Social self-defence: where grievances, opportunities and protests collide

Marlene Muller and Mandlenkosi Lawrence Mkhize

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 2016, vol. 12, issue 4, 433-456

Abstract: Twenty-one years into democracy has transformed South Africa into a protest nation, mirroring the social self's aspirations for development and equality. The voice of the poor remains marginalised, resulting in weakened democratic institutions that threaten grassroots' quality of life. As a newly created concept, social self-defence materialises when a significant part of a desperate community takes counter measures to secure their socio-economic well-being. Theoretically, this article connects social self-defence with the individual-institutional basis of grassroots' protests, as underpinned by the theories of grievance and political opportunity structure. A qualitative survey investigated the reasoning behind political protests within two diverse South African communities affected by unequal economic growth and violent protests. From the findings, the article concludes that relative deprivation and ineffective participatory democracy re-ignite the social self. By not strengthening democratic mechanisms, social self-defence will continue to challenge ineffective local governments, demanding improved opportunities.

Keywords: social self-defence; SSD; relative deprivation; grievance theory; poverty; participatory democracy; violent protests; social self; South Africa; protest nations; political opportunity structure; poor; grassroot protests; political protest; unequal growth; economic growth; democratic mechanisms; local government. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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