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The Racialization of Social Scientific Research on South Africa

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The Politics of Social Science Research

Part of the book series: Migration, Minorities and Citizenship ((MMC))

Abstract

Within the domain of social scientific knowledge production in South Africa, there has been a socio-politically influential group of methodologically ‘mainstream’ sociologists and political scientists. Reflecting common-sense appearances and following the dictates of empirical-analytical social science — including the application of statistical methods and the canon of objectivity (Fay, 1975) — the study of South African society has been framed within the imagery and logic of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’; such that, for many years, efforts to engineer social change away from apartheid were predicated on the ‘factual’ existence of these two concepts.

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Authors
  1. Rupert Taylor
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  2. Mark Orkin
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Warwick, UK

    Peter Ratcliffe (Reader in Sociology) (Reader in Sociology)

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© 2001 Palgrave Publishers Ltd

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Taylor, R., Orkin, M. (2001). The Racialization of Social Scientific Research on South Africa. In: Ratcliffe, P. (eds) The Politics of Social Science Research. Migration, Minorities and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230504950_4

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