White attitudes to black majority rule in South Africa, 1979, 1984 and 1987
|
1979 Study (n =350)* Afrikaners |
1984 Study (n = 150)* Afrikaners |
1987 Study (n= 1,012) |
||||||
--> |
Afrikaners |
English-Speakers |
|||||||
Statements |
Agree --> |
Disagree |
Agree |
Disagree |
Agree --> |
Disagree |
Agree |
Disagree |
|
1 --> |
Life for whites would carry on as before |
2.3 |
86.4 |
1.9 |
83.9 |
7.1 |
91.2 |
10.5 |
84.4 |
2 |
The physical safety of whites would be threatened |
84.3 |
4.6 |
80 |
5.5 |
78.5 |
19.1 |
70.1 |
22.1 |
3 |
The language and culture of white society would be protected |
13.3 |
68.7 |
9.6 |
76.3 |
8.3 |
88.5 |
14.6 |
75.2 |
4 |
The income and living standards of whites would suffer |
83.8 |
8.4 |
85.2 |
4.3 |
82.4 |
15.5 |
78.9 |
15.9 |
5 |
Law and order would be upheld |
11 |
73 |
5 |
77.8 |
12.8 |
84 |
14.8 |
73.3 |
6 |
Blacks would discriminate against whites |
91 |
3.5 |
94.8 |
2.7 |
91.4 |
6.8 |
78.2 |
12.1 |
7 |
White women would be molested by blacks |
83.7 |
4.4 |
81.7 |
8.6 |
85.3 |
10.8 |
60.1 |
26.7 |
8 |
Communist policies would be implemented |
89.6 |
4.3 |
94.1 |
2.2 |
88.3 |
7.6 |
67.9 |
17.3 |
9 |
White possessions would be safe** |
- |
- |
- |
- |
8.4 |
87.5 |
17.3 |
69.5 |
*As is made clear in the text, only the 1987 findings are based on a national sample and therefore representative of white South Africa as a whole.
**This statement was not included in the 1979 and 1984 studies.
Source: Pierre Hugo, "Towards Darkness and Death: Racial Demonology in South Africa", The Journal of Modern African Studies (December, 1988)
This item first appeared on Politicsweb, 11 November 2009