The legacy of apartheid: Racial differences in the legitimacy of democratic institutions and processes in the new South Africa

This research investigates whether and to what degree all major racial/ethnic/linguistic groups in South Africa extend legitimacy to the key institutions of democratic governance. This question is important because most democratic analysts argue that subcultural pluralism is inimical to democracy. Based on a mass public survey, the author discovers that support for democracy in South Africa is not widespread; it varies considerably across the major racial/ethnic groups in the country; education contributes to the development of democratic values among whites but not among Africans, "Coloureds, " and those of Asian origin; and the strength of group identities and levels of psychological dogmatism are the strongest predictors of support for democratic institutions and processes. Despite the author's efforts to attribute racial differences to more theoretical processes, race, ceteris paribus, has much to do with how one feels about democracy. This legacy of the apartheid past thus continues to dog contemporary South Africa.