Overview

A country's attitudinal profile is as much a part of its social reality as are its demographic make-up, its culture and its distinctive social patterns. It helps to provide a nuanced picture of a country's circumstances, its continuities and changes, its democratic health, and how it feels to live there. It also helps to measure the country's progress towards the achievement of its economic, social and political goals, based on the measurement of both 'objective' and 'subjective' realities.Since the transition to democracy in 1994, South Africa has become a well documented nation. A multitude of national and sub-national studies have been conducted, yielding a wealth of information about the characteristics of South African society, and how these have evolved over time. However, less is known about how South Africans feel about their world and themselves. There remains much scope for deepening our understanding of the public's values, chronicling how these have been changing, and determining the extent to which different segments of the population vary in their attitudes and beliefs."""" South African Social Attitudes: Reflections on the Age of Hope"""" is the second in the """"HSRC"""" series that aims to monitor the evolving dynamics of South African social values in relation to broader societal developments. It is based primarily on the findings of the 2004 and 2005 rounds of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS), which involved interviewing a nationally representative sample of more than 5000 individuals aged 16 years and older.Like the previous edition, this volume is structured according to three thematic sections. The first section on race, class and politics examines the public's views on issues such as national priorities, racial transformation policy, local government, and includes an in-depth examination of youth attitudes. The second section addresses perceptions about poverty, inequality and service delivery. The final section on societal values focuses on attitudes in relation to religion, the environment, family, employment, and the fear of crime.""""South African Social Attitudes"""" is essential reading for anyone seeking a guide to contemporary social or political issues and debates.

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Benjamin Roberts is a research specialist in the Child, Youth, Family and Social Development research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). Before joining the HSRC, he was research fellow in the Population and Poverty Studies Programme at the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Dr Mbithi wa Kivilu is the director and head of the Centre for Socio-Economic Surveys section of the Knowledge Systems unit at the HSRC. Before joining the HSRC, Dr Kivilu worked as a lecturer at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr Kivilu also worked as a research consultant as part of a post-graduate fellowship for the Centre for Research in Applied Measurement and Evaluation based in the University of Alberta. He has undertaken projects for organisations such as the South African National Department of Education, Gauteng Department of Education, USAID, DANIDA, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank. Yul Derek Davids is a research manager in the Centre for Socio-Economic Surveys section of the Knowledge Systems unit at the HSRC. Before joining the HSRC, he was manager of the Public Opinion Service at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA). He has also managed the Afrobarometer project at IDASA, which conducts periodic public opinion surveys across Africa.

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