Abstract
The last two decades have been the most crucial and eventful ones in South Africa’s history. During this time, the empirical research and knowledge provided by opinion polls yielded much-needed insight into the grass roots of a society in transition, providing an instrument with which to measure the political climate, to observe trends and developments, and to give input into the decisionmaking process of companies and political parties. Although the process of change and political transition still remains difficult to define properly, this article will provide some insight into the attitudes, perceptions and values of the South African public, by giving attention to trends that have transpired over the years. Special attention is devoted to perceptions on pertinent issues such as the mood in the country, optimism, economic well-being, social harmony and trust — all essential elements in an emerging democracy. Extensive use is made of data and findings of Markinor’s bi-annual Socio-Political Trends surveys, the World Values Studies and the annual Gallup End-of-Year Poll.
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References
Gallup End-of-Year Polls. Data and press releases published by Markinor.
Inglehart, R.: 1990, Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society (Princeton University Press, Princeton).
Socio-Political Trend Surveys. Data and reports published by Markinor.
World Values Study: 1995–1996, Tabular results published by Markinor in April 1996.
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© 1997 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Harris, M. (1997). Monitoring Optimism in South Africa. In: Møller, V. (eds) Quality of Life in South Africa. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1479-7_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1479-7_12
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7162-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-1479-7
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