Trends in mobilisation and unionisation in South Africa and Germany: a comparative analysis
- Authors: Whiteley, Julianne Beverley
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Industrial mobilization -- South Africa , Labor unions -- South Africa , Industrial mobilization -- Germany , Labor unions -- Germany , South Africa -- Economic conditions , Germany -- Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3332 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003125 , Industrial mobilization -- South Africa , Labor unions -- South Africa , Industrial mobilization -- Germany , Labor unions -- Germany , South Africa -- Economic conditions , Germany -- Economic conditions
- Description: The purpose of this study is to investigate long-term trends in the union membership of South Africa and Germany, and to highlight trends in unionisation in both of these countries over a period of time. The long-term aspect of this study differentiates it from more detailed specific studies concerned with the individual fortunes of confederations or unions. The changing fortunes of trade unions have been associated with changes in work organisation, the influence of institutional pressures, or long term changes in the economic cycle. All these factors may, of course, shape and be shaped by each other. From a comparative perspective this dissertation determines whether the fortunes of unions are ultimately a product of the long waves of an economic cycle, or if other factors, such as variations in union/state relations, changes in the forms of work organisation and shifts in the employment market, impact upon union membership and mobilisation. It is hoped that the comparison of a transitional and an advanced economy may shed new light on the causes of union growth and decline, and the impact of specific social, legal and cultural variables thereon. The theoretical frame of reference for this study emerged from literature pertaining to union growth and decline. This literature discusses the historical, economic and sectoral challenges that confront the identity of unions and their ability to mobilise membership within contemporary labour markets. The entire study relies heavily on primary data collected from a wide range of sources in both countries. This method facilitates the comparison and cross-checking of information, which ensures a full and balanced study. A synthesis of the facts obtained led to certain suggestions relating to the areas in which both South African and German labour organisations could adapt their agenda and interests to the changing nature of the employment market in order to avert membership decline. The methodology of this research draws from Skopol’s work which argues that social studies ought to be grounded in historical experience in order to make sense out of specific social events that occur today. The research design utilises an initial comparative historical-political analysis of the emergence of unionism in South Africa and Germany, so as to establish those factors which have, in the past, affected union growth and decline in both countries. Thereafter, the impact of contemporary economic and sectoral trends that reoccur in the South African and German labour markets are examined and compared, in order to establish their influence on the growth or decline of union membership in both countries in the future. This study consists of four sections. The first section comprises a historical dimension that uses Valenzuela’s work relating to the political nature of labour movements to establish those factors which, in the past, have affected union growth and decline. This is done to determine whether the type of insertion of labour movements into historical national political processes, and the links formed between trade unions and political parties influences membership growth or decline. The following three sections deal with the present challenges that may affect the unions in the future. Section Two deals with factors of economic recession (namely, poverty and unemployment) which confront trade unions in the 1990s. Hyman’s Theory of Disaggregation is applied to determine if recessive socio-economic factors can account for the strength of decline of unions, as opposed to union mobilisation being purely linked to transitions between long waves of the economy as Kelly suggests. The relevance of these theories to the rise and decline of unionism in South Africa and Germany is compared and contrasted. The third section determines whether changes to more flexible forms of work organisation and shifts in the employment market can account for the contrasting strength of the South African labour movement and the decline of the German labour movement today. The way in which these issues impact negatively upon union strength in South Africa and Germany in the 1990s is compared and contrasted, again using Hyman’s Theory of Disaggregation. The final section establishes whether or not the roles adopted by the South African and German labour movements during their confrontation with labour repressive regimes impacts upon their ability to attract union membership today, despite the constraints imposed upon unions by prevailing economic and structural uncertainties. Therefore the historicity of the South African and German labour movements, (based upon the findings of the first part of this study), is referred back to. At the same time, the reactions of the South African and German labour movements to prevailing economic and structural realities, (as examined in the second part of this research) are re-examined. Three conclusions are reached. Firstly, regardless of their strengths or weaknesses, all labour organisations are capable of adjusting to the adverse changes taking place in contemporary employment markets if they prove willing to advance and defend the interests of all who work, including those in the informal sector. If unions continue to neglect the informal labour market, they run the risk of being transposed by social movements that are antagonistic to trade unions or new expressions of the workforce’s latent collectivism. Secondly, in successfully playing a social movement role that led to the downfall of Apartheid in 1994, the South African labour movement has evolved as an energetic body with a dimension of recumbent militancy that attempts to adapt its identity to the changing nature of the employment market. This enables the South African labour movement to continue to attract membership despite the prevailing economic uncertainties. In contrast, forced co-operation and consensus within the German industrial relations arena since World War Two has resulted in a less dynamic union movement that lacks initiative in adapting to the changing nature of the employment market. The result is a decline in unionism. Finally, the fortunes of unions are not, as Kelly suggests, purely a product of economic cycles. Political climates can also influence mobilisation, as has occurred in both South Africa and Germany. This implies that mobilisation is not only activated by the economic dissatisfaction of a union movement.
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- Date Issued: 2001
Towards a gender analysis of women and development: a case study of the gender division of labour in a rural black community in South Africa
- Authors: Middleton, Susan Clare
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: Rural women -- Employment -- South Africa -- Case studies , Women in development -- South Africa -- Case studies , Sexual division of labor -- South Africa , Sex role -- South Africa -- Case studies , Sexual division of labor -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Thornhill -- Merino Walk
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3326 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003114 , Rural women -- Employment -- South Africa -- Case studies , Women in development -- South Africa -- Case studies , Sexual division of labor -- South Africa , Sex role -- South Africa -- Case studies , Sexual division of labor -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Thornhill -- Merino Walk
- Description: This thesis examines the topic of the position of women in rural development. This topic has become the focus of extensive international debate at theoretical and policy levels, but for historical reasons remains relatively undeveloped in South Africa. After reviewing a number of contemporary approaches, the thesis argues in favour of the "Gender and Development" approach, and applies this to a case study of the gender division of labour in a rural black community in South Africa. Chapter one reviews the variants of the "Women in Development" (WID) approaches, as well as the claims of "Global Feminism". It is argued that, although Global Feminism began as a critique of WID approaches, it is in fact similar in many respects to the contemporary "empowerment" focus within the WID tradition. Although useful, these approaches are not sufficiently explicit in their theorizing of gender relations in the context of development. Chapter 2 sets out the key elements of the "Gender and Development" approach, which emphasises the complexity of the issue of women's interests, and warns against assuming a commonality of interests amongst all women. Instead, the GAD approach demands a detailed investigation of socially constructed gender relations in specific communities, with a special focus on the gender division of labour. For GAD theorists such analysis is a requirement of development planning which seeks to advance the position of women. Chapter 3 spells out the methodological implications of the GAD approach, and develops a specific research design, influenced by GAD as well as feminist methodology, for the investigation of the gender-specific needs of women in Merino Walk, a rural black community. Chapter 4 presents a brief overview of the general context of rural women in Southern Africa, and a specific history of the Merino Walk community. Chapter 5 presents the results of the research. In the context of this thesis, the results are presented essentially as an illustration of the application of the GAD principles to a specific South African example. The conclusion draws out some of the issues which emerge from the research.
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- Date Issued: 1994
The integration of academic skills/support programmes into university department structures: a case study in the sociology of education
- Authors: Drewett, Michael
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa , Compensatory education -- South Africa , Education, Higher , Education -- Philosophy , Rhodes University. Academic Development Programme
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3327 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003115
- Description: This research focuses on the extent to which the Rhodes University Academic Skills Programme (ASP), now known as the Academic Development Programme, is able to act as an agent of progressive change within Rhodes University. In so doing it concentrates on the potential of the strategy of integrated academic development for dealing with the academic needs of university students within the context of South Africa as a society in transition. The candidate considers the inability of structuralist educational theory to account for the potential of human agency at the site of formal education. It is shown that structuralist theories provide deterministic and pessimistic accounts of the role of institutions of formal education. In support of this contention this study explores the history of ASP at Rhodes University, demonstrating that significant change in student academic development has already taken place. ASP has contributed to change within the said University through challenging traditional notions of academic development. This thesis suggests that the non-structuralist critical theory of Jurgen Habermas provides a more holistic account of ASP than do structuralist theories of formal education. Through the incorporation of Habermas's theory of communicative action a process of critical integration is explored, showing that a strategy of integrated academic development has the potential to involve all those who have an interest in university education through a process of rational discourse. This potential is strengthened by the fact that many students and staff have expressed an awareness of the need for an integrated academic development strategy. This thesis subsequently explores the possibility of there being a process of democratic and rational discourse which could lead to a progressive integration programme in the Rhodes University Department of Sociology and Industrial Sociology. This thesis stresses the contested nature of the integration process within departments. It is indicated that Habermas's critical theory is able to account for the changes which have taken place in the past and which are presently under way. It is argued that it not possible to predict future outcomes, but that if ASP pursues a process of rational discourse, it will indeed be able to stimulate a critical integrative approach to academic development in the Rhodes University Department of Sociology and Industrial Sociology.
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- Date Issued: 1993
An analytical commentary on Act No 40 (Welfare Organisations Act) of 1947 and its relation to Act No 79 (National Welfare Act) of 1965
- Authors: Barratt, Inez
- Date: 1968
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:21286 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7690
- Description: From Introduction: Act No. 40 of 1947, after nineteen years in operation has been superseded by Act No. 79 of 1965. Here an attempt will be made to establish first those conditions which, in the years preceding 1944, produced a demand, both from the general electorate, from members of the legislature and from those actively concerned with the problems of social welfare in South Africa, that appropriate legislation be promulgated to alleviate the conditions. As Act 40/1947 was drafted in an attempt to remedy antecedent conditions, so it is hoped to show that in its provisions, and their attempted execution by the organs established in terms of the Act, there may be discerned the germs of at least some of the provisions of Act 79/1965. Effects of past economic depressions as well as a more recent increased awareness of overseas conditions and thinking, coupled with the war-time atmosphere and the start of rapid industrialisation all .affected the legislation that was finally passed. The degree of unanimity amongst those who advocated control of Welfare bodies through legislation will be considered, as well as the adequacy of the means available for its enforcement. So, too, will habits of thought and action which both affected interpretation and limited co-operation on several levels, for they also are amongst the factors which, by limiting the Act's effectiveness, strengthened the demand for new legislation. Attention will also be paid to that reaction against things regarded as "foreign” which, always present in South Africa, gathered strength from the 1860's, gained expression in official quarters especially after 1948 and which, together with the policy of separate development, greatly affected activities in terms of Act 40/1947.
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- Date Issued: 1968