Precarious liberation : workers, the state, and contested social citizenship in postapartheid South Africa / Franco Barchiesi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barchiesi, Franco.

Series:

SUNY series in global modernity.

SUNY series in global modernity

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Working class--South Africa.

Working class.

Wages--South Africa.

Wages.

Democratization--South Africa.

Democratization.

South Africa--Politics and government--1994-.

South Africa.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (356 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press ; Scottsville, South Africa : University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, c2011.

Summary:

Winner of the 2012 CLR James Award presented by the Working Class Studies AssociationMillions of black South African workers struggled against apartheid to redeem employment and production from a history of abuse, insecurity, and racial despotism. Almost two decades later, however, the prospects of a dignified life of wage-earning work remain unattainable for most South Africans. Through extensive archival and ethnographic research, Franco Barchiesi documents and interrogates this important dilemma in the country's democratic transition: economic participation has gained centrality in the government's definition of virtuous citizenship, and yet for most workers, employment remains an elusive and insecure experience. In a context of market liberalization and persistent social and racial inequalities, as jobs in South Africa become increasingly flexible, fragmented, and unprotected, they depart from the promise of work with dignity and citizenship rights that once inspired opposition to apartheid. Barchiesi traces how the employment crisis and the responses of workers to it challenge the state's normative imagination of work, and raise decisive questions for the social foundations and prospects of South Africa's democratic experiment.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

Note on South Africa’s Racial Terminology

Introduction

Redeeming Labor

The Work-Citizenship Nexus of Postapartheid South Africa

Contesting Commodification

The Changing World of Work in Gauteng

Translation Troubles

“Like a Branch on a Rotten Tree”

Conclusion

Appendix on Methodology

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781438436128

1438436122

9781461905998

1461905990

OCLC:

794788545