ABSTRACT
No other country has so often been censured at the UN or is so unanimously condemned by people of most varied faiths and loyalties - ranging from Christian theologians and traditional liberals to Communists and conservatives - as South Africa. To start with a strictly economic criterion of the standard of living of the burdened classes, it is clear that South Africa is far from being the worst country in the world. Though very poor in comparison with the affluence of their Europoid masters, the majority of Bantu South Africans eat better and are better housed and clad than the ordinary inhabitants of the independent African states, with the possible exceptions of Ghana and the Ivory Coast. It is even possible to discern certain advantages in legally regulated as opposed to unregulated exploitation. The uniqueness of the South African system of stratification consists of allocating status according to criteria which are not merely internal but also worldwide.
