South African Social Attitudes: 2nd Report: Reflections on the Age of Hope

Aiming to monitor the evolving dynamics of South African public values, this updated edition clearly depicts their relation to broader societal developments. Based primarily on the findings of the recent South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS), this study takes into account more than 5,000 individuals, detailing views on racial-transformation policy, poverty, religion, crime, and the environment. Providing a clear chronicle of South African beliefs and their effects, this examination is essential for understanding contemporary sociopolitical debates.
Shortly after South Africa entered its second decade of democracy, former President Mbeki (2006), drawing on evidence from polls and public attitudes surveys, proclaimed in his annual State of the Nation address that ‘our people are firmly convinced that our country has entered its Age of Hope. They are convinced that we have created the conditions to achieve more rapid progress towards the realisation of their dreams. They are certain that we are indeed a winning nation’. This expressed public optimism about the country’s future and developmental trajectory was juxtaposed with a detailed articulation of the suite of economic and social achievements that had been made since 1994. Together, these subjective and objective indicators were used to demonstrate that the government’s vision of becoming a ‘developmental state’ was progressively being achieved, with the combination of redistributive policy measures and robust economic growth serving as the basis for making appreciable gains in fighting poverty and overcoming historical inequalities and social exclusion (Southall 2007). The discourse of hope has also been evident in the popular media. This has included highly visible marketing campaigns such as ‘Proudly South African’, ‘Alive with Possibility’, the ‘Homecoming Revolution’ and ‘South Africa: The Good News’. More importantly, throughout the first 10 years of democracy, national policy was influenced and the public imagination captivated by a number of political narratives, including the ‘Rainbow Nation’, the ‘African Renaissance’ and the ‘New Patriotism’