CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

This research project seeks to answer the following research question: To what extent is
there racial integration in Johannesburg’s middle class suburbs? It is a case study of
people residing in Northriding Manor, Northriding. Northriding has been identified to
provide answers to this research question because Northriding is a unique community. I
reside in Northriding and it provides a culturally diversified environment that is suitable
for this research taking into consideration the fact that all the participants involved in this
research reside in this same housing complex. The introductory part of this report will be
very broad and will contain both the rationale behind this research as well as the aims. I
will give some geographical information and some features of Northriding in which
Northriding Manor is built in before reflecting on the historical overview of South Africa
to show why racial differences still exist in South Africa. I will also mention briefly the
legislation on residency in South Africa simultaneously with the historical overview.
Articles relating to current debate on the topic of racial integration and suggestions on
how integration can be achieved will be discussed in details in literature review in the
next chapter, but not without mentioning the key ones in this chapter.

This project will be rooted in Emile Durkheim’s idea of social facts with regard to
solidarity and social cohesion and therefore it will give the entire project a sociological
meaning and serve as a back up for the rationale (Johnson, 1986). Similarly, Rule (1989)
talks about the make up of suburbs with different racial groups and how people continue
to live separately within their own groups despite the existence of other groups. This
explains why racial differences still exist in Northriding even though the different
communities are fairly represented in this area. Sigmund Freud’s (1961) drive theory
explains why some people allow social facts such as race, which they learnt to be in
existence, to control some of their behaviour.

The geographical information and some features of Northriding include the fact that it
was once a dowdy and mainly Afrikaner suburb of Johannesburg but is now a
fashionably cosmopolitan village. Northriding is a middle class suburb in Johannesburg,

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South Africa and enjoys boundaries with Fourways, Olivedale, Northgate and Honeydew.
The 11 South African official languages are spoken in this suburb and there are people
from all walks of life in the area. The housing complex, Northriding Manor has 44 units
with tenants and house owners of different races occupying various units. This study has
provided some insight into the level of integration of different communities in
Northriding drawn from the findings in Northriding Manor. The final report has been
generalised because a greater knowledge of racial integration in this housing complex
acquired from the study.

The middle class from different racial groups in the same locality as Northriding are
hypothesised to share the same specific residency, characteristics and behaviours and I
believe that their commonalities have provided answers to my inquest. In recent times in
South Africa; middle class is not only found among the white ethnic group but has
become multiracial. The notion of middle class in this context is defined as middle
income earners and entrepreneurs in South African society (Seekings and Nattrass, 2006).
They include skilled professionals such as Doctors and entrepreneurs of big businesses. It
is then safe to say that this set of people are comfortable enough to fend for themselves
and can afford to live in this particular suburb irrespective of the historic past.

South Africa has a history of racism, segregation and class segregation. It is important to
note that the racial dichotomy in South Africa was exacerbated by the apartheid
government who made use of divide and rule system. Similarly, the strategy of Bantustan
government was conspired that South Africa consisted of different ethnic groups and that
peaceful co-existence can only be possible by enabling each group to develop on its own
way and in its own location. However, 87% of South Africa was allocated by colonial
and apartheid governments to the whites and the other racial groups were not allowed to
go to those whites’ acclaimed areas without government permission (Biko, 1978). This
barrier created financial and educational privileges for the whites over other racial groups
leading to inequality in education, income and housing in South Africa, which has
created decades of social discontent in the society. The apartheid era urban face and
skewed pattern of house ownership has left South Africa with a 2, 4 million unit housing

2
backlog, which has hampered economic growth and job creation because the existing
houses are not enough and people especially from the African community are forced to
live in squatter houses and camps (Terreblanche, 2005). The housing problem has also
been exacerbated by increasing urbanisation with 60% of South Africans living in urban
areas. This is particularly problematic in the country which has highest population per
square kilometres of all provinces. The education, financial and housing inequality has
increased the racial differences in the society and this study intended to verify how big or
small the differences are in this area.

In view of the above, the present government has also taken it up as a point of duty to
change the country’s apartheid era urban face and skewed pattern of ownership with the
abolition of the Group Area Act in 1994 before the democratic election. According to
President Thabo Mbeki in Terreblanche (2005), “effort is being made to stop the
property boom with vast tracks of prime land zoomed off for the rich to live in exclusive
residential enclaves” (p: 1). Estate agents and building societies are now regulated to
ensure that different categories of houses are built in developing areas. It is very
interesting to see recent newly built high-rise buildings in places like Sandton and
Fourways thereby making houses affordable to different classes of people who now share
the same suburban. Golf estates and exquisite houses were the only sanctioned buildings
previously built on those kinds of places and it is believed that the new arrangement will
create avenues for racial and class integration in society. However, such high-rise
buildings have not been spotted in Northriding. With the available liberal economic
policies, government has provided a setting where everyone lives and works together in
spite of ethnic differences and not allowing the differences to become dividers or
boundaries by giving equal opportunity and equal respect regardless of race, creed or
faith. This ideal is aimed at creating harmony from diversity to achieve meaningful
national reconciliation. Also, the national objectives prescribed by the Constitution
identify non-racialism among the values on which South Africa has been founded
(http://www.info.gov.za/documents/constitutions/1196/96cons1.htm and Sisulu, 2005).
However, the government still has a long way to go in achieving its objectives because a

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lot of people cannot still afford some of the available houses because of the escalating
costs and global credit crunch.

The government has also continued to play the race card routinely to explain the social
and economic problems facing the country from the selection of the national cricket team
to South Africa’s socio-economic policies. The government has received some criticisms
for playing race card in the past. According to Frans Cronje (2004) of the South African
Institute of Race Relations in his presentation of Race Relations and Cultural Integration
in South Africa to the American Council of Young Political Leaders is of the view that
the South African government would want everyone believe that the effect of different
races and cultures have no impact on the internal and external relations of the country. He
cited how the government was quick to dismiss the UNDP report which criticised South
African government policy in 2004 employment equity related issues. The government
contended that the real problem was not because of policy but the fact that the UN
researchers lack of understanding of the history of racism in South Africa (Cronje, 2004).

All of the above notwithstanding and in lieu of South Africa’s history, I had hoped to
find out if the perception of the rainbow nation is turning out to be what it is hoped to be
amidst some social problems such as racialism, class and xenophobia. For some logistics
reasons, I could not do the finding through the methodology mapped out for it. However,
these concepts have been defined in the section of literature review. Essentially, this
research has explored the extent of racial integration in Northriding. Also, the possibility
of social cohesion among different racial groups in this suburb was established. Other
aims, which were posed as sub-questions included; how often do people interact with
their neighbours in Northriding Manor? Are there intimate relationships among different
racial groups in Northriding? How often do people engage in social activities within and
outside this housing complex? Are people marginalised in this suburb because of their
race? What about xenophobia? Again as mentioned in this paragraph, I could not cover
all.

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Part of the rationale included the fact that I am just a naturalised citizen of South Africa
and the issue of racial segregation and dichotomy was very strange to me. It was
important for me to know if possible, what people’s mindset on this issue was because I
was not able to get enough information about this phenomenon from South African
Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) of which I am a member. I wanted to know if this
issue of segregation in the past still affects where people choose to live in South Africa. I
hope that the answers provided in this final report have helped me and the general public
to be aware of societal racial integration if the report is published somehow. More
importantly, I hope that the government someday will read a similar report to enable it
make adjustments if necessary in its policies amidst perceived tension among different
racial groups as I may carry out this study in a larger scale in future. This explains why
there are a lot of questions in the questionnaire used in this research, though only the
relevant ones for this assignment were used during analyses.

The historical overview helped me to conceptualise the research question with the
literatures, articles and past research findings. They enabled me to come up with methods
for the research. In Chapter three, I used one method to get my findings during the course
of this research by applying quantitative method to arrive at a reasonable conclusion.
Though I taught initially that it was going to be easy reaching the participants, but my
experiences discussed in chapter three proves otherwise. In chapter four, the research
question was operationalised with all the key concepts from the literature review to
measure the level of racial integration and social relation in Northriding Manor
quantitatively. This helped me to analyse all the data collected during the field work.
Conclusion can be found in chapter five in which some issues were raised for further
research before offering my recommendations.

Now, the next chapter contains the literature review before I can get into the nitty-gritty
of the methodology, findings and analysis.

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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

In order to answer the research question: To what extent is there racial integration in
Northriding, it is worth noting that socials facts such as race, identity and diversity are
discussed in the literature readings reviewed in this section. Also discussed herein are the
interpretations of the meanings if these concepts and issues limiting social integration.
The literature readings are so broad and I have reviewed them in this section in such
away that the topic will be understood in details. Before going into details of the
literature, it also is important that I unpack some classical sociologists’ (Durkheim and
Freud) views on integration and racism. Durkheim’s views will focus on social
integration and it will be connected to all the literatures dealing with social integration
while Freud will deal with racism and discrimination and forms links to other authors
talking about similar things.

Social integration is the process whereby different racial groupings and the foreigners
alike interact, communicate and co-exist (Okun et al, 1999). According to Durkheim in
Johnson (1986), it is a social fact and has an independent existence at the social level,
which is complemented by individual behaviour such as racial identities and class. Racial
differences cannot exist if there is no actor interested to play it. Social facts are
internalised by individuals through the socialisation process (Johnson, 1986). Children
ask questions as they grow up to know why there are differences in skin colours and
whatever explanation is given to them by their parents remain in their memories for the
rest of their lives. One would imagine what it will be like if a white child is told for
example that those with black skin colours are more beautiful and are the true image of
God (Johnson, 1986). I believe that without this internalisation of social facts, racism will
not be in existence in South Africa.

Also, Durkheim in Johnson (1986) talked about solidarity as the level of relationships
between individuals and other groups guided by shared moral sentiments and beliefs
reinforced by common emotional experiences. Solidarity transforms from organic society
to mechanical society with different levels of integration which further result in

6
individualism as people are separated from one another through division of labour. He
argued that individualism undermines the collective consciousness in any sort of
solidarity. It also leads to violation of collective sentiments though deviant behaviour is
punished by deterrent to future deviation to re-establish the dividing line between socially
approved and disapproved behaviour (Johnson, 1986). In South Africa, people were
segregated to work in different locations within their own racial groups. However, people
from the non-white population were taking to the mines and other government
establishments to work for the apartheid government, which broke the solidarity that
existed in their communities as they left their love ones and work very far from their
home. Consequently, finding cohesion now in the society is proving difficult. Today’s
society does not share the same common values and norms, but is rather controlled by
laws and they are not interdependent of one another obtainable in organic society. This is
because different cultures, religion and profession now exist. Besides, there is no
punishment for refusal not to integrate with others in society now as to explain the racial
differences and disharmony in South Africa.

Finally, Durkheim is of the view that there are conflicts in common interest as a result of
loss of identification with larger society as different groups pursue their particular
interests at the expense of the welfare of society as a whole. Also, he maintained that one
of the unfortunate consequences of individualism is anomie or lawlessness. People begin
to think that life has no meaning and no need for interaction which often leads to anomic
suicides (Johnson, 1986). These days, people usually get paranoid and do not feel
comfortable with interacting with other people. In some urban suburbs, people result to
building booms, high walls and fences even in same housing complexes in which one
fence surrounds the entire building. Different units still try to put in some sort of fences
to separate their units from others. These sorts of practices make it difficult for some sort
of integration to take place leading to more fears and suspicions among neighbours. The
more people choose to confine themselves separately, the more difficult it is to associate
and know more about other people thereby making it difficult for social relation to be
positive in the society (Johnson, 1986).

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Having noted Durkheim’s theoretical concepts, I looked at how some literatures explain
these social facts. Many articles have been reviewed and they look at the dynamics of the
residence of the racially mixed residential areas in suburbs. For the purpose of this
research, black people have been referred to as Africans and the terminology is frequently
interchanged to suit the particular paragraph where it will be used. According to one
piece of the literature, suburbs are characterised by different people from different racial
categories, but they have the tendency to live and interact within same groups and not
among different groups (Rule, 1989). In Northriding Manor however, different racial
groups are staying in the same complex and my study has shown the extent of their
integration.

There is a debate about “white fears” and the relationship between racism and the
perception of crime. Many imply that most black people are criminals, which makes it
difficult for the white people to feel comfortable whenever the Africans are moving into
the suburbs (Mbeki, 2007). The resultant effect of this stereotype and generalisation is
that people stay apart without attempt to know who their neighbours are. Ted Cantle
(2007) identifies that communities live separately from each other in the same town and
cities. Meaningful interaction was virtually non-existent and consequently mistrust and
misunderstandings became common. According to Cantle (2007), segregation is
compounded by different communities having different identities and beliefs which are
similar to South Africa’s scenario though the research was done in Britain. He also
mentioned the fact that segregation leads to extremism which in turn leads to terrorism.
However, Cantle did not reveal the kind of cohesion among and between communities
borne out of historical past and neither did he state clearly the issue of terrorism resulting
from segregation and extremism (Cantle, 2007). South Africa experienced civil unrests
form the late 1960s up to the period of democratic elections in the country in which many
lives were lost. Beneath the veneer of tranquillity that existed after reconciliation still lies
resentment and bitterness in people’s mind because of loss of their loved ones as a result
of the impasse that took place thereby impacting negatively on integration.

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Some of the readings pointed out some concepts which could encourage integration in a
community with different ethnic groups. Cosmopolitanism and contact hypotheses were
sited. Rule’s (1989) research suggests that cosmopolitanism is one of the issues
explaining positive attitudes and social integration in neighbourhoods where contacts
among residents is minimal. Drawing from work by Merton (1957), Gouldner (1958, a
and b), and Gans and Keller (1968), he defined cosmopolitanism as encompassing three
dimensions: appreciation of high culture, political liberalism, and commitment to a way
of thinking not bounded by the immediate community (Rule, 1989). He also maintained
that this attitude may be revealed in how often one attends plays and museums. Also,
how one feels about controversial topics, how mobile one is, and how large is the area
with which he identifies (Rule, 1989).

Cosmopolitanism varies directly with social class and inversely with neighbouring or
interaction (Gans and Keller, 1968). This means that people from different classes can
stay in one location irrespective of who their neighbours are. This reasoning may be
stated in terms of three hypotheses: There is a positive relationship between social class
and cosmopolitanism. There is a positive relationship between cosmopolitanism and
positive attitudes towards ‘Negro’ neighbours. There is a negative relationship between
cosmopolitanism and neighbouring with ‘Negroes’ (Rule, 1989). People can choose to
interact with whoever they want to interact with and this does not depend on racial
differences. In relation to this research, the suburb of Northriding is not as big as the
cosmopolitan mentioned. However, people are usually in the same environment in
Northriding and this research has found out the level of integration in this area. Besides,
there is no such thing as Negro in South Africa. The white population is a minority in
South Africa unlike in United States of America where they are considered as majority.
Though the white population is the minority group in South Africa, they still posses the
majority of the economic power while the political power is in the hands of the African
community.

The different opposing power is also one of the sources of tension which though is not in
the open but there is feeling that the trust is shaky on both sides. The white community

9
continue to think that they will be pushed out of the equation whereas the black
community believe that the country and its loots rightfully belong to them. So, different
cases may have different implications, but regrettably this research could not uncover it
as I intended to having heard this argument personally by interacting with the different
racial groups.

Another explanation of how social integration develops out of physical integration is by

the contact hypothesis. According to this proposition, increased interaction between
whites and any minority group, such as Negroes, makes for more favourable attitudes on
the part of whites, greater acceptance of the blacks, and integration of the racial groups.
Greater proximity of the whites to the Negroes and a longer period of association increase
the opportunity for contact. They thus make for increased tolerance and greater
integration of Negroes into neighbourhoods. Support for this hypothesis comes from a
number of studies in diverse areas (Zeul and Humphrey, 1971). There are two
assumptions made by the contact hypothesis. That white attitudes are initially negative
borne out of preconceived ideas about other groups, and that a large amount of contact
will ensure and change these attitudes of whites and a minority group such as Negroes are
brought into close and continued proximity (Zeul and Humphrey, 1971).

However, contact hypothesis does not seem to work in this context because there are
instances where situation gets worst and instead of integration some of the racial groups
move out from the suburbs and go to another suburb because of suspicion that blacks will
rob their houses and fear of being hijacked. Some say this behaviour has to do with some
encounters with crime and some believe it is just imaginary fear because crime is not
perpetrated by one particular racial group. In places like Hilbrow and Yeoville in
Johannesburg, they were used to be dominated by the white population but as soon as
other population groups began to move into that environment, the white people started
moving out from those suburbs.

Similarly, Hamber (2007) in Engineering News of February 23 to March 1 in his article

“Bigots, building bridges and multi-culturalism” hinted that 90% of people in Western

10
World have no problem with someone of a different race living next door according to
research. He says it is a problem in South Africa due to history of segregation and
ongoing problems with racism. He analysed some proponents of the multi-culturalist
argument that groups will learn to co-exist over time if they have equal power and status
which seldom happens in South Africa’s case. In Northriding, there seems to be equal
power and status though they are difficult to measure. Hamber (2007) concluded his
analysis by proposing inter-culturalism aimed at learning about different cultures and
views and engage with these in robust dialogue. This requires recognition of
interdependence that is neither assimilation nor simply coexistence according to him.
Assimilation is the processes of people acknowledging other cultures and incorporating
them into their own culture.

Hamber (2007) continued his explanation by saying that this coexistence might be a step
along the way to interculturalism, but to see a society that is multicultural rather than
intercultural seems limiting. I can define interculturalism as the notion of getting to know
and show interest in other cultures while multiculturalism is internalising others cultures
by practice. He substantiated his argument with Zygmunt Bauman recommendation of
intercultaralism which posits the fact that as much as getting entangled in a particular
community creates security, it also creates fear as one is threatened by the presence of
others which is a mutual derision, contempt and hatred. The solution is to dialogue on
differences so as to shatter the myth of the community (Hamber, 2007). In South Africa,
people show negative attitude when it comes to matters dealing with other cultures,
which are why both intercultaralism and multiculturalism may not make much sense to
people here.

Some of conceptual issues that came out of this study are; class, racism and segregation.
Others are; discrimination, hatred and integration. These concepts are intertwined and
cannot be easily separated from one another in-depth and cannot be explained serially.
This is because there is correlation between them caused by similar factors and therefore
I will not go into details due to space. However, these concepts as Bash (1979) stated,
help sociologists to understand and explain social phenomena because of their special

11
features, namely; their instrumentality, meaning their effectiveness in representing
empirical or observable phenomena. Therefore, the use of these concepts will permit
analysis of the situation and not just common sense knowledge with no empirical proof
(Bash, 1979). I am not too concerned with class or middle class as a concept, but it only
represents the sample that was studied in the research. Sigmund Freud (1961) helps in
understanding some of these concepts and suggests that people have the tendency to
internalise social facts such as racism and discrimination even when they have to give up
their happiness so as to function in an acceptable way of life in the society. In the
apartheid era, this way of life of racism and discrimination were acceptable thereby
impacted on the psyche of the people which is now very difficult to break. The thing that
was being practiced consciously has become embedded in the society and people are now
reproducing racism and other related behaviours unconsciously in the new South Africa
even though those practices are no longer acceptable. It has become a societal ill which
people are struggling to run away from and it will take a long time to do away with.

Some of the authors in the literature reviewed and already discussed in this chapter are in
agreement that the whites exhibit extreme isolation across all other racial groups with the
feeling that the middle class suburb is their birthright. The white residents have negative
attitudes towards other racial groups and this has led to no interaction amongst one
another. Consequently, some whites have vacated their apartments and moved to upper
class suburbs even when they struggle to pay the rents. Others have left the country
entirely to other countries and chose to earn incomes lower than what they were paid in
South Africa rather than staying (Bobo and Zubrinsky, 1996 and Zeul and Humphrey,
1971).

Critically, some of the articles focused on black and white ethnic groups though most of
the articles were not written on South Africa. Some that relate to South Africa talked
about integration between Chinese and the whites without stating whether there was
integration or not among other groups. My own research relates to some of the arguments
and conclusions identified by the articles because I sought to know the extent of racial
integration between all the races in a particular given middle class area. Others such as

12
Hamber (2007) talked about suggestions to improve racial integration through inter-
culturalism without looking at other factors creating the racial differences. Gaps were to
be filled by getting in-depth information from as many different racial groups as possible
and not just black and white during the course of this study, but that did not happen.

Furthermore, the writers believe that there are perceptions of racial difference, but the
differences do not stop people from residing where they want to live. However, some of
the research was based on qualitative methodology and some quantitative. My study was
based on quantitative method, which is slightly different from qualitative research
method used in some of the literature. This is discussed in the next chapter, the
methodology.

13
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

With a proper research design to answer the research question: To what extent is there
racial integration in Northriding Manor? I used a single method to get some data for this
report. The original ideology as already stated in chapter one was to use multi-methods,
but could not go through with it. My research strategy was determined by epistemological
and ontological considerations. Epistemological considerations refers to appropriate
disciplinary method of conducting research while ontological position is what determines
the way research questions are formulated and operationalised. To this effect, I used
quantitative analysis.

In answering the research question the study facilitated 44 questionnaires distributed to

the entire units in the housing complex. However there are some weaknesses from the
quantitative method which will be discussed in this chapter. Of note is the fact that there
were faire responses from the residence of Northriding Manor because only 18
questionnaires were completed and returned. However, I believe that I may not have got
the right answers from the participants from both the open ended and closed questions
either because they do not feel comfortable with the questions or that they do not want to
sound controversial. Still in this chapter, I am going to talk about the sampling method,
gaining access, ethics appraisal and data gathering methods

SAMPLING AND PILOT SUDIES

To enable me answer the research question, I conducted opinion polls orally from some
neighbours in this research site, Northriding Manor to find out their perception about the
research topic, racial integration in the middle class suburb. I also had some discussions
with some Wits Plus students and all the responses I gathered from the neighbours and
the students helped me to draft the questionnaire and the interview schedules.

14
The research population consists of residents of Northriding Manor who were at least 18
years of age and they were made up of the different ethnic groups and immigrants. The
population can be classified as the middle class of the society going by their affordability
of the rent and/or ownership of the houses. Average house rent for each unit is R7, 000
per month and each house can be sold between R1, 000,000 to R1, 300,000. So, I used
purposive sampling and out of the 44 units, I expected to get at least 15 completed
questionnaires and at least 3 volunteers for interviews. Interestingly, I got 18 and 6
respectively. It was also a purposive sampling because the groups mentioned above
represented my target of different racial groups. The other reason was because there was
no way the level of social relations could be measured in the housing complex without
involving all the different racial groups.

GAINING ACCESS

I am a resident of Northriding Manor and did speak to the Chairman of the Body
Cooperate about the study. The initial response from him was not certain until I complied
with his demand, which is showing him the copy of the questionnaires. I also gave him a
letter requesting for his permission to conduct the research along with the copy of the
questionnaires. I had to give him those things before he granted the request for me to go
on with the research and with the condition that it was for research purposes only. The
copy of the questionnaires and letter to the Body Corporate can be found on pages 30 and
36 respectively.

ETHICS APPRAISAL

My research topic, which is the level of racial integration in middle class suburbs, is a
very sensitive issue and I had to ensure that I did not put myself or any of the participants
at risk having got the ethics clearance from the supervisor. Nonetheless, I did not give out
the research question to in the questionnaire, least there could not have been corporation
from the Body Corporate or the residents. So, to tackle the ethical issues, I stated in the
questionnaire that participation was voluntary and that no name or unit number of any of

15
the respondents was required. In essence, anonymity was granted to all the participants.
Confidentiality of the raw data from the study was guaranteed, which I had to destroy
after analysing the data. Anonymity relates to situations where the participant does not
wish to be quoted directly and his or her name not to be mentioned. Confidentiality of the
information requires that the pieces of information obtained were used for the research
purposes only. For instance, it would have been unethical for me to use the pieces of
information acquired from the research to expose or put some people of the complex in
danger by revealing their profiles to the general public after promising not to do so.

DATA GATHERING METHODS

In gathering data, this research used past research, questionnaires, newspaper articles,
reports and aspects of the internet that focus on racial integration. The documents on
racism, xenophobia and racial relations were looked into and they were relevant in
gathering the data as they played major roles in all the data analysis. The purpose of this
study is to measure the extent of racial integration in middle class suburbs, which is a
social phenomenon. Social phenomena are real and exert an influence on individual’s
consciousness and behaviour which is different from ones psychological, biological and
other individual characteristics (Becker, 1970). This project is investigating real facts and
it can be studied through empirical methods. The primary research question is to use
Northriding Manor as a case study of level of integration in the middle class suburbs.
Based on this, quantitative approach is the most appropriate because the subjectivity and
objectivity that was used ensured that I come up with a good conclusion. This research
method was able to give the research a subjective meaning and uncover the social trend
by measuring the social facts I was concerned with. Thus, it gave me a clear idea on the
level of social integration in Northriding Manor (Becker, 1970).

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QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Quantitative methods in form of questionnaires were drafted and distributed on the 6 th

September 2008 to the 44 units in the housing complex. The questionnaires contained
open and closed questions. Some of the advantages of the open questions that helped me
in this research are that the questions do not in any way suggest certain kinds of answers
to the respondents and they enabled me to ascertain their knowledge and understanding
of the topic. It also created spaces for the respondents to give their own answers without
being forced to do so as well as not giving them the clear idea of the real topic (Bryman,
2004).

For the closed questions it was easy for me to process the answers given by the
respondents. The answers enabled me to compare relatively the answers to social
relations, which are aimed at investigating the level of contact the residents have with
their neighbours. On the other hand, there were possibilities for the respondents to give
wrong answers by first thinking it through before responding because the answers were
not spontaneous. Some of the answers provided by the participants overlapped. For
instance, where they had to make choices on age groups, different age groups were
selected and I found it difficult to categorise their exact age groups. Nevertheless, the
method helped me capture standardised information about relevant issues like feelings
and altitudes of different racial groups towards another, which impact on the level of
integration in the Northriding community (Becker, 1970). Thus, the questions focused
mainly on the relations between neighbours and how they interact. The questions also
looked at issues like how the people wish living arrangement ought to be and if they have
problem with the existing arrangements. The findings have been coded in the form of
descriptive statistics and the data presented in form of tabulation, graphs and frequencies.
Before forming the tabulation, graphs and frequencies, I had to summarise the closed
questions into a Manual Tabulation to form a (QRG) Questionnaire Response Grid. The
QRG and the frequency graphs can be found in Annexure One, page 29 and in chapter
four (Bryman, 2004). Having discussed issues relating to the methodology, I can now
unpack the most interesting aspect of this report in the next chapter.

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CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS/INTERPRETATIONS

This chapter presents the results and the analysis of the data collected during this
research. It brings together the different data types around key themes in order to answer
the research question clearly and have been classified into quantitative analysis. In this
quantitative analysis, the questionnaires were used among other things to analyse the
level of contacts among residents of Northriding Manor. This chapter further seeks to
make meaning of these findings by relating them to the existing theories and literature on
the issues of racism, discrimination and racial integration. The respondent’s profile is
discussed in the next subheading before the proper analysis of the results.

RESPONDENTS’ PROFILE

18 people residing in Northriding Manor responded to my questionnaires out of the 44

people expected to do so. I do not know if it is as a result of the timing or part of on going
racism in the society. Among these 18 respondents 6 of them were interested to be
interviewed as indicated in the questionnaire, but unfortunately I could not go through
with the interviews. As earlier mentioned in the methodology chapter, the response from
the questionnaire is just 40.9% of the entire unit, which may not be a true representation
of the residence and racial groups. However, I believe that data I was able to gather did
answer the research question. Of note is the fact that Northriding Manor is a very
peaceful residential housing complex without crime incidences and violence from my
experience of residency in the complex.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

The findings from the questionnaires will be discussed in this section by graphical
illustration and tables on pages 19, 20 and 21 of this chapter and Annexure One, page 29.
My focus in this subheading is on the level of social integration and rate of interaction in
Northriding Manor. The graphs have been named as general percentage graph (graph 1),

18
percentage graph explaining the level of social integration (graph 2) and frequency graph
explaining social interactions (Graph 3).

Graph 1: General Percentage Graph

90

80

70

60
Percentage

50

40

30

20

10

0
male female yes no same different daily weekly monthly yearly never yes no
Gender int'act with Girlfriend ethnicity Rate of contact Neighbour over
different groups for meals
SAMPLE PERCENTAGES 42.3077 57.6923 61.5385 38.4615 80 20 19.2308 61.5385 15.3846 0 3.84615 53.8462 46.1538
Anwsers to Questions

From the general percentage graph (graph 1) above, this is the demographics of all the
people staying in the complex from the 18 participants that completed the questionnaire.
57% of my participants are female and 43% male. The general interaction level is 62%
and 80% would prefer to have girlfriends/boyfriend from same ethnic group whereas
20% would consider a partner from a different ethnic group. The highest rate of contact
with neighbours is on a weekly basis at 62%, the worse contact measured in yearly is 0%.
4% indicated that they never had contact with their neighbours. However only 54%
would invite neighbours to dinner. These statistics indicate the level of integration in the
housing complex, which is high and also their level of interaction is also high at 62%.
This is in agreement with Zeul and Humphrey (1971) arguments on contact hypothesis,
which suggest that social integration develops out of physical integration of the different
racial groups. In essence, people are brought into close and continued proximity by living
in the same environment for some period of time (Zeul and Humphrey, 1971).

19
I am of the view that the housing complex is a little bit integrated as it comprise of the
different racial groups, however there are less number of coloured, Indian and foreigners
in the housing complex. Hamber (2007) stated that 90% of people in the Western World
have no problem with someone of a different race living next door but it is a problem in
South Africa due to history of segregation and racism. This statistics have shown other
wise and challenges Hambers’ argument as far as this housing complex is concerned.

Graph 2: Specific Percentage Graph

120

100

80
White
Percentage

Black
60 Indian
Coloured
Other
40

20

0
same

no
yes

weekly

greeting
daily

monthly

yearly

never
male

female

friendship
different

friendly

casual

Gender Girlfriend ethnicity Marriage ethnicity Rate of contact Relationship with

neighbour
Answers To Questions

Graph 2 is the specific percentage graph of different racial groups showing that 56% and
44% are male and female respectively among the white population. The black population
show 82% female and 18% male. The coloured, Indian and other categories are few with
one coloured male, three Indians males, one Korean female and one mixed Indian female.
Among the white population 84% are currently married/dating within their ethnic group
whereas 16% are married/dating from other ethnic groups. Among the black population
75% are currently married/dating from within their group and 25% are currently
dating/married from other groups. Among the white and the black population 75% would
consider dating/marring from outside their ethnic group while 25% would not. These
statistics clearly show that the level of integration in this housing complex is high but the

20
population group of coloured, Indians and foreigners are very few. Again, Zeul and
Humphrey (1971) argue that the white population are initially negative borne out of
preconceived ideas about other groups. This makes the tendency for the white population
to date or marry from outside their racial group to be infinitesimally minute (Zeul and
Humphrey, 1971).

The white population rate of contact on weekly bases is 55%, black on weekly bases is
72%, and Indians are split into daily, weekly and monthly at the rate of 33.3%
respectively. The coloured and other categories rate of contact are daily and weekly
respectively as high as 100%. 44% of the white population have invited their neighbours
to dinner while 56% have not. In the black population 54% have done so and 46% have
not. Among the Indians, 33% have invited neighbours to dinner and 66% have not. No
person from the coloured group and others category have not invited neighbours to
dinner. These statistics explains the fact that the level of interaction with in the complex
among the different ethnic groups is normal. Nonetheless, I could not really compare the
level of interaction because it is easy for one person to easily interact with people from
different groups and vice versa.

Graph 3: Specific Frequency Graph

10

6 White
Frequency

Black
5 Indian
Coloured
4 Other

0
yes

yes
same

no

no
weekly

yearly

other
male

greeting

friendship

friend

relationship
daily

monthly

never
different
female

friendly

casual

intimate

Gender Girlfriend Marriage Rate of contact Relationship with neighbour Neighbour

ethnicity ethnicity over for meals
Answers

21
Graph 3 on page 21 is the specific frequency graph where it shows that the white men
have the highest population in Northriding Manor whereas the least are the immigrants.
The black female population is considerably higher than any other race-gender and there
is no coloured female at all in the housing complex. The white population has the highest
heterogeneous relationship within their own racial group followed by the black
population whereas the other groups are either single or have partners from different
racial groups. On the question of; would you consider marring somebody from outside
your ethnic group? The high number of white and black population responded positively
where as the lowest is the coloured population owing to the fact that there is only one
coloured respondent. On the contact level, the black people have the highest rate of
contact where as the Indians have the least. On relationships with neighbours, the black
people have a more positive social relations with their neighbours where as the least is
from the coloured community.

More integration of all these groups will eliminate racism, prejudice, discrimination and
other social vices. However, all the concepts mentioned in this chapter and taken into
consideration the responses from the open questions, which I did not go deep into have
made it difficult for the level of integration to be very high. This research has found that
people will continue to stay in the middle class suburbs together because they do not have
options. Also, they will stay because they like it and are comfortable with the presence of
other groups, but this does not mean that they care much to integrate with other people
from other groups. The findings are enough for me to make reasonable conclusion in the
next chapter.

22
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATIONS

This project has taken stock of the level of social integration in Northriding Manor and
also has measured the social relations within the housing complex. Current media
debates, literature and past research where used to get all the concepts and positions of
different views with regards to discrimination, racism and social relations in Northriding
Manor in particular and South Africa in general. My methodology took into consideration
these concepts and debates and through the method of quantitative research, findings
have been made and analysed in Chapter Four. In essence, this research was explorative
because I did not know exactly what the result would be despite all the knowledge
acquired in the literature review.

In the quantitative analysis, a measurement of social facts such as racism and

discriminations were carried out through the deductive approach to test existing theories
on these issues. It was also based on positive and objective conducts so as to qualify the
findings. However, my findings show that the black population in Northriding Manor
have the highest racial interaction as the quantitative research has proven. Of a particular
and interesting note is that few of the participants hinted that they have invited
neighbours for dinner. Whether that is true or not is another thing because nobody have
invited me to dinner.

I believe that the research question; to what extent is there racial integration in
Northriding Manor, Northriding has been answered. However, I could not understand
why there are less number of coloured, Indian and immigrants in the housing complex
and this is open to further research. The coloured, Indian and immigrants generally
integrate easily and interact with different racial groups from my findings. However they
are in small numbers in this housing complex. This report will not be complete without
me making some recommendations that will improve integration and social relations in
Northriding Manor. I have proposed some points in the subsequent paragraphs, which I
see as possible panacea to improving these social phenomena.

23
Some of my recommendations on the improvement of racial integration and social
relations in Northriding Manor in particular and South Africa in general are direct result
of my findings in the previous chapter and all the literature read before this study. The
recommendations point to religion, culture and inequalities. From religious perspectives,
the issue of Islamic customs and dress code, which differentiate Moslems from other
racial groups by their way of dressing, should be handled in a civilised manner. There has
been increased discrimination against people of Islamic faith world wide since after the
events of 9, 11 in America and all the bombings in Europe. People should see the dress
code as just a different culture within a society without prejudging. Secondly, the
religious leaders must preach love to their followers rather than preaching messages that
suggest differences among people due to their religious beliefs. These steps will further
reduce the racial gaps in the society.

One of the biggest conflicts in multiracial societies such as Northriding Manor is social
inequalities in employment, education and housing. Blanket affirmative action is not the
solution because there is more diversity within groups than between groups. The
government has to review its policies on job employment by employing the available
skills in the country while at the same time should encourage those previously
disadvantaged communities to become skilful and creative through education. There is no
sense in reserving jobs to those who are not yet qualified and keep complaining about
lack of skilled workers in the country. Equality must deal with equality of education and
housing by improving on what is available at the moment. The so called government
schools are a charade because of lack of good facilities and quality teachers in the
government high schools and primary schools. Government should consider offering free
education in tertiary education to those who are interested to become teachers. These
people will then become teachers in these schools in the near future when they graduate.
Good education to the leaders of tomorrow will put our young ones’s perceptions about
others in a more positive frame.

On housing, it has been observed that high-rise buildings are springing up everywhere
now from Sandton to Polokwane in South Africa. However, the rich members of the

24
society are busy buying the flats and renting them out at rates they want thereby making
it difficult for most people of lower income scale to acquire. These buildings are aimed at
encouraging different members of the society to live together and the escalating costs in
getting these houses is putting that aim in jeopardy. So, government must regulate the
rents for these buildings.

It has been on forecast that South Africa’s population will reduce tremendously in 2015
due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. I think that what the country needs is diversity of
foreigners to cushion that effect of reduction in population. Immigrants are not the
problem in terms of racism and xenophobia, but the problem is the South Africans
themselves. So, government should ensure that the borders are secure, which in turn
means the SA’s population will not see immigrants as illegal like as the case has been.
Also, these immigrants must not be restricted to seek for jobs or seek for education if
they so desire so that the indigenes will see them as productive and good members of the
society and not just agents of illicit trades and petty thieves. Though these immigrants
come with their own different cultures, but it has to be realised that diversity is not a
burden but should become a benefit as people learn from one another.

Finally and most importantly, the best way to keep peace in culturally diverse areas is to
start with the children. Conflict between different cultures especially within the adult
population, is putting strain on the children and their acceptance of different cultures.
Therefore, improving interactions should start at the local level with children involved by
attending multi-racial schools. The children will experience different cultures as they
attend these schools. It is not only about respecting differences but also discussing and
feeling good about peoples multiple identities.

25
CHAPTER SIX: REFLECTION

In order for me to effectively answer the research question, I expended much energy in
reviewing a lot of books, articles and past researches. I was very much aware of what I
exactly had to do to carry out a good research, which included the research design to use.
Some of the questions in the questionnaires were to be followed up through in-depth
interviews. Qualitative method was to be based on an understanding of human behaviour
and social interaction within specific social contexts of racial integration. The method
would have enabled me get a deeper explanation and meaning of this research and also
supplemented the findings with the literatures reviewed.

Both quantitative and qualitative analysis would have complemented each other. In the
qualitative analysis, the answers obtained from the interviewees were to be measured
with all the literature reviewed. At the end of it all, I could have formed a triangulation to
show validity from the findings if I had used these multi-methods.

Regrettably, I used only quantitative method, which is somehow problematic. Some of

the answers given by the respondents on the open questions did not actually fall into the
topic and analysing them was a mere waist of time. Again, there are possibilities for the
respondents to give wrong answers by first thinking it through before responding because
the answers are not spontaneous. Some of the answers provided by the participants
overlapped. For instance where they had to make choices on age groups, different age
groups were selected and I found it difficult to categorise their exact age groups.

The above notwithstanding, I think I have learnt a lot conducting this research. Now, I
know how to write a literature review very well by making my own voice to be dominant
rather than what the authors say. In the past, I used to think that what matters most is
what the authors say and therefore was not confident enough to say what I feel about the
topic. Secondly, I was not under any sort of pressure doing the research because this is
the one of the two remaining courses I had to do to get my degree. It was fun.

26
REFERENCE LIST:

Bash, H., (1979), Sociology and Race and Ethnicity: A critique of American ideological
intrusions upon sociological theory, London: Gordon and Breach Publishers Ltd.

Becker, H., (1970), Sociological Work: Method and Substance, USA: Aldine Publishing
Company.

Biko, S., (1978), I Write What I Like, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Bobo, L., Zubrinsky, C., (1996), “Attitudes on Residential Integration: Perceived Status
Differences, Mere In-Group Preference, or Racial Prejudice?” in Social Forces, March
1996, 74 (3).

Bryman, A., “Social Research Strategies” in Bryman. A. Social Research Method (2nd
edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cantle, T., (2005), in Community Cohesion: a new Framework for race and diversity,
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Cronje, F., (2004), “Race relations and cultural integration in South Africa” in South
African Institute of Race Relations, 15 September 2004, Johannesburg.

Freud, S., (1961), Civilization and its Discontents, New York.: W.W Norton and
Company.

Gan, H., (1967), The Levittowners, New York: Vintage.

Hamber, B., 2007, “”Bigots, building bridges and multiculturalism” in Engineering

News, February 23 to 1 March 2007.

27
Questionnaire 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Findings

http://www.info.gov.za/documents/constitutions/1196/96cons1.htm.

Johnson, D. P., (1986), Sociology Theory, New York: McMillan.

Keller, S., (1968), The Urban Neighbourhood, New York: Random House Inc.

Mbeki, T., (2007), “Freedom from racism – a fundamental human right”, in ANC Today,
16 March 2007, 7 (10).

Okum, B.F; Fried,J, & Okum, M.L ,(1999), Understanding Diversity, Books/Cole
Publishing Company

Rule, S. P., (1989), “The emergence of a racially mixed residential suburb in

Johannesburg: Demise of the Apartheid city?”, in The Geographical Journal, Vol. 155
(2) The Royal Geographical Society.

Seekings, J. and Nattrass, N. 2006, Class, Race and Inequality in South Africa. Scottville:
UKZN Press.

Sisulu, L., 2005, “The Freedom Charter” in New Agenda 18 (2).

Terreblanche, C., “’Housing on steroids’ boon for SA” in The Sunday Independent,
September 25, 2005.

Zeul, C. R., Humphrey, C.R, “The integration of black residents in suburban

neighbourhoods: A re-examination of the contact hypothesis”, in Social Problems,
(spring, 1971), California: University of California Press.

28
Gender F F F F M M M F M F F F M F M M M M

Race B B B B I W I W W I W O I W W W C B

From SA or Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y N Y N Y Y Y Y Y N
abroad
Language E E EP TE E E E A A E A K EF EF E E E E,T
X A A AS E E G E EF A A A A SS
T F G Z
Religion C C C C T C H C C N C N H C C C C C

Time lived in 5-8 5-8 2-4 0-1 5-8 0-1 0-1 0-1 2-4 5- 0-1 5-8 9 0-1 2-4 0-1 2-4 5-8
complex 8
Age group of 18- 18- 18- 18- 18- 32- 18- 18- 18- 46 32- 25- 39- 25- 18- 25- 18- 32-
adults 24 24 24 24 24 38 24 24 24 38 31 45 31 24 31 24 38
& & &
39- 39- 39-
45 45 46
Different Ethnic N Y V V V Y V Y Y V N N N V V Y N Y
group
marriages/dating
Consider Y Y Y V Y Y Y V Y V Y V Y Y N Y Y Y
marring from
different ethnic
groups
Knowledge of Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
complex
ethnicity
Rate of contact W W W W D W W M M W D W M M W W D D

Relationship V F C F F F C F F V V V F F V F F F
with neighbours
Knowledge of N Y V V V V V V V V N Y V V V N Y N
multiracial
functions
Enjoy living in a Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
multiracial
complex
Ever invited N Y Y N Y N N N Y Y Y Y N N Y N Y Y
neighbours for
meals
Know if Y Y Y N Y N Y N N Y Y Y Y N Y N Y Y
foreigners live
there

29