CHANGES IN THE RACIAL DIVISION-OF-LABOR DURING THE APARTHEID ERA

Scholarly attempts to address the dual impact of economic growth and a partheid labour policies on the racial division of labour in the 1970s and 1980s produced markedly divergent estimates of the extent to whic h the colour bar was being eroded by employment growth. This study rev isits the debate by applying new concepts about the division of labour to South African employment statistics. The reason why scholars came lip with such different estimates of the size of the African middle cl ass is that they relied on inappropriate neo-Marxist theories of class and on official occupational categories. On the other hand I argue fo r a more eclectic conceptualisation of occupational groups that incorp orates neo-Weberian class schemes and labour process theory. The resul t is an occupational classification that tries to be sensitive to the ways in which the financial division of labour was shaped by the legal and institutional mechanisms of racial discrimination, by the level o f certification of the population, and by workplace dynamics. I go on to demonstrate the utility of this occupational taxonomy by applying i t to the Manpower Survey results. One important finding is that Africa n advancement into professional jobs during this period was ns largely restricted to semi-professional occupations such as those of schoolte achers, nurses, technicians and priests - a result that points to the state's role in expanding the size of the African middle class. A seco nd finding is that African advancement into private sector clerical an d sales jobs was far greater than into the skilled trades. These resul ts point to the role of white trade unions and the character of the la bour process in shaping the racial division of labour during the apart heid era.