid. They offer a detailed and comprehensive analysis of inequality in the nation from the mid-20th century to the early 21st century. The authors say that the basis of inequality shifted in the last decades of the 20th century from race to class, and that formal "deracialization" of public policy did not reduce the actual disadvantages experienced by the poor or the advantages of the rich.

In the book, published in November 2005 by the Yale University Press, the authors argue that the post-apartheid "distributional regime" -- the patterns of advantage and disadvantage resulting from underlying continuities in public policy -- continue to divide South Africans into "insiders" and "outsiders." The insiders, now increasingly multiracial, enjoy access to well-paid, skilled jobs, while the outsiders lack skills and employment, say the authors.

Panelists in the discussion include Ivan Szelenyi, the William Graham Sumner Professor and director of undergraduate studies in sociology and professor of political science; Dan O'Meara of the Université du Québec à Montreal; Saul Dubow of the University of Sussex; and David Featherman of the University of Michigan.

The event is sponsored by the Yale Center for International and Area Studies.

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Symposium on human rights will focus on memorializing atrocities

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SOM conference will examine globalization and technology

India's road to independence is topic of film, panel discussion

Dwight Hall fundraiser to include inaugural social justice award

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Impact of bird-borne infections on wildlife conservation is topic of forum

Panel discussion will focus on 'Class, Race and Inequality in South Africa'

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Campus Notes

Wangari Maathai lecture cancelled