Chapter 3: Theoretical Framework
3.3 Equality of Opportunity
93
the process of introducing labour market reforms, the role of the state and private sector becomes essential in introducing institutional reforms aimed at promoting social inclusion of unemployed Black African young women.
Barone’s illustration of the matrix of domination is relevant in explaining the odds facing young black African women in their effort to secure employment in the labour market. These women face plethora of oppression on the basis on their age, sexual orientation, race and social status as women and dependents of their parents.
94
failed to take advantage of this opportunity due to social exclusion are said to have no justification for their failure (Stanley 1977)
Two key propositions were made in Schaar’s definition, namely, that people i) have equal rights and opportunities to develop their own talents and virtues; and ii) are entitled to equal rewards for equal performances. Whereas the former focuses upon the opportunity to perform, the latter puts emphasis on the outcomes of performance. A practical illustration of opportunity to perform can include the right to attend public school of one’s choice or take examination in the language they felt comfortable with or apply for the same employment position. The fact that two students from different socio- economic background have opportunity to these scenarios does not necessarily guarantee them similar outcomes on performance.
In Schaar’s (1977), (as cited in Stanley 1977:62), states “this is analogous to a group of ailing, middle-aged, overweight men competing on an even starting line in a running race with Roger Bannister. Thus, he argues, although a sort of "equality of opportunity" to compete and to win is established, the winner is foreordained. Similarly, Bernard Williams (1973: 244/5) gives the example of a society in which members of a prestigious warrior class had previously been selected solely from wealthy families.
Following policy reform selection was done by open competition. Even after this change was introduced, the wealthy families continued to supply virtually all the warriors because the rest of the populace were undernourished, thereby lacking the required strength to succeed. This experience is a perfect reflection of disparities that exists between low-income and middle-income youth and their participation within education system and labour market. Most certainly, education policies have, and continue to;
change but performance outcomes still reflect the legacy of the past. Alongside, graduation output in commercial, science and engineering sector has increased within the black population, but white graduates still register the highest population absorbed by the labour market. That is because change gravitates towards increasing opportunity of uptake but not performance outcomes. This is due to the fact that white youth still hold strong social network that offers them direct linkages to experiential and employment opportunities.
95
Andrew Mason’s (2001) Responsibility-Sensitive Egalitarianism’ model took the theory of equal opportunity to the next level. Different from the meritocratic orthodoxy, Mason introduced a holistic paradigm which advocated for radical transformation of the entire structure of society and the overall distribution of benefits and burdens within it, rather than paying emphasis on efficiency of the selection procedures and access to qualifications. Within the new model, major institutions and practices, Mason suggests, must be designed to ensure that advantages are transmitted equitably to all recipient based on the efforts they put into the course for which they pursue. Equally, to ensure that advantages are not disproportionately distributed to some beneficiaries because of the inherent advantages they hold to the detriment of others.
Undoubtedly, the development of social capital in South Africa is entrenched within a history that continues to disadvantage majority of young people. Because of the limitations black graduates have in accessing relevant networks to secure the right job within their area of training, a holistic intervention is ideal. To this end, government departments that are linked to every economic sector such as telecommunication, mining, and infrastructure, must play a lead role in galvanising support and partnership with the private sector. This must, however, go beyond strengthening employment prospects only.
Attention must also be paid on the quality of institutional capacity of higher learning institutions in producing the quality of human resource required by the job market from these learners. This must not neglect to ask what low-income youth has lost – owing to their precarious history – which other middle-income youth have. Such a daunting adventure on rebuilding social capital stock begin at the family, by reviewing social norms, social network, and the extent of its diversity.
3.3.1 A Conflict Theory Perspective in understanding equality of opportunity Kinsley Davis and Wilbert Moore, students of Palcott Parsons, were equally convinced that important positions in society had to be conscientiously filled by the most qualified (Beeghley, 2001). Unwaveringly, these authors maintained that prestigious positions required scarce talent and extensive training – a daunting task that required higher reward. These sentiments resonate with the theory of equal opportunity and its
96
allegiance to meritocratic appointments. Robert Merton18 in contrast, argued that social facts were not always, what they seemed to be. Therefore, it was important to understand the underlying motifs of interest groups and unseen forces that shaped the existing manifestations. The relevance of this theoretical framework to young people is evident.
Thus, the Parsonian scholars were predisposed to paying more attention to the importance of social network these ‘highly talented’ youth possessed more than the influence of stratification that shaped them. Conveniently, they disregarded entry barriers that excluded other youth cohorts from participation.
On the contrary, Merton19 and the critical school pierced through the hidden veil of structural functionalism and exposed the façade that presents other youth cohorts as the embodiment of academic and labour market success. Committed to this course, Gordon Darroch (1979) found strong correlations between ethnicity and socio-economic status with the former as explanatory variable that prevents certain groups from equal access to opportunities for upward mobility. It is such factors that make Parsonian analysis offer simplistic, immutable, and self-deceptive world view of social structures within society, argues Merton.
Parsonian positivists avoid acknowledging inherent complexity that drives processes which deny other groups opportunities to obtain higher qualification and relevant employment in the sector in which they are trained. Similar argument has been implicit when the issue of skills shortage is in contest within South African context.
Private sector, even more than government, has not offered plausible argument as to why majority youth remain excluded within the market economy. Many firms feels that graduates lacked soft skills such as communication and general language skills (especially in English), which caused them to be unsuccessful in interviews (Business Leadership South Africa, 2006).20 Such a statement reflects the state of indifference towards graduates without experiential training and necessary soft skills. These factors alone do not justify why these poor youth can be sacrificed at the guillotine of recruitment
18 ibid, 13
19 ibid, 13s
20 “Graduate Unemployment in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Nature and Possible Policy Responses”
Research Report compiled for Business Leadership South Africa (2006). Funded by Standard Bank.
Development Policy Research Unit, School of Economics, University of Cape Town
97
standards, without a rigorous strategy to bringing them up to speed with work-place requirements.
For Ritzer and Goodman (2006), structural functionalism is unable to deal effectively with the process of change or conflict given its historic proclivities; it is ambiguous and lacking in adequate methods; it inhibits certain forms of analyses, such as comparative analysis; and relies too heavily on seamless representation of social structures and their purposes. In his theory of social conflict, Dahrendorf (1958) further argued that every society was inherently ubiquitous, that dissensus and conflict was imminent, and that every element renders a contribution to its disintegration and change.
Put simply, he argued, authority relationships and class conflict were imputed within stratification structure. Dahrendorf took issues with arbitrary nature of unexplained historical events which he argued that were derived from social structural elements in which they evolved (ibid, 171). The feministic theory of the matrix of domination advocated by Bell Hooks (1987) had clearly identified the problem of race, gender, and class as three critical pillars of discrimination that needed to challenge and if possible, annihilated. In taking this unequivocal stance, they had challenged white feminists called sisterhoods for being conflicted between challenging the status quo of male domination while at the same time, seeking to protect their white and class privileges
In this vein, Du Toit and Associates (2007) took issues with the tendency to oversimplify the formation of sustainable livelihood. Referring to the World Bank literature (Krishna and Shrader, 1999), the authors were cautious of the view, that sustainable livelihood solely hinges on actors’ optimisation of the use of social, financial, natural, and human capital. Notwithstanding its importance, they argued that bringing these resources to bear without factoring in the political economy of the ‘powerful others’
within this chain of interaction, underestimate the complexity of poverty. Thus, the use of econometric analysis, without ethnographic account of society, becomes limited in explaining the complex social, political, economic, gendered, and spatial relations (ibid, pg5). Hence, social capital transfer has not been absolved from power-relation proclivities and their corollaries, namely, underlying discursive practices, cultural repertoires, identities, and histories that make them what they are, maintained the authors (Gledhill, 2000 as cited in Du Toit et al).
98