ABSTRACT
The remnants of the Portuguese colonial empire crumbled in 1974. The human drama of which the Portuguese coup was the historical denouement is accessible to us only in vague outline. Contemporary societies under stress often turn to social science scholarship for direction and guidance. Southern Africa after the Portuguese coup is not exceptional in this regard. More than any other professional group, sociologists in Southern Africa show notable restlessness. The development of Afrikaner volksnasionalisme has been compared usefully to "white cultures under siege" in the southern United States and in present-day Rhodesia. The threats to the Afrikaner culture and belief system arose from changing circumstances in the history of South Africa. The Afrikaner culture evolved in this general pattern until it reached its position of dominance, Blacks, have only recently started to articulate an acute perception of threats to their own cultural and group survival.
