Beschreibung
Democratization processes create opportunities for some, but cause
economic and psychological hardship – whether perceived or real – for
others. For the latter, transformation situations may strengthen a sense
of group belonging, may foster the emergence of a new group identity.
After 1990, some media and scholars observed a new ethnic assertiveness
among persons classified as „coloured“ in apartheid South Africa. As a
majority in the Western Cape, yet a minority on the national level, they
expressed fear of being discriminated against under black majority rule:
„In the past we were not white enough, today we are not black enough.“
In this statement resonates a sense of exclusion from the democratic
process. By evaluating a quantitative survey, this book analyses how a
minority perceives the South African transformation process. The author
examines attitudes towards the old regime, towards new government policies
and intergroup relations as well as their impact on the self-perception
and the political behaviour of coloured people in South Africa.