Social stratification and inequality in South Africa

Abstract

South Africa is the most economically unequal country in the world. Moreover, research shows that inequality has only risen since advent of multi-party democracy in 1994. In this article, I review research that documents how economic inequality has formed over the past century, and the relationship between these structural conditions and contemporary social stratification. The literature shows that since the end of apartheid racial inequality has declined somewhat, but increases in inequality within race have more than offset this. Despite momentous political change and formal legal equality, economic equality remains elusive for most South Africans. Research on South Africa shows that accounting for the historical construction of institutions that shape inequality is crucial not only for understanding stratification within the country, but for explaining it in any contemporary industrial society.