A Spatial Model of Authority-Dependency Relations in South Africa¶
Charles F. Schmidt (1975). A Spatial Model of Authority-Dependency Relations in South Africa. The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3. Cambridge University Press.
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Wider apartheid literature |
| Method | theoretical or conceptual |
| Period studied | 1970–1975 |
| Regions | South Africa, Homelands (Bantustans), white metropolitan and rural areas |
| Themes | bantustans removals influx, politics ideology elections, comparative theory, demography urbanisation, manufacturing industrial policy |
| Citation key | schmidt1975 |
Argument¶
Schmidt applies John Friedmann's core-periphery theory of polarised development to South Africa, treating whites as the dominant core and blacks (including Homeland leaders) as a subordinate periphery. He argues that apartheid pursues suppression in the white areas, neutralisation in the economy, and replacement in the Homelands. He identifies three inconsistencies, in the socio-cultural, economic and political sub-systems, which undermine the attempt to build new cores in the Homelands. Because core-periphery disparity and conflict are perpetuated rather than ameliorated, he concludes that apartheid may become transitional, and that white elites should adopt co-optation to reduce conflict and allow real development.
Evidence and method¶
Conceptual and secondary: Friedmann's 1972 theory; the 1970 Population Census; Berry on urbanisation; Davies and Cook on the urban hierarchy; the author's own dissertation and a co-authored paper on contained urbanisation; a conceptual diagram (Fig. 1) and a map of 1973 Homeland consolidation proposals (Fig. 2). No original empirical data are presented.
Place in the debates¶
- Homeland policy and viability of separate development / decentralisation (see Homelands, separate development, decentralisation and removals). Sceptical: argues that weak spread effects and the flow of labour to the core make viable Homeland growth centres unlikely, so separate development is internally inconsistent.
- Reform versus entrenchment of apartheid (liberal-style integration argument) (see Homelands, separate development, decentralisation and removals). Reformist: holds that greater spatial integration and co-optation of black counter-elites would reduce conflict and promote development; apartheid is likely to prove transitional.
Findings¶
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Schmidt identifies the spatial hierarchy of power, with Homelands as the extreme periphery and all blacks as peripheral regardless of location. (p. 2)
with the white-dominated metropolitan cores at the highest levels, with the white rural areas generally occupying an intermediate position, and the black Homelands representing, for the most part, the extreme periphery.
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Suppression of blacks in the white areas is described as virtually complete in the socio-cultural and political spheres. (p. 5)
The removal of the sub-dominant groups from common legitimate institutions and processes in the socio-cultural and political sub-systems has meant that suppression is virtually complete in the extensive white areas
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In the economy, the need for black labour leads whites to a policy of neutralisation rather than full suppression. (p. 5)
In the economic spatial system, primarily because of the continuing need for black labour, the dominant white elites have continued to follow a policy which can best be described as neutralisation
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The state is trying to build new cores in the Homelands, including via industrial decentralisation. (p. 5)
the Government is directing economic forces to the periphery by a strategy of industrial decentralisation from the white core.
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Urban black cultural change cannot be prevented, which makes blacks increasingly aware of their subordinate position. (p. 8)
The blacks cannot be expected to reside in the main towns and cities, to function in a modern economic system, and to conform to the moral and social values of the dominant white elites, without undergoing cultural changes
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Homeland economic prospects are poor because spread effects are weak and no incentive exists for capital to decentralise. (p. 8)
the prospects of establishing new viable centres of economic activity in the Homelands are clearly unimpressive, since by the very nature of the highly polarised South African spatial system, not only are the 'spread effects' from the core to the periphery very weak
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Labour flows to the core outweigh capital flows to the periphery, undermining Homeland growth centres. (p. 8)
The direction of the flow of labour inwards to these centres is far more powerful than the flow of capital outwards from the core
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Contradictory political strategies for periphery and core perpetuate disparity and conflict. (p. 9)
opposed strategies for periphery and core do not ameliorate but rather perpetuate the existing disparities and conflict in the South African spatial system.
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The author concludes that co-optation is the optimal strategy for white elites. (p. 9)
the white elites of South Africa should move towards the optimal strategy of co-optation, if they wish to reduce real and potential authority-dependency conflict situations
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa, Population Census 1970, Population of Cities, Towns, and Rural Areas | population census | 1970 | Supplies the estimated 1970 population (21.5 million) and the racial shares (white 17%, black 70%, Asians and Coloureds 13%) that frame the core-periphery argument. |
| Davies and Cook, 'Reappraisal of the South African Urban Hierarchy' (South African Geographical Journal, 1968) | secondary literature compilation | 1968 | Its urban hierarchy ranking is used to show that Umtata is the only urban centre in a black area and ranks only as an order 4 country town. |
| Fair and Schmidt, 'Contained Urbanisation: a case study' (South African Geographical Journal, Sept. 1974) | secondary literature compilation | 1974 | Cited in support of the claim that information exchange in the metropolitan areas produces indirect cultural change among urban blacks. |
| Schmidt, Ph.D. dissertation, 'The South African Regional System: political independence in an interacting space economy' (UNISA, 1974) | author survey or fieldwork | 1974 | Referred to as the author's underlying empirical analysis for the claim that black cultural transformation in the white core cannot be prevented. |
| Black Homelands - Consolidation Proposals, 1973 (Fig. 2 map) | maps spatial data | 1973 | Map of the proposed consolidation of the Homelands, supporting the claim that the government is creating new cores in the black areas. |
| Berry, The Human Consequences of Urbanisation (London, 1973) | secondary literature compilation | 1973 | Quoted for the point that there is no incentive for growth to decentralize because modern enterprise remains concentrated in the major cities. |
Inference¶
Quantification: None.
Theoretical and conceptual: Friedmann's core-periphery model of polarised development is applied to South Africa. Policy outcomes (suppression, neutralisation, co-optation, replacement) are assigned to the economic, socio-cultural and political sub-systems, and inconsistencies in apartheid policy are then identified. It rests on a schematic diagram and a map, with no systematic empirical testing.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| South Africa can be analysed as a core-periphery spatial system in which white metropolitan areas form the core, white rural areas an intermediate zone, and the Homelands the extreme periphery. (p. 2) | Friedmann's theoretical model applied by assertion, with 1970 census population shares as the only data. | Asserted |
| The white elites have suppressed black integration in the socio-cultural and political sub-systems of white areas, but follow neutralisation in the economic sub-system because of continuing need for black labour. (p. 5) | The conceptual diagram (Fig. 1) and the Friedmann typology; no empirical source is cited. | Asserted |
| The government is trying to create new cores in the Homelands through administrative centres, parliaments, universities, industrial decentralisation and growth centres. (p. 5) | Illustrative references to institutions and the 1973 consolidation map; no statistical or archival evidence. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Prospects for viable economic centres in the Homelands are poor because spread effects are weak, high-order centres are absent, and labour flows to the core are stronger than capital flows to the periphery. (p. 8) | Urban hierarchy study by Davies and Cook (Umtata ranks only as order 4), Berry's general statement, and assertion. | Partial data |
| Urban blacks inevitably undergo cultural change that heightens awareness of their subordinate position, undermining the policy to inhibit their modernisation. (p. 8) | The author's own earlier work (Fair and Schmidt 1974; Schmidt dissertation 1974), cited but not presented. | Asserted |
| Apartheid's opposed strategies for periphery (replacement) and core (suppression) perpetuate disparity and conflict, so white elites should move towards co-optation. (p. 9) | Deductive reasoning from the Friedmann framework and the author's identification of three inconsistencies. | Asserted |
The author's caveats¶
None on data. The author notes only that the terms 'whites' and 'blacks' are unsatisfactory, and describes the piece as a 'short article' presenting a framework.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The argument has no systematic data on the spatial distribution of income, investment, employment or migration flows to show the core-periphery gradients, the weak spread effects, or the labour-capital flow asymmetry. Relevant data existed at the time: the 1970 census by magisterial district, Homeland budgets and border industry statistics, Department of Bantu Administration reports, and industrial location data. Evidence on the policy outcomes, such as the number and employment of decentralised industries, would test the claims about neutralisation and replacement.
Replicability: Not applicable.