Your Place or Mine? Beliefs About Inequality and Redress Preferences in South Africa

This article examines the nature of and change in beliefs about inequality and preferences for redistribution in South Africa between 2003 and 2012 using data from the South African Social Attitudes Survey series and 2009 round of the International Social Survey Programme. Inequality aversion, stratification beliefs, perceptions of class tensions and legitimate earnings are tracked, together with support for government redistribution and for specific redress policies. Overall, the findings portray South Africans as keenly aware of the economic inequality that beleaguers their society, and express a preference for greater distributive fairness. Broad support is also reported in relation to state-led redistribution, though a moderate declining trend is observed over the interval. Race and class differences characterise the survey results, though a majority of better-off South Africans (white, tertiary educated and non-poor citizens) still tend to be inequality averse and voice support for redistribution. Greater polarisation is evident with respect to inequality-related social policy, especially those designed to overcome historical racial disadvantage, though these intergroup differences converge considerably when referring to class-based policy measures. One surprising finding is the evidence that South Africa’s youngest generation, known as the ‘Born Frees’, tend to adopt a similar predisposition to redress policy as older generations, thus confounding expectations of a post-apartheid value change. Nonetheless, even though South Africans may not fully agree about the specific elements comprising a socially just response to the country’s inequality problem, there does seem to be a stronger basis for a social compact for an inequality reduction agenda than is typically assumed.