This report proposes the use of an internationally benchmarked approach to, and index of Social Cohesion for South Africa.
This report proposes the use of an internationally benchmarked approach to, and index of Social Cohesion for South Africa. The index will enable the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) to be able to measure its progress in respect of the achievement of Social Cohesion, both longitudinally of time, as well as in comparison to the performance of other, similar countries. The use of this index will provide a more efficient alternative to the current set of 23 indicators within the Department (and 88 within government as a whole) as found in the National Development Indicators (DPME, 2014).
The value of the index is in itself not intrinsic, and is only useful to the DAC insofar as it is able to influence policy and programme evaluation, support performance measurement and contribute to evidence-based decision-making. The National Government has defined 14 National Outcomes, which together embody the long term strategic programme of government in attaining the ideals contained in the National Development Plan. These translate directly into the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), which defines the five year plan of government in this regard. The MTSF rallies government around the task to attain ‘a diverse (and) socially cohesive society with a common national identity’, which is also articulated as the fourteenth National Outcome. It admits that, despite significant progress since 1994, much of South Africa remains divided along the lines of race, class, gender and space, while who you are and where you live continues to impact on quality of well-being and services. The MTSF decries the fact that:
The social, psychological and geographic elements of apartheid continue to shape the lives and outlook of many South Africans. It is this inherited psyche of racial, gender and sexual orientation prejudices and stereotypes, breakdown in values, inequality of opportunity and massive poverty, as well as competition for scarce resources, which helps fuel racism, xenophobia and genderbased violence (MTSF, 2014-2019). Government is not, however, singularly responsible for the transformation of South African society. It is a collective task that requires all sectors of society, and the citizenry as a whole, to engage themselves in.
The role of government is to provide policy direction, implement, monitor and evaluate programmes that support the national vision of a socially cohesive society, and provide the conditions that are necessary to facilitate it. This research presents a significant contribution to the task, as it provides an empirical basis upon which to evaluate the current theory of change – that is, the logical framework of interlinking outputs and outcomes and their indicators - and thereby facilitate evidence-based decision-making within the state.
The report provides an overview of some of the more important ideas on Social Cohesion in the South African and international literature. We begin with a review of theoretical and definitional work on the concept. A scan of the growing body of work on Social Cohesion in South Africa is next presented. We note some tension between early work stressing the importance of social justice as a component of Social Cohesion, and a later emphasis on the importance of developing a value consensus in South Africa, and linking Social Cohesion to government’s nation-building project. What we have found wanting in all of the existing research is a causal analysis between the objective realities of citizens and the subjective perceptions upon which the existing surveys are based. Self-reported levels of variables such as trust, identity, human security and inequality dominate the current indices, and we argue in the conclusion that there is a need for further surveys to address some of these shortcomings. It is beyond the scope of this research to embark on primary data collection of this nature, as it is a long-term investment in research that will require resources (human and financial) to, for example, develop constructs, concepts, instruments, coding and analysis on a longitudinal basis. We have included this as a recommendation in this report.
The need for the development of an empirical measure of the concept emerges in the international literature and in South Africa at much the same time. Internationally, it emerges as a response to the pressures associated with globalisation. We note that although there is a proliferation of different frameworks, there is within these an emergent similarity. Most of these approaches use existing datasets, and rely on participants’ perceptions, or a combination of their perceptions and economic and social data on the society being assessed.
We have singled out three specific approaches for closer examination here. These are the Social Cohesion Radar approach, focused on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, based at Jacobs University in Bremen, and supported by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the SCORE approach, which includes a measure of Conflict Resolution and is focused on societies in post conflict development, and based in Cyprus, and the Oxford-based Centre for Research on Peace and Development (CRPD) approach which has a specifically African focus. All of these frameworks have much to commend them, and could be used in South Africa to provide good policy support for this country, and also serve as a basis for comparison with other countries. The value of this piece of work is rooted in its focus on South Africa, which has been found lacking in the existing research. It therefore presents one of the first attempts to localise the measurement of Social Cohesion in the country.
There is an instrumental relationship between the index and the DAC’s performance monitoring and reporting functions. While the index represents proxy indications of what (and whether) societal change is happening, DAC’s own programme performance information can be examined in relation to whether its key interventions are making a positive impact to Social Cohesion (or not). It facilitates reflective thinking and learning about the kinds of interventions that are required by government and all stakeholders in a process of evidence-based decision making. It will be a critical tool that simultaneously acts as a barometer of the South African condition of Social Cohesion and provides a lodestar upon which policy direction, strategic interventions and programmatic planning can be based.
Drawing on the three international approaches mentioned above, we next propose a comprehensive, multi-indicator measure of Social Cohesion for the reader’s consideration, and adjustments for variation among South Africa’s different population groups and social strata. The index which we call the South African Radar for Social Cohesion (SARSC) is tested, using data from relevant social datasets, and yields scores that suggest its robustness and fitness for purpose. A value of 0.37, placing SA close to the middle of the range of African countries for which data exist, is derived. An overview of the application of the South African Radar for Social Cohesion illustrates its ability to point up weaknesses and strengths in Social Cohesion in South Africa, as well as comparisons versus other African countries, and provides a graphic comparison with other countries, as well as an illustration of the variances between the different domains of Social Cohesion, and different levels of Social Cohesion among South African race groups, age cohorts, and income brackets, thus providing a powerful tool for assessing, in granular fashion the scope for policy development and improvement in Social Cohesion in South Africa. Presentation of results is greatly enhanced through the use of customised Radar Gauges. A way forward involving a ‘workshopping’ of the model, for optimal improvement and fine tuning with relevant scholars and the policy community is then sketched. The report ends with brief concluding remarks.
