Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Ideology and Social Policy: 'Handouts' and the Spectre of 'Dependency'
Author:Meth, CharlesISNI
Year:2005
Periodical:Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa
Issue:56
Pages:1-30
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:poverty
social policy
Politics and Government
Development and Technology
international relations
External link:https://muse.jhu.edu/article/181647
Abstract:Recent negative responses by the most senior politicians in South Africa to demands for a basic income grant (BIG) to address the problem of destitution, consequent largely upon mass unemployment, provide the starting point for this paper. The author focuses on frequently voiced concerns about the BIG's alleged 'dependency' creating nature. In the current context, however, the ANC's fear of 'social grants reducing people to victims, waiting for handouts', a persistent theme in policy documents, lacks any foundation. Because adequate empirical evidence on dependency is not available, the author approaches it in theoretical terms. In passing, he demonstrates the limits of extended public work programmes (EPWP). These programmes are useful short-term strategies, but not only will they create dependency, they also cannot solve the poverty problem. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
Views
Cover