A Nation of Givers? Social Giving Among South Africans: Findings from a National Survey

The Centre for Civil Society, the Southern African Grantmakers' Association and National Development Agency are partners in a large research project focusing on the mobilisation of resources for poverty and development initiatives from a wide range of sectors (government, civil society, official development aid and so on). One component of the broader project is a focus on individual-level giving; this report is part of the individual-level giving area of focus

The origins of multiracialism

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 30 April, 1990. Not to be quoted without the Author's permissionResistance politics in the 1950s was dominated by the Congress Alliance, made up of the African National Congress [ANC], the South African Indian Congress [SAIC], the Coloured People’s Congress [CPC] and the white South African Congress of Democrats [SACOD]. The Alliance mobilized people of all races against apartheid in a manner previously unseen in South African history. The internal politics of the resistance movement, however, was dominated by wide-ranging and bitter disputes over the form that racial co-operation should take. That dispute centred on the multiracial nature of the Congress Alliance - that is, an alliance of separate Congresses comprising members of a single ethnic group, coordinated at regional and national levels

Poetry & sacrament: Being a commentary on the Kensington mass by David Jones

"The Kensington Mass" was the last poem of the Anglo-Welsh poet - painter David Jones (1895-1974). It at first describes the faithful, correct and unthreatened celebration of the introductory rite of the mass. The poem then changes direction and tone when the celebrant kisses the altar, so as to introduce an Emperor troubled by a dream. This alerts the reader that there is a collateral text, a dream poem, where the significance of the transformation is to be found. The Emperor decides to hunt on the morrow to ease his disquiet, and the resources of hunting are exploited as an analogy of the Eucharist. The hunt takes place at dawn - the dawn of the day and the dawn of an era - and the poet wakes up to a scene of loss, unlike the happy promise celebrated by Milton in his Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity. There is a sharp break before the poem's last section, when Peter's denial of Christ reverberates through history, amplified by the treachery of Roncesvalles. This dolorous sound reveals the true and exact character of human existence. The clue to the significance of the last section of the poem and its bearing on what goes before also lies outside the text: the proposal is that it is Jones's distress, obliquely expressed, at the disintegration of the traditional Roman liturgy (a denial and a betrayal) that unifies the composition. The commentary traces what might be called the narrative line of the poem, as above. It also notes some of its influences, salient concepts, underlying shapes, the history of its characters, the sacramental theology that informed his thinking, and the modality of the gloomy assertion at the close

Patterns of Giving in South Africa

This paper reflects on the results of a national quantitative survey on giving in South Africa. It explores the extent and character of giving; who gives, to whom, with what intention

A study of the client kings in the early Roman period

When the city-state of Rome began to exert her influence throughout the Mediterranean, the ruling classes developed friendships and alliances with the rulers of the various kingdoms with whom contact was made. During the great military struggles which heralded the end of the republic, it became clear that the general who could count on the clientship of the powerful kingdoms within Rome’s sphere of influence would have a decided advantage over less fortunate rivals. Moreover when Octavian, later Augustus, became the sole ruler of the Roman world after the battle of Actuim, these client kingdoms were an important factor in the defence of the Roman Empire, and Octavian insisted that their kings became personal clients of the emperor. Augustus saw beyond the former uses of these kings, as military supporters in battles fro supremacy, and realized their full potential to a unified empire – some client states he used as buffers against more remote hostile nations, others protected trade routes and others maintained a sense of national identity, whilst introducing the Pax Augusta to their troublesome subjects. At the same time the emperor realized the annexation of some of these kingdoms was necessary and desirable, and so the gradual transformation of kingdoms into provinces began. Augustus' successors found that their predecessor, who had inherited so many small but potentially powerful clients, had set a good example in dealing with them. The Julio-Claudians and Flavians continued the process of romanization and annexation, and new clients were only contemplated when the legions needed support or a respite from warfare; only in Armenia did the clientship pose problems. Trajan, the warrior-emperor, was the first to attempt to annex all his clients and his failure showed the wisdom of Augustus' settlement - a settlement which lasted for several centuries

'Growing up tough': A national survey of South African youth

The Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE) was commissioned by the Joint Enrichment Project (JEP) to undertake research for the National Youth Development Conference. The research programme had three components:the compilation of a computerised and annotated youth database, comprising domestic research into youth, and the extraction of five policy papers covering the areas of education, employment-creation, AIDS, violence and social context, and historical context. an international comparative component, which focused on the youth brigades in Botswana, and the whole range of youth development initiatives taking place in Kenya and Uganda, covered in an additional two position papers. a national baseline and attitudinal survey into youth in South Africa. The results of all three components of the research project will be published in book form later this year. The summary reports of the local and international comparative policy papers are available in a separate booklet. This is the report of the national survey into youth in South Africa. Aims of the survey The survey has four main aims: demographic: to accurately describe how many youth are in the different parts of South Africa, how many are in or out of school or work, and so on. attitudinal: to allow youth to express their views on a range of social, economic, political and personal issues.to analyse youth marginalisation: to scientifically analyse and describe the marginalisation of youth within South African society. programmatic: to provide results which directly assist organisations designing programmes which target youth. Designing the survey The survey was designed by the CASE senior research team of Professor Mark Orkin, Director of C A S E; Dr David Everatt, Deputy Director of CASE and project co-ordinator; and Dr Ros Hirschowitz, Specialist Researcher at C A S E. The design process was lengthy and complex, because the aims of the survey were complicated. As a first step, CASE gathered together existing youth research and survey data, in order to see what we could learn from them. We then convened a design workshop to assist us. Participants in the C A S E national youth survey for JEP 1 workshop comprised people who had experience with youth, or with survey design. They included John Aitchison (CASE and the Centre for Adult Education, University of Natal), Debbie Budlender (CASE and the National Women's Coalition), Dr Jannie Hofmeyr (Research Surveys), Ms Vanessa Kruger and Professor Ari Sitas (University of Natal), Ms Anne Letsebe (SABSWA), Mr Steve Mokwena (JEP), Mr Rory Riordan (Human Rights Trust) and Dr Jeremy Seekings (University of Cape Town). We also needed input from the youth themselves. Discussion groups with youth (called 'focus groups') were held with youth from Alexandra and Soweto, from Ciskei and the eastern Cape, from Bophuthatswana and the northern transvaal, from Chatsworth and Claremont in Durban, and elsewhere. We reached youth from cities, squatter camps, towns and rural areas. The focus groups were organised by C A S E and Research Surveys, a professional market research company. The youth told us what their concerns were, what their aspirations and fears were, and what interventions they felt are necessary to improve their lives. CASE then designed a draft survey. We had to try it out (called 'piloting') to find out if the survey tapped the youth's actual views and experiences, and so give the JEP the information they sought. The survey was piloted on a representative sample of 100 youth (aged between 16 and 30) by Research Surveys. Using the results of the focus groups and the pilots, the CASE research team then produced the final questionnaire, which went into the field in November/December 1992

“Families should stay together”: intergenerational attitudes among South African youth

In this article we contest the widespread view that the social or political consciousness that developed among South African youth, as a result of their role in the uprisings of the 1980s, led them to reject the authority of the older generation, in their families and generally. Using the results of a national probability-sample survey among youth of the four main race groups in South Africa, we argue that an assumed political consciousness is not a helpful variable to use in understanding South African youth and their attitudes towards the values of their parents. We go on to disaggregate “youth” according to parental presence and roles during childhood; to find various and changing patterns of parenting, including the importance of grandmothers; and to argue that intergenerational attitudes among young people differ importantly according to these differing formative experiences

Rhetorical pattern of the Indonesian EFL undergraduate students’ writings

The present research aimed to study the rhetorical patterns in students’ writings, whether they follow a deductive pattern or an inductive pattern, and whether the pattern is similar when writing in English and the Indonesian language. The sample for this study was 20 undergraduate students from the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education majoring in English Education in several universities in Indonesia. Participants were requested to write two essays and two email-format letters, one of each was written in English, the other in the Indonesian language. The results showed that all students preferred the deductive pattern for their two types of essays. However, for the letter writing, students preferred the inductive pattern more than the deductive one, with 12 students using the inductive pattern in their letters in English and 16 students using the inductive pattern in their letters in Indonesian. It is suggested that the Indonesian culture and the teaching instructions received in the classrooms may influence students’ choice of the patterns they use in different types of writings. The findings should give valuable information for the design of teaching writing courses in English Education majors in Indonesia

Changing eye of the beholder : Perceived changes in social support following a move into residential care.

Background: Increasing numbers of older people are requiring residential care and there are high levels of depression in such settings. Existing literature suggests that social support can help maintain psychological wellbeing. This study aimed to examine perceived changes in social support following a move into residential care. The key theories drawn upon were socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen et al., 1999) and the convoy model (Kahn & Antonucci, 1980). Method: Forty care home residents were interviewed using a structured interview. A hierarchical network mapping technique was used to measure perceptions of total network, inner network and peripheral network size. Functional support from a key significant other was measured using the Significant Others Scale. Contact with network members, depression and demographic information were also examined. Retrospective ratings were obtained by asking participants to think back to before they moved into care. Current and retrospective ratings on all measures were compared using Wilcoxon signed rank tests. Results: Total network size was perceived to have decreased following a move into residential care. There was no significant difference between current and retrospective ratings of inner network size. Peripheral network size decreased but this difference was not statistically significant. There was no perceived change in emotional and practical social support received from a key significant other following the move. Discussion: The results suggest that an individual‟s social network is compacted following a move into care but that membership of the inner network remains stable. These findings are discussed in terms of socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen et al., 1999) and the convoy model (Kahn & Antonucci, 1980). Strengths and weaknesses of the study are discussed and clinical implications of the findings explored