Minding the gap: attitudes toward affirmative action in South Africa

Abstract

Since its introduction, affirmative action has become an increasingly controversial policy to address labour market inequalities in South Africa. Yet, in spite of this public debate, nationally representative, empirical research on patterns of opposition to and support for the redress policy remains relatively circumscribed. In this article, attitudinal data collected over the past decade is employed to examine the factors that influence these perceptions, and the extent to which they have been changing. The results reveal that attitudes to race- and gender-based affirmative action in employment have been favourable on aggregate over the last decade. The specified beneficiary of affirmative action appears to matter, with more positive evaluations evident when the policies target women and disabled persons than when racial disadvantage is targeted. Furthermore, while there is a broad-based, resolute belief in racial equality in principle, there is less agreement on the implementation of particular redress policies. Affirmative action for instance enjoys less support than compensatory policies or those focused on addressing class-based disadvantage. An element of self-interest appears to be informing evaluations among designated beneficiary groups, with black respondents more inclined than other population groups to support race-based affirmative action and women more partial to gender-based affirmative action than men. While the beneficiaries of affirmative action have typically been the better educated and skilled among the designated groups, highest support for this policy is reported by the more marginalized and vulnerable who are least likely to have personally benefitted from affirmative action implementation to date. This support may reflect a sense of collective self-interest or possibly an expectation that this redress policy will bring benefits in the future. Finally, views on whether affirmative action is producing a more skilled workforce and socially cohesive society are again broadly positive, though the profile of those believing in such outcomes deviates somewhat from those supporting affirmative action generally. In this instance, those least likely to have gained from affirmative action in practice are those least confident in the policy’s outcomes, possibly due to a gap between perceived performance of affirmative action policy and expected benefits.

The Principle‐Implementation Gap in Attitudes Towards Racial Equality (and How to Close It)

“…They explained the findings in terms of instrumental self‐interest of the Black participants, who accepted as fair the outcomes that would benefit them, and of White respondents, who rejected outcomes that were seen as disadvantageous to them. The survey data reported by Roberts et al () tends to support this interpretation, revealing higher levels of support for affirmative action policies among groups “with the most to gain from policy implementation” (p. 12). This includes Black respondents over White respondents and the unemployed over the employed.…”

“…Almost identical results were found in a survey conducted in 2003 at University of Kwa‐Zulu Natal in which respondents were asked: “Do you think that students should go to the same schools of separate schools or are you unsure?” (p. 280). Results of SASAS surveys conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council over the period 2003 to 2009 similarly indicated that the levels of support for the general principle of poverty reduction were high, with 82% of respondents agreeing with the statement “The government should provide a decent stand of living for the unemployed” (Roberts, Weir‐Smith, & Reddy, , p. 6).…”

“…This paradox of generosity has its limits, however. Compared to the 82% of White respondents in the 2009 SASAS survey who supported government programs to provide a “decent standard of living for the unemployed,” Roberts et al () reported that “preferential hiring and promotion of Black South Africans in employment” (p. 6) enjoyed far more mixed support and that such support varied substantially depending on respondents’ race. A whopping 87% of White South Africans were opposed to this policy, whereas over 80% of Black South African's either agreed or strong agreed with its implementation.…”

“…As noted already, the sharp divide between Black and White attitudes towards race preferential interventions has also been evidenced by the SASAS surveys, and as in U.S. research (Tuch & Hughes, ), it has been found to display a degree of temporal stability. In the years from 2003 to 2009, Black support for “preferential hiring and promotion of black South Africans in employment” (p. 6) ranged between 76% and 80%, whereas White support ranged from 13% to 22% (see Roberts et al, ).…”

Affirmative Action in Malaysia and South Africa: Contrasting Structures, Continuing Pursuits

“… 10. National opinion and attitude surveys in the period 2003–2009 found that on average just under two thirds of South Africans supported preferential hiring and promotion of black South Africans. However, the gulf between ethnic groups or sub-groups is quite substantial, with about three quarters of Africans, slightly more than a quarter of Coloureds and Indians and less than one fifth of Whites supporting such a proposition (Roberts et al, 2011). …”