Problematising Advantage: �Privilege, Inequality & White Identity in Post-Colonial South Africa

The proposed PhD research aims to systematically explore and analyse how white South Africans have reinterpreted and reconceptualised their identity jn the post-apartheid era, and how far issues of their objective and perceived privileged position vis-à-vis other groups in society have shaped their identity and associated attitudes concerning inequality, redistribution and social cohesion in contemporary South Africa. The proposed research will be guided by the following three research questions: 1)How has white identity been redefined and reconceptualised in the post-apartheid era?2)What discourses have been propagated to construct a post-apartheid white identity, and how far are issues of white privilege and historical advantage incorporated into these identity discourses? 3)How do white identity discourses shape and/or construct attitudes towards other groups as well as redistribution between groups? 4) Where some are ‘privileged’, others are ‘disadvantaged’ and none are equal, what does an ‘inequality attuned’ social cohesion policy look like?

Keywords:Social Cohesion, Whiteness, Identity, South Africa, Inequality, Justice

Disciplines:Social psychology not elsewhere classified

Project type:PhD project