Race and class perceptions of poverty in South Africa

Abstract

People's perceptions of the causes of poverty impact on their interactions with other people and their outlook on life. Negative perceptions of why people experience poverty can often lead to antagonistic attitudes and behaviours towards the poor. Available studies on perceptions of the causes of poverty revealed that poverty can be ascribed according to three dimensions: 1) Individuals are themselves to blame for the poverty that they experience, 2) Poverty is a result of economic, political or cultural factors beyond the control of the individual, and 3) Poverty can be attributed to some unexpected situations, such as illness or bad luck. It is against this background that this chapter employ data from the Human Science Research Council's (HSRC) South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) to assess 1) South Africans perceptions of the causes of poverty, and 2) whether different sociodemographic groups such as race (black African, coloured, white and Indian); class (Low, middle and high LSM); subjective poverty status (poor, just getting along and non-poor) and age ascribe to different perceptions of the causes of poverty. The findings from this study show that a large proportion of coloureds, whites and Indians in the higher LSM attribute poverty to individualistic causes rather than external causes. This has major implications for social transformation because these groups are largely in control of the economy and the educational institutions, which are key sectors requiring transformation.