ABSTRACT

It is very difficult to adopt a detached and objective sociological approach to South African society. Indeed, few people attempt to do so. Usually what is discussed is the simple and straightforward question of how far South Africa deviates from the ideal type (using that notion to refer to what is ideal in the common-sense use of the term, as well as to a Weberian methodological device) of a democratic society. Such discussion is, of course, important, but it draws attention away from the primary question which should be faced by students of South African society: what sort of society is it, and to what laws of development is it likely to conform?