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https://theconversation.com/south-africans-are-fed-up-with-their-prospects-and-their-democracy-according-to-latest-social-attitudes-survey-204566>
"The mood among South Africans has soured. The latest findings from the
representative survey that’s done every year by the country’s Human Sciences
Research Council (HSRC) shows some disturbing new trends.
The most marked are:
* a decline in levels of life satisfaction as a whole
* a downturn in people’s views about what lies ahead in their lives
* a growing sense of despondency, and
* a declining satisfaction with democracy.
The sense of hopelessness and despondency with democracy that emerges from the
survey does not bode well for the future of the country’s democracy. As the
survey shows, as despondency increases, so too does a sense of hopelessness.
The 2021 survey – with the most recent available results – consisted of 2,996
South Africans aged 16 years and older living in private residences. The data
were benchmarked and weighted to be representative of the adult population.
The survey echoes key points in our forthcoming work on life satisfaction and
democracy in the Human Science Research Council’s flagship publication,
State
of the Nation. This details increasing life dissatisfaction amid growing
unhappiness with democracy and despondency.
Based on our two decade involvement in social attitudes research in South
Africa, we argued that while South Africans were increasingly unhappy with
democracy, their levels of life satisfaction remained stable. But we are now
noting a significant decline in life satisfaction in the context of increased
democratic despondency, weak political efficacy and mediocre service delivery.
It is this sense of hopelessness that could potentially signal political
instability in the future."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
