ABSTRACT

As South Africa marks 20 years of liberation from apartheid, this historic process is not

only cause for celebration but also, importantly, for reflection on the changes that have

occurred since 1994. One topic that has drawn the attention of scholars is the question of

the black middle class. It is often argued that this class only emerged (but then grew

rapidly) in the post-apartheid period (Rivero et al., 2003; Udjo, 2008). Before 1994,

colonialism and apartheid had imposed numerous constraints on Africans, including

violent dispossession and a battery of laws that severely curtailed their ability to

accumulate wealth and form a stable middle class. The liberal view holds that the

development of a middle class is critical to social stability, as it mediates between rich

and poor (see, for example, Lipset, 1968; Huntington, 1992). Against this backdrop,

reflection on the history of South Africa’s black middle class is particularly

appropriate in the 20th year of democracy.