The Making of Apartheid, 1948-1961
Conflict and Compromise
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:12th Dec '91
Currently unavailable, currently targeted to be due back around 11th February 2025, but could change
Deborah Posel breaks new ground in exposing some of the crucial political processes and struggles which shaped the reciprocal development of Apartheid and capitalism in South Africa. Her analysis debunks the orthodoxy view which presents apartheid as the product of a single `grand plan', created by the State in response to the pressures of capital accumulation. Using as a case study influx control during the first phase of apartheid (1948-1961), she shows that apartheid arose from complex patterns of conflict and compromise within the State, in which white capitalists, the black working class, and popular movements exercised varying and uneven degrees of influence. Her book integrates a detailed empirical analysis of the capitalist State and its relationship to class interests.
`this is an enjoyable book to read and is an excellent piece of scholarship. A wide variety of documentary sources are used intelligently and with persuasion.' Political Studies
'intelligent, original study of influx control policy in South Africa between 1948 and 1961 ... An important addition to Africanist collections for graduate students and faculty.' J.O. Gump, University of San Diego, Choice, Sep '92
'It is difficult to imagine more competent documentary research on these topics in the 1950s. Dr Posel has combed a wide range of (often obscure) published material and unpublished archival records in substantiating her argument.' T. Dunbar Moodie, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, African History, Volume 34, 1993
`careful study ... Posel offers a far more nuanced view than before of how apartheid was made and implemented ... Posel's careful study will enrich debates about the nature of the state in capitalist development far beyond the borders of South Africa' Contemporary Sociology
'this is a lucidly written presentation on a difficult topic ... this book ... provides a useful and balanced examination of the complexities of constructing and administering apartheid, but it does not fundamentally disprove the view that the apartheid regime had an underlying thrust and unity of purpose that made it essentially different from previous governments.' Patrick Furlong, Bethany College, Kansas, International Journal of Afircan Historical Studies, Vol. 26, no. 3, 1993
'valuable monograph ... it represents an indispensable contribution to modern South African history ... Posel applies her unrivalled understanding of the contortions of urban policy to highlight different phases in the emergence of apartheid.' Saul Dubow, Cahiers dÉtudes africaines, 132, XXXIII-4, 1993
ISBN: 9780198273349
Dimensions: 221mm x 145mm x 23mm
Weight: 508g
312 pages