Curriculum in the context of transformation: reframing traditional understandings and practices
- Authors: Voster, Jo-Anne
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Book , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59557 , vital:27626
- Description: Curriculum is central to the pedagogic project of the university, and like all aspects of education, it is underpinned by values, beliefs and ideologies. Curriculum choices are made based on what disciplines and professions value and what academic departments and / or individual academics find interesting and believe to be useful for students to learn and know. Decisions about how to teach and assess curriculum knowledge is very often made on the basis of lecturers’ preferences and beliefs about good teaching and learning. At the current conjuncture, academics in South African higher education are also called upon to take into account a number of transformation imperatives when making curriculum choices. The case studies in this collection present examples of how some lecturers at Rhodes University are thinking about curriculum in the context of cur - rent educational concerns and show some of the ways in which they attempt to ensure that greater epistemological access becomes a reality for more students.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Voster, Jo-Anne
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Book , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59557 , vital:27626
- Description: Curriculum is central to the pedagogic project of the university, and like all aspects of education, it is underpinned by values, beliefs and ideologies. Curriculum choices are made based on what disciplines and professions value and what academic departments and / or individual academics find interesting and believe to be useful for students to learn and know. Decisions about how to teach and assess curriculum knowledge is very often made on the basis of lecturers’ preferences and beliefs about good teaching and learning. At the current conjuncture, academics in South African higher education are also called upon to take into account a number of transformation imperatives when making curriculum choices. The case studies in this collection present examples of how some lecturers at Rhodes University are thinking about curriculum in the context of cur - rent educational concerns and show some of the ways in which they attempt to ensure that greater epistemological access becomes a reality for more students.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Challenging the forked tongue of multilingualism: scholarship in African languages at SA Universities with specific reference to Rhodes
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:586 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018946 , https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5481-6748
- Description: [From the text] Effective multilingualism will aid SA in creating Social Cohesion (cultural, linguistic), a National Government initiative forming part of language planning. Languages should be seen as part of our environment and “resource package” within an intercultural paradigm. All students exiting School and University must be proficient in an African language and English or Afrikaans.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:586 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018946 , https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5481-6748
- Description: [From the text] Effective multilingualism will aid SA in creating Social Cohesion (cultural, linguistic), a National Government initiative forming part of language planning. Languages should be seen as part of our environment and “resource package” within an intercultural paradigm. All students exiting School and University must be proficient in an African language and English or Afrikaans.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Non-renewal of a fixed-term employment contract
- Authors: Timothy, Lester Clement
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Fixed-term labor contracts -- South Africa , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: vital:10209 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/431 , Fixed-term labor contracts -- South Africa , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa
- Description: In terms of the common law contract of employment an employee who is a party to a fixed term contract, unlike an indefinite period contract, cannot be dismissed. The contract terminates upon an agreed or ascertainable date determined by the parties and the conclusion of the contract. Section 186(1)(b) of the Labour Relations Act 1995, however, defines the failure to renew a fixed term contract on the same or similar terms where the employee reasonably expected the contract to be renewed, as a dismissal. In this treatise the scope and content of this provision is considered with reference to relevant case law. The factors and considerations that establish a reasonable expectation are highlighted and considered. The question as to whether or not this provision also provides for the situation where an employee expects indefinite employment is also considered and critically discussed. The author concludes that the provision should not be interpreted in such a manner that an expectation of permanent employment is created.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Timothy, Lester Clement
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Fixed-term labor contracts -- South Africa , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: vital:10209 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/431 , Fixed-term labor contracts -- South Africa , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa
- Description: In terms of the common law contract of employment an employee who is a party to a fixed term contract, unlike an indefinite period contract, cannot be dismissed. The contract terminates upon an agreed or ascertainable date determined by the parties and the conclusion of the contract. Section 186(1)(b) of the Labour Relations Act 1995, however, defines the failure to renew a fixed term contract on the same or similar terms where the employee reasonably expected the contract to be renewed, as a dismissal. In this treatise the scope and content of this provision is considered with reference to relevant case law. The factors and considerations that establish a reasonable expectation are highlighted and considered. The question as to whether or not this provision also provides for the situation where an employee expects indefinite employment is also considered and critically discussed. The author concludes that the provision should not be interpreted in such a manner that an expectation of permanent employment is created.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Fight for your lives against privatisation
- South African Municipal Workers Union
- Authors: South African Municipal Workers Union
- Date: 2001-01
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , pamphlet
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/105721 , vital:32561
- Description: Welcome, comrades to the New Year! In the last issue of Workers' News, I raised the point that all of us in elected positions were renewing our mandate. Now all of us, as members of SAMWU have a new mandate from Congress. We emerge out of Congress a united face which is geared to take workers struggle forward. Provinces came to Congress with different positions - through a process of open debates we managed to reach consensus on most of the discussions. This shows political maturity and cohesion. I want to look at the most critical challenges we have to face in the next three years. The credentials presented at Congress showed that we have not increased our lost membership in the past three years. We must start an organising campaign to meet the target we have set for ourselves. We need to have a programme of empowering women. We have concentrated much resources on a few leaders who are empowered already. For me that is not enough if we want to build a strong women's layer in the union , here put any information that you think is important but there is no field for it, if there isnt remove the field
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001-01
- Authors: South African Municipal Workers Union
- Date: 2001-01
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , pamphlet
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/105721 , vital:32561
- Description: Welcome, comrades to the New Year! In the last issue of Workers' News, I raised the point that all of us in elected positions were renewing our mandate. Now all of us, as members of SAMWU have a new mandate from Congress. We emerge out of Congress a united face which is geared to take workers struggle forward. Provinces came to Congress with different positions - through a process of open debates we managed to reach consensus on most of the discussions. This shows political maturity and cohesion. I want to look at the most critical challenges we have to face in the next three years. The credentials presented at Congress showed that we have not increased our lost membership in the past three years. We must start an organising campaign to meet the target we have set for ourselves. We need to have a programme of empowering women. We have concentrated much resources on a few leaders who are empowered already. For me that is not enough if we want to build a strong women's layer in the union , here put any information that you think is important but there is no field for it, if there isnt remove the field
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001-01
The new labour relations act - A summary of important features
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1995
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/174426 , vital:42476
- Description: This summary is intended primarily for unionists who want to get an overview of key substantive features of the new Labour Relations Act (LRA) that will most probably take effect in April or May next year.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1995
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1995
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/174426 , vital:42476
- Description: This summary is intended primarily for unionists who want to get an overview of key substantive features of the new Labour Relations Act (LRA) that will most probably take effect in April or May next year.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1995
Social equity and job creation - The key to a stable future
- South African Labour Movement (SALM)
- Authors: South African Labour Movement (SALM)
- Date: Oct 1994
- Subjects: South African Labour Movement (SALM)
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/116819 , vital:34448
- Description: Two years after the 1994 elections, South Africa remains a society characterised by vast inequalities, in wealth, economic power and incomes. Much progress has been made to build a common nationhood, to normalise political processes and to create a culture of freedom. We now face the challenge of addressing the glaring inequities in our country. In the process, some hard choices need to be made. As the white population had to give up its monopoly of political power in order to usher in the new democracy, so the economic elite should now be challenged to share the wealth and resources of our country to the benefit of all. This critical requirement for the new democracy — the active promotion of social equity — is the key objective organised labour sets for itself during 1996. We do this because too many South Africans are poor, underpaid or unemployed, homeless and with their basic needs and requirements not satisfied by the economy. Social equity in South Africa, and particularly the reduction of the vast inequalities in the society, must entail substantial redistribution of wealth, the eradication of poverty, the promotion of worker rights, increased employment the development of the full human potential of our people, and the provision of basic infrastructure and services to all citizens. The RDP calls for a programme to satisfy the basic needs of all South Africans. It calls for the development of our people. It calls for workers rights, and the building of the economy. These central pillars of reconstruction in the RDP should now be given concrete expression. Labour puts forward this framework as a first contribution to the current debate, and in order to clarify to the society what our analysis of the current situation is, and what our vision for the future entails.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Oct 1994
- Authors: South African Labour Movement (SALM)
- Date: Oct 1994
- Subjects: South African Labour Movement (SALM)
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/116819 , vital:34448
- Description: Two years after the 1994 elections, South Africa remains a society characterised by vast inequalities, in wealth, economic power and incomes. Much progress has been made to build a common nationhood, to normalise political processes and to create a culture of freedom. We now face the challenge of addressing the glaring inequities in our country. In the process, some hard choices need to be made. As the white population had to give up its monopoly of political power in order to usher in the new democracy, so the economic elite should now be challenged to share the wealth and resources of our country to the benefit of all. This critical requirement for the new democracy — the active promotion of social equity — is the key objective organised labour sets for itself during 1996. We do this because too many South Africans are poor, underpaid or unemployed, homeless and with their basic needs and requirements not satisfied by the economy. Social equity in South Africa, and particularly the reduction of the vast inequalities in the society, must entail substantial redistribution of wealth, the eradication of poverty, the promotion of worker rights, increased employment the development of the full human potential of our people, and the provision of basic infrastructure and services to all citizens. The RDP calls for a programme to satisfy the basic needs of all South Africans. It calls for the development of our people. It calls for workers rights, and the building of the economy. These central pillars of reconstruction in the RDP should now be given concrete expression. Labour puts forward this framework as a first contribution to the current debate, and in order to clarify to the society what our analysis of the current situation is, and what our vision for the future entails.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Oct 1994
Educational needs of adults in Mdantsane
- McAllister, Patrick A, Young, Michael, Manona, Cecil W, Hart, Jo
- Authors: McAllister, Patrick A , Young, Michael , Manona, Cecil W , Hart, Jo
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: Adult education -- South Africa -- Mdantsane (Ciskei) Adult education -- South Africa -- Mdantsane (Ciskei) -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Book , Text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/2079 , vital:20253 , ISBN 0868102423
- Description: The purpose of the study was to collect some preliminary information in advance of the inauguration of a new educational project at Fort Hare University which, under the guidance of a new Vice-Chancellor, Dr. S.M.E. Bengu, is forging for itself a new course of development as a people's University. The new project arises out of a report prepared by the International Extension College for the University of Fort Hare. The hope is that a number of innovations can be introduced into adult education in the Eastern Cape which will prove of value in meeting the needs of people living in different kinds of localities. The planning will begin in the early winter, as soon as staff have assembled, and as soon as Dr. David Warr, the international consultant to the project, is in post. It seemed sensible to conduct, in advance, one of the surveys which will be needed to underpin plans. To do this at short notice and complete it in a short time (the work did not commence until February, 1992) the best course was to rely on an experienced team from a neighbouring University, Rhodes, which had already conducted surveys in different districts within the Eastern Cape, and to bring in further support from the University of Natal , Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER)
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
- Authors: McAllister, Patrick A , Young, Michael , Manona, Cecil W , Hart, Jo
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: Adult education -- South Africa -- Mdantsane (Ciskei) Adult education -- South Africa -- Mdantsane (Ciskei) -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Book , Text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/2079 , vital:20253 , ISBN 0868102423
- Description: The purpose of the study was to collect some preliminary information in advance of the inauguration of a new educational project at Fort Hare University which, under the guidance of a new Vice-Chancellor, Dr. S.M.E. Bengu, is forging for itself a new course of development as a people's University. The new project arises out of a report prepared by the International Extension College for the University of Fort Hare. The hope is that a number of innovations can be introduced into adult education in the Eastern Cape which will prove of value in meeting the needs of people living in different kinds of localities. The planning will begin in the early winter, as soon as staff have assembled, and as soon as Dr. David Warr, the international consultant to the project, is in post. It seemed sensible to conduct, in advance, one of the surveys which will be needed to underpin plans. To do this at short notice and complete it in a short time (the work did not commence until February, 1992) the best course was to rely on an experienced team from a neighbouring University, Rhodes, which had already conducted surveys in different districts within the Eastern Cape, and to bring in further support from the University of Natal , Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER)
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
Up Beat Issue Number 6 1991
- SACHED
- Authors: SACHED
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: SACHED
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/116259 , vital:34347
- Description: The people of Paballelo in Upingtonhadabig party. They started celebrating on Thursday 30 May and they carried on right through the week-end. They were happy because their friends were home, home from death row in jail. Perhaps some readers will remember reading a story in Upbeat last year about Evelina de Bruin. She was one of the people from Upington on death row. She was also one of the people set free on the 30 May. The first thing that Evelina did when she stepped out of prison was to hug her children that she had missed so much. ‘I feel the same now, seeing my children as I did when I saw them for the first time as newborns,’ said Evelina. Next Evelina gave her husband, Gideon Madlongwane a big hug. Gideon had also just been freed from death row. Evelina still says she was innocent. ‘I heard about the death of the policeman while I was doing my washing,’ said Evelina. ‘I was shocked when I was arrested. But I was not afraid. I knew Gideon and I had done nothing. I never dreamt that we would spend three and a half years in jail.’ Evelina’s lawyers are happy and angry. They feel that she shouldn’t have gone to jail in the first place. But they are happy that their appeal against the death sentences of the 14 people from Upington has been overturned.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1991
- Authors: SACHED
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: SACHED
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/116259 , vital:34347
- Description: The people of Paballelo in Upingtonhadabig party. They started celebrating on Thursday 30 May and they carried on right through the week-end. They were happy because their friends were home, home from death row in jail. Perhaps some readers will remember reading a story in Upbeat last year about Evelina de Bruin. She was one of the people from Upington on death row. She was also one of the people set free on the 30 May. The first thing that Evelina did when she stepped out of prison was to hug her children that she had missed so much. ‘I feel the same now, seeing my children as I did when I saw them for the first time as newborns,’ said Evelina. Next Evelina gave her husband, Gideon Madlongwane a big hug. Gideon had also just been freed from death row. Evelina still says she was innocent. ‘I heard about the death of the policeman while I was doing my washing,’ said Evelina. ‘I was shocked when I was arrested. But I was not afraid. I knew Gideon and I had done nothing. I never dreamt that we would spend three and a half years in jail.’ Evelina’s lawyers are happy and angry. They feel that she shouldn’t have gone to jail in the first place. But they are happy that their appeal against the death sentences of the 14 people from Upington has been overturned.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1991
Work in Progress Issue no.44 - Rent boycott councils retaliate
- Authors: Work in progress (WIP)
- Date: Oct 1986
- Subjects: WIP
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118611 , vital:34651
- Description: The themes of victory and defeat dominate this issue of Work In Progress. Despite the state of emergency, there have been some important recent popular victories. Popular pressure and massive resistance blocked proposed 'independence' for the KwaNdebele bantustan. The efforts needed to dissuade KwaNdebele Chief Minister Simon Skosana and his followers from accepting Pretoria-style independence were enormous. So were the costs: vigilante violence and torture, death and destruction, necklaces and burnings. Nonetheless, the blocking of KwaNdebele independence is a popular victory. Never before has pressure from below halted bantustan independence - not in the Transkei or Ciskei, Venda or Bophuthatswana. The massive wave of rent boycotts which began in the Vaal during 1984 have also involved some notable popular victories. In many townships the organisation necessary to sustain prolonged withdrawal of rent payments has strengthened and developed the structures of popular mobilisation. And the boycotts have totally destroyed the financial base of the discredited and rejected black local authorities, be they in the form of community or town councils. On the trade union front, many of the established industrial unions have shown remarkable strength under pressure. With leadership detained or in hiding, some unions have been able to carry on their task of organising the working class in a disciplined and democratic manner. But there have been defeats too. Undisciplined comrades, often acting with no organisational basis or mandate, have divided communities, setting workers against the unemployed, children against parents, trade unions against community groups. Some of the rent boycotts have been enforced with a high degree of anti-democratic authoritarianism. The youth has often acted without the necessary support from other townships groups, without the organisational structures necessary for democratic decision-making, and without adequate mandate or consultation. Recourse to 'discipline', - necklacings, beatings and other punishments - has come too easily to a group which often lacks a mandate to act on behalf of any major constituency. To claim success is a neccessary part of any broad progressive movement working to change society. But to admit defeat is as important. For it is the sign of a maturing politics which can learn from mistakes, and come back stronger from every failure. Defeat is as much part of political struggle as victory. Those who claim every activity, every campaign, every initiative as a victory do the progressive cause no good. Realistic assessments of strength and weakness, analysis and debate on failure, are part of the very process of building any powerful mass movement.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Oct 1986
- Authors: Work in progress (WIP)
- Date: Oct 1986
- Subjects: WIP
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118611 , vital:34651
- Description: The themes of victory and defeat dominate this issue of Work In Progress. Despite the state of emergency, there have been some important recent popular victories. Popular pressure and massive resistance blocked proposed 'independence' for the KwaNdebele bantustan. The efforts needed to dissuade KwaNdebele Chief Minister Simon Skosana and his followers from accepting Pretoria-style independence were enormous. So were the costs: vigilante violence and torture, death and destruction, necklaces and burnings. Nonetheless, the blocking of KwaNdebele independence is a popular victory. Never before has pressure from below halted bantustan independence - not in the Transkei or Ciskei, Venda or Bophuthatswana. The massive wave of rent boycotts which began in the Vaal during 1984 have also involved some notable popular victories. In many townships the organisation necessary to sustain prolonged withdrawal of rent payments has strengthened and developed the structures of popular mobilisation. And the boycotts have totally destroyed the financial base of the discredited and rejected black local authorities, be they in the form of community or town councils. On the trade union front, many of the established industrial unions have shown remarkable strength under pressure. With leadership detained or in hiding, some unions have been able to carry on their task of organising the working class in a disciplined and democratic manner. But there have been defeats too. Undisciplined comrades, often acting with no organisational basis or mandate, have divided communities, setting workers against the unemployed, children against parents, trade unions against community groups. Some of the rent boycotts have been enforced with a high degree of anti-democratic authoritarianism. The youth has often acted without the necessary support from other townships groups, without the organisational structures necessary for democratic decision-making, and without adequate mandate or consultation. Recourse to 'discipline', - necklacings, beatings and other punishments - has come too easily to a group which often lacks a mandate to act on behalf of any major constituency. To claim success is a neccessary part of any broad progressive movement working to change society. But to admit defeat is as important. For it is the sign of a maturing politics which can learn from mistakes, and come back stronger from every failure. Defeat is as much part of political struggle as victory. Those who claim every activity, every campaign, every initiative as a victory do the progressive cause no good. Realistic assessments of strength and weakness, analysis and debate on failure, are part of the very process of building any powerful mass movement.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Oct 1986
Ferro-metals processing can be hazardous to your health
- Authors: Ferro-metals
- Subjects: Ferro-metals
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/250695 , vital:52040
- Description: Ferro-metals (or Ferro-alloys) are used in making steel, to add different characteristics to the steel. The ferro-metals are often in the form of rocks. The ferro-metals are produced by heating the ore of the needed additive with iron ore. This ferro-metal is then taken to a steel works, where it is used in the furnaces.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ferro-metals
- Subjects: Ferro-metals
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/250695 , vital:52040
- Description: Ferro-metals (or Ferro-alloys) are used in making steel, to add different characteristics to the steel. The ferro-metals are often in the form of rocks. The ferro-metals are produced by heating the ore of the needed additive with iron ore. This ferro-metal is then taken to a steel works, where it is used in the furnaces.
- Full Text:
Of science and small things: recollections of the past twenty(-)odd years
- Authors: Botha, J. R
- Subjects: Nanoscience , Nanotechnology , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/20867 , vital:29409
- Description: I will start, therefore, with an overview of achievements in a “new” field of endeavour, a science of small things, popularly called nanoscience, and its spin-off called nanotechnology. I will present a brief history, look at the approaches that have been followed by scientists and engineers to develop and understand small things, and summarise some of the benefits to society in terms of new materials and processes, energy storage and generation, electronics, environmental applications, medicine and transportation. Since our own research focuses on the development on semiconductors, I will conclude the scientific part of the presentation by considering the contribution of semiconductors to the development of nanotechnology and highlight a few examples from our own research during the past two decades on the development of nano-scale semiconductor structures, like nanorods, quantum wells and superlattices.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Botha, J. R
- Subjects: Nanoscience , Nanotechnology , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/20867 , vital:29409
- Description: I will start, therefore, with an overview of achievements in a “new” field of endeavour, a science of small things, popularly called nanoscience, and its spin-off called nanotechnology. I will present a brief history, look at the approaches that have been followed by scientists and engineers to develop and understand small things, and summarise some of the benefits to society in terms of new materials and processes, energy storage and generation, electronics, environmental applications, medicine and transportation. Since our own research focuses on the development on semiconductors, I will conclude the scientific part of the presentation by considering the contribution of semiconductors to the development of nanotechnology and highlight a few examples from our own research during the past two decades on the development of nano-scale semiconductor structures, like nanorods, quantum wells and superlattices.
- Full Text:
The Entrepreneur as a disequilibrating factor in economic process
- Authors: Ncwadi, Mcebisi Ronney
- Subjects: Entrepreneurship , Equilibrium (Economics) , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/55844 , vital:54275
- Description: The evidence of entrepreneurship's significant contribution to economic growth and development, challenges the dominance of general equilibrium theory in microeconomics. The assumptions of the neoclassical economic model which underlies general equilibrium theory has long time been criticised; yet its consideration in policy formulation has not been dismissed despite the fact that general equilibrium theory does not incorporate entrepreneurship. The assumptions embedded in neoclassical economic theory exclude entrepreneurship as an economic variable. However, as microeconomic research finds more and more evidence confirming the importance of new business formation and growth, general equilibrium theory remains incapable of adapting to this reality. To this end general equilibrium theory produces policy prescriptions which favour mainly large, established firms over new, small firms. It is therefore no wonder that a large number of small businesses in South Africa are failing. This lecture presents the theory of the firm and also defines an entrepreneur within the context of the theory of the firm. In doing so, this lecture exposes the shortcomings of the general equilibrium theory which is used to explain entrepreneurship. Based on Schumpeter’s description of an entrepreneur, namely, a Disequilibrating factor of economic processes; this lecture demonstrates how entrepreneurship should be understood and developed within a broader scope of microeconomics discourse.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ncwadi, Mcebisi Ronney
- Subjects: Entrepreneurship , Equilibrium (Economics) , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/55844 , vital:54275
- Description: The evidence of entrepreneurship's significant contribution to economic growth and development, challenges the dominance of general equilibrium theory in microeconomics. The assumptions of the neoclassical economic model which underlies general equilibrium theory has long time been criticised; yet its consideration in policy formulation has not been dismissed despite the fact that general equilibrium theory does not incorporate entrepreneurship. The assumptions embedded in neoclassical economic theory exclude entrepreneurship as an economic variable. However, as microeconomic research finds more and more evidence confirming the importance of new business formation and growth, general equilibrium theory remains incapable of adapting to this reality. To this end general equilibrium theory produces policy prescriptions which favour mainly large, established firms over new, small firms. It is therefore no wonder that a large number of small businesses in South Africa are failing. This lecture presents the theory of the firm and also defines an entrepreneur within the context of the theory of the firm. In doing so, this lecture exposes the shortcomings of the general equilibrium theory which is used to explain entrepreneurship. Based on Schumpeter’s description of an entrepreneur, namely, a Disequilibrating factor of economic processes; this lecture demonstrates how entrepreneurship should be understood and developed within a broader scope of microeconomics discourse.
- Full Text:
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