What's Changed?

Abstract

The authors outline cross-sectional studies (across time and age) of the effects of the political changes in South Africa on the intergroup orientations of adolescents, as well as their orientations to the new democracy. The study was undertaken between 1992 (before the end of apartheid) and 1996 (after apartheid), with 14-year-old and 17-year-old high school students from formerly designated Black, Coloured, White and Indian population groups. Participants completed Duckitt's Subtle Racism Anti-Black Scale, a Repertory Grid following Kelly and measures of adjustment to political change. The results indicate that levels of anti-Black African racism, particularly among Whites previously advantaged under apartheid, were high in both years, and have increased with the emergence of the new state. The study found in addition, that orientations towards the new political dispensation were related to levels of racism. Some evidence of outgroup preference for Whites was evident among Black participants, while a degree of outgroup rejection of other Black groups was also evident among these groups in 1996.