A PROFILE OF SOCIO-POLITICAL ATTITUDES AND VALUES PREVALENT UNDER RELIGIOUSLY ACTIVE MAINSTREAM AFRIKANER ELITES

• Johann Kinghorn Stellenbosch University
• Hennie J Kotze Stellenbosch University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7833/12-0-1961

Abstract

There is little doubt that South Africa is one of the world’s social test tubes. In many ways it is a microcosm of macro-global issues. This applies equally to an area which is not being studies as much as it should be: the interface of religion with socio-political processes.There can be very few countries where this interface plays in and of itself as significant a role in the general flow of history as in South Africa. Religion – and indeed a very complicated configuration at that – is a social force knowledge without which no adequate understanding of the South African dynamic can be attained.Of course this is a statement often made. However, little empirical evidence and theoretical analysis to support it exists. The purpose of this paper then is to contribute in this area by abstracting one section of the South African configuration – the mainstream Afrikaners. It is to be shown how an entry into this group’s dynamic through a religious filter will allow us not only to understand the interface between religion and society better but will also shed light on the actual political processes.