Lifestyle

Abstract

The African population’s initial incorporation into the modern Westernized sector of South African society was in the economic sector. The analysis of the elite’s socialization and career development in Chapter 2 and 3 shows that they internalized Western educational and achievement values by virtue of their participation in the modern economy, while they overcame constraints to the upward occupational mobility of Africans to acquire leading positions in modern institutional sectors, in some cases in direct competition with Whites. The question that now arises refers to the extent to which their internalization of Western values is limited to their economic activities and whether they have internalized other aspects of the Western value system. In this chapter, various aspects of their lifestyle (family life, religion, role in voluntary organizations and leisure) are analysed. The meaning they attach to their traditional heritage is discussed in Chapter 5.