Whiteness and stigma in the workplace : organisation and work in South Africa /: organisation and work in South Africa. (2022)

• Record Type: Book
• Further Information: Note: Anne Crafford.
• Authors: Crafford, Anne
• Contents: Chapter one: Introduction Key words: history of South Africa, professional identity, whiteness, stigma, theoretical framework 'If you are a black in South Africa's world of work, it is a daily struggle against a system that constantly alienates you, aiming to exclude and sideline you. If you are black, you are never good enough. Powerful but insidious currents incessantly work at undermining you, pinning you down 'where you belong'. Every day becomes a struggle as those around you, the privileged, aim to limit your space, deny you opportunities and render you incapable and sterile' (Dr Wiseman Magasela) The extract above comes from an article entitled The invisible Black Professionals, written by Dr Wiseman Magasela published in the Mail and Guardian on the 1st of September 2000. It was republished on July 18, 2016 on the website 'Genius level' for the reason that it resonated as relevant and true almost sixteen years later. In this chapter, I will begin by briefly explaining the history of South Africa as a context for the project aimed at addressing the struggle described in the extract above. Thereafter, I will describe the core concepts relevant to the analysis: professional identity, whiteness and stigma. The history of South AfricaOne cannot understand the interplay of stigma and whiteness without understanding the history of racialisation in which material aspects (such as economic, social and political resources) and the ideological elements are intertwined (Lewis 2004). In South Africa, Apartheid as a system defined people's lives and identity according to whether they were ''white', 'black' or some 'colour' in between' (Botha 2009, p. 463). Under the system four racial groupings were recognised, Black, Coloured (people of mixed race), Indian (including Asians) and White. The aim of the segregation was to legalise existing colonial and racist attitudes and to perpetuate economic, social, political and legislative inequality along ethnic lines (Croates 2003), creating a society in which resource control was linked to ethnic identity. While all people of colour were prevented from owning land and education was segregated, the degree of discrimination was varied with Black Africans being the 'most' discriminated against and Asian South Africans the 'least' so. The varying degrees of discrimination is best illustrated by considering primary school teacher-student ratios in the early 1980s, which were as follows: 1:18 for whites, 1:24 for Asians, 1:27 for Coloureds, and 1:39 for the black South African majority. The consequence is a society where privilege is determined by ethnicity and being white in South Africa has as much to do with property as it does with pigment (Lipsitz 1998). Supporting the notion of ethnicity and its link to privilege, was the division of racial groups into separate spaces. No effort was spared dividing almost all areas of life according to race – residential areas in cities were designated as 'Black', 'Coloured' 'Indian' or 'White', with people of colour forcibly moved to very poorly resourced 'townships' around the cities / towns which enforced separation but at the same time ensure a steady cheap supply of labour. In the same way, schools, universities, beaches, parks, buses were designated according to race – physical space, constantly reinforcing the notion of manufactured difference. Types of work were also divided according to race with white collar work deemed suitable for white people who took on most of the professional, managerial roles with African people in particular, relegated to labourer-type work. The extracts below illustrate quite starkly just how radical the sentiments underlying this political ideology were. "There is no place for [the Bantu] in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour ... What is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice? That is quite absurd. Education must train people in accordance with their opportunities in life, according to the sphere in which they live." 'Blacks should never be shown the greener pastures of education, they should know that their station in life is to be hewers of wood and drawers of water.'(Hendrik Verwoerd, South African Minister for Native Affairs and Prime Minister 1958 -66).A new democratic regime came to power in 1994 and had the onerous task of creating a more inclusive nation after years of systematic division. With the demise of Apartheid, the open racism of the past is no longer tolerated but the institutionalised divisiveness has left a lasting preoccupation with the categorisation of people according to a set of socially constructed meanings, resulting in the perpetual stigmatisation of certain types of bodies. In addition, the racist ideology, illustrated above, has mutated into apparently democratic forms which continue to reproduce white privilege and now resemble forms of international Whiteness (Steyn and Foster 2008; Walker 2005). It is only as the implications of these insidious institutionalised forms of discrimination are understood, that meaningful change can happen. Having set the historical context, I will now explain briefly how the terms racial stigma, whiteness and professional identity will be conceptualised for the purpose of the project.Racial stigmaThe term 'stigma' originated with the Ancient Greeks who used it to refer to a system of markings, cut or burnt onto bodies of criminals, traitors and prostitutes for the purpose of identifying them as discredited and to be scorned and avoided. The idea of being 'marked' is carried through in Lenhardt's (2004) definition of racial stigma. Drawing on the work of both Goffman (1963) and Loury (2003), she defines it as 'a problem of negative social meaning, of 'dishonorable meanings socially inscribed on arbitrary bodily marks [such as skin colour], of 'spoiled collective identities' (p. 809). This definition highlights the socially constructed nature of racial stigma, the assignation of value (or lack thereof) to some material bodily attribute. While the process of categorising people based on bodily characteristics is natural cognitive one, the values underlying the interpretive scheme are not and some distinctions for example race as opposed to hair colour become more prominent than others (Loury 2003). This leads to what Goffman (1963) terms the creation of a 'virtual identity'. A virtual identity is based on assumptions and imputed beliefs about a group's capabilities and morality and bears no relationship to specific members of the group's actual identity. Thus, when faced by an African professional in a working environment, people may only see a 'danger', a 'threat', a 'lack of competence', rather than a unique person with his or her own distinctive set of characteristics. Racial stigma is unconsciously transferred through social conditioning and learning by children from their caregivers and educators (Lenhardt 2004). Through this process the social meanings associated with certain types of embodiment come to be associated with particular responses. This is achieved through facial expressions and behaviour which in turn impact the cognitive development of the child, ensuring automatic responses from them. The concept of stigma brings to this project an understanding of the social origin thereof and its essentially arbitrary nature as well as the ways in which it is transferred from generation to generation. It enables us to explain the stigma Black professionals experience as they enter professional life as well as the possible impact thereof. Closely related to the concept of stigma, is the idea of whiteness, which refers to the privilege non-stigmatised people derive simply by virtue of them not having certain stigmatising features. It explains the systematic disadvantage characterising many of the contexts within which Black professionals develop and master their profession. WhitenessAileen Moreton-Robinson (2006) defines whiteness as 'the invisible norm against which other races are judged in the construction of identity, representation, decision-making, subjectivity, nationalism, knowledge production and the law' (p. 388). Grimes (2001) highlights the power and privilege associated with the assumed neutrality of whiteness, suggesting this should be the focus of challenge and question (p. 135). Al Ariss et al (2014) present a relational framework for exploring whiteness at various levels of analysis, which informs the study of whiteness for this project. The first aspect refers to the history of the context, and most notably the colonial past, the presence of migration and anti-migration, the legacy of racism and diversity as well as the past and present state of the production and reproduction of ethnic privileges. The second aspect they refer to is space, both social and geographical both within the context being studied as well as how whiteness is able to transcend borders traversing industries, networks and organizations. The macro-level refers to the 'legislative, political and legal frameworks at regional, national and international levels which institutionalise and spread ethnic privileges in employment, education and other fields, both formally and informally' (p.364). Dwyer and Jones (2000) suggest that various elements such as legal codes, public policy, law enforcement, health care, education, constitution of public space and housing, zoning all play a role in the way whiteness reproduced. The meso-level is focussed on the organisation and for the purpose of this project, the profession and how practices and strategies therein maintain privilege, discrimination and whiteness. The individual level is concerned with the person and his or her agency, strategy and experience in the face of Whiteness and how this is influenced by aspects such as age, gender, ethnicity, religion and physical ability. Coates (2003) also suggests that social control by means of r
• Publisher Details: Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication Date: 2022
• Extent: 1 online resource
• Subjects: 331.1330968; Discrimination in employment -- South Africa; South Africans -- Employment; Stigma (Social psychology) -- South Africa; Minority professional employees -- South Africa
• Languages: English
• ISBNs: 9783031098116
• Related ISBNs: 9783031098109
• Notes: Note: Description based on CIP data; resource not viewed.
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