The middle class and suburbia: desegregation towards non-racialism in South Africa?

ABSTRACT ‘Non-racial democracy’ is an aspirational goal of South Africa’s post-apartheid democracy. Deracialisation of public spheres, notably education and work, has led to high rates of upward social mobility among black South Africans and the increasing racial diversification of the middle class, which under apartheid, had remained overwhelmingly white. Despite the increased racial integration of public life, the majority of South Africans continue to live in mono-racial residential areas. Much of the responsibility for this lies in the legacy of apartheid geography. The legacy of apartheid has entrenched the spatial segregation of the officially defined races and ensured that white suburbs were the most socially advantaged and desirable places in which to live. Today, white suburbs continue to occupy the top rungs of the residential ladder, their privilege protected by the economic costs of entry. Nonetheless, high rates of black upward mobility and aspiration result in increased black entry into these historically white spaces, which are themselves undergoing considerable change in shape and character. As a result, white suburbia constitutes a major site where the struggle for non-racialism is taking place.