SOCIAL-CONTEXT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL-TESTING IN SOUTH-AFRICA, 1918-1939

In the period between the two world wars the social and human sciences in South Africa became important contributors to the debates about vi tal social issues, of which 'the Native question' was a particularly p ressing one. Psychological knowledge, too, was utilized in the legitim ation of a social order based on race, since the perception was that p sychological testing produced empirical data which supported certain e xplanations of this order. Two ideological positions developed in the period under review in South Africa: eugenics and Christian-nationalis m. The contribution of psychological testing, eugenics and Christian-n ationalism to the construction of 'race' in the local context forms th e focus of this paper. It is argued that eugenics provided arguments f or social inequality in terms of biology, while its counterpart, Chris tian-nationalism, provided similar arguments based on theology. Howeve r, Christian-nationalism also enabled Afrikaner politicians and social scientists to mobilize impoverished Afrikaans speakers, and hence it had more of a policy impact than eugenics. Psychological testing becam e recognized as a source of authority on social controversies, particu larly with reference to educational policies, where race played a sign ificant mediating role.