THE MICROPOLITICS OF PATERNALISM - THE DISCOURSES OF MANAGEMENT AND RESISTANCE ON SOUTH-AFRICAN FRUIT AND WINE FARMS

An analysis of the discourse of wine-farm workers and owners in the We stern Cape shows how paternalist discourse marginalises and excludes w orkers' voices - but it also shows how workers can challenge the emplo yers' power. Traditional paternalism is distinguished by an 'organic' conception of the farm as a family, with the farmer occupying. a centr al position of unchallengeable authority. Today, however, a movement f or rural reform is bringing about radical changes in farming practice. These changes make authority less centralised and more impersonal. Th ey ultimately bring about a greater degree of worker participation in middle management structures. But they also bring about a vast prolife ration of internal contradictions and dislocations within management p ractice: reform can often exacerbate tensions on the farm. These inter nal crises offer an opportunity for farm worker unions to get a footho ld on the farms, and to build institutions that recognise workers' ind ependent right to speak. These unions, however, should be seen as only the one step towards the growth of a more differentiated rural civil society.