The 'state' of social cohesion: re-stating the question of social cohesion and 'nationbuilding'

Abstract

This chapter's engagement with the state's discourse around social cohesion is informed by a concern with the way in which knowledge produces power. The methodology utilised here attempts to unpack the production of knowledge about the social realm in order to understand the way in which the state's aspirations towards social cohesion are linked to the project of post-apartheid nation-statebuilding, in a manner that is either marginalising or inclusive, democratic or antidemocratic.