WikiSummary, the Social Science Summary Database

Ferree: Explaining South Africa's racial census

From WikiSummary, the Free Social Science Summary Database

 

Ferree. 2005. Explaining South Africa's racial census. Unpublished.

Contents

[edit]

Question

Why do elections in Africa look like a racial census, in which everybody votes for their group's party?

[edit]

The Literature's Answers

[edit]

Identity

One answer might be that they are expressing their identity as Africans/Whites/Coloureds/Indians. But in surveys, few Africans seem to see themselves in these terms. If there isn't an identity, then this isn't the answer.

[edit]

Instrumental

Whites and Africans have different policy preferences (true), thus vote for different parties.

[edit]

Ferree's Answer

Race is a cue. Though Whites/Africans/etc don't see themselves in racial terms, they see the parties that way. They see their own group's party as inclusive (generally), but see the other group's party as racially exclusive. Thus, race serves as a useful cue of how to vote.

Retrieved from "http://wikisum.com/w/Ferree:_Explaining_South_Africa%27s_racial_census"