Browsing by Author "Cope, Michael Knox"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The African National Congress and nationalism in South Africa in light of Manuel Castells' The information age : economy, society and culture, Vol. I, II & III
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2007-04) Cope, Michael Knox; Muller, Hans P.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Information Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis applies the theory developed by Manual Castells in his three-volume book, The Information Age, to the African National Congress' (ANC) policies for post-apartheid South Africa. An overview of major theories of nationalism provides the context for Castells' own views. There follows a brief summary of the ideas Castells proposes on the transition from industrial capitalism to informational capitalism, expressed in the emergence of the ideal type of the network society, and his theory on identity and nationalism. Turning to ANC policy, an analysis of ANC and government documents demonstrates that the ANC intends creating a new South African nation; an exposition of the characteristics of this new nation is given. This thesis also shows that the economic policy of the ANC-in-govemment, shifting from the 1994 Reconstruction and Development Programme to the 1996 Growth, Employment and Redistribution strategy, deliberately joined South Africa to the global economy. After examining the contemporary state of nationalist sentiment in South Africa, the significant extent to which South Africa tends towards the network society pattern is determined, following which Castells' conceptions of the network society and identity are applied to present-day South Africa in order to project the path of nationalism in the country.