Abstract
South Africa celebrated ten years of democracy in 2004. This special issue of Social Indicators Research (SIR) reviews developments that have impacted on the quality of life of ordinary South Africans during the transition period. The issue updates an earlier volume of SIR (Volume 41) published in 1997 and as a stand-alone volume. The earlier volume was initiated following SIR editor Alex Michalos’ first visit to South Africa. This update on quality of life in South Africa follows on his return visit to the country in 2004 to see firsthand the changes that had occured in the meantime. This introductory article outlines major achievements of and setbacks for the new democracy and the challenges facing it in future. It provides the backround for the evaluations of a range of quality of life domains and issues including poverty and inequality, crime, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, migration and housing, religiosity, reconciliation, and optimism for the future which are covered in the eleven articles that follow. The introduction divides the articles under the headings of challenges, achievements, monitoring quality of life, and social capital for the future. The overview article concludes that improvements in quality of life have been uneven but goodwill and a positive outlook bode well for South African quality of life in future.
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Acknowledgement
The author and her colleagues in South Africa are grateful to Alex Michalos, editor of Social Indicators Research, for his continuing support of quality-of-life and social indicators research in South Africa. The 1997 volume was initiated by his visit to our roving conference on quality-of-life studies held in three urban centres in 1996. In 2004, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Social and Economic Research, we invited Alex Michalos back to South Africa to observe first-hand the changes that had taken place in South Africa since his first visit. This issue is the outcome of his return visit to speak and encourage South African researchers participating in the second roving quality-of-life studies conference held in Pretoria, Cape Town and Grahamstown in June 2004.
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Møller, V. Quality of life in South Africa – The First Ten Years of Democracy. Soc Indic Res 81, 181–201 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-006-9003-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-006-9003-4