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Triandis, H.C.: 1995, Individualism and Collectivism (Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado). South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR): 1999, South Africa Survey 1999/2000 (South African Institute of Race Relations, Johannesburg). Schlemmer, L.: 1997, 'The nemesis of race: a case for redoubled concern', Frontiers of Freedom 9, pp. 'The 1995 Rugby World Cup and the politics of nation-building in South Africa', Media, Culture & Society 20 (4), pp. Moodie, T.D.: 1975, The Rise of Afrikanerdom: Power, apartheid and the Afrikaner civil religion (University of California Press, Berkeley). (Durban, Indicator Press, University of Natal).
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Hanf: 1995, Learning to Vote: Voter education in the 1994 South African elections. (French Institute of South Africa, Newtown, Johannesburg). Five Years into Democracy: Elite and Rank-and-file Perspectives on South African Quality of Life and the “Rainbow Nation”. Harris: 1999, 'South Africa's “rainbow people”, national pride and happiness', Social Indicators Research 47, pp. Mø ller, V.: 1999, 'South African quality of life trends in the late 1990s: major divides in perceptions' Society in Transition 30 (2), pp. Mø ller, V.: 1998, 'Quality of life in South Africa: post-apartheid trends', Social Indicators Research 43 (1-2), pp. Mø ller, V.: 1994, 'Post-election euphoria', Indicator South Africa 12 (1), pp. Schlemmer (eds.): 1996, Launching Democracy in South Africa (Yale University Press, New Haven). Harris, M.: 1997, 'Monitoring optimism in South Africa', Social Indicators Research 41 (1-3), pp. (Helen Suzman Foundation, Johannesburg) Focus 8, pp. 75-96).ĭiener, E.: 1994, 'Assessing subjective well-being: Progress and opportunities', Social Indicators Research 31(2), pp. Richards (eds.), “My Life in the New South Africa”: A Youth Perspective (Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa, pp. 335-348).ĭickow, H.: 1999b, '“Yours in the rainbow nation”: Young South Africans and the rainbow', in T. Dealing with Difference (Nomos, Baden-Baden, pp. Arnold Bergstraesser Institute, Freiburg, Germany.ĭickow, H.: 1999a, 'From ethnic to syncretistic civil religion', in Hanf, Th.
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21-23.ĭickow, H.: 1996, Das Regenbogenvolk: Die Entstehung einer neuen Civil Religion in Südafrika (The Rainbow People: The Emergence of a New Civil Religion in South Africa) (Nomos, Baden-Baden, Germany).ĭickow, H.: 1997, The rainbow revisited. Linkages between acceptance ofthe rainbow symbol, subjective well-being andoptimism are discussed in the light of thesocio-political changes which have taken placein South Africa since democracy.Ĭhristianson, D.: 1999, 'Founding legends and their aftermath', (South African Institute of Race Relations) Frontiers of Freedom 21, pp. Lack of a focus ofnational pride is associated with pessimism.Results support the conclusion reached earlierthat belief in the `rainbow nation' idealboosts optimism and promotes happiness duringSouth Africa's transition to a stabledemocracy, thereby preventing alienation amongthe losers under the new politicaldispensation. Support for thepolitical symbolism of the rainbow ispositively associated with happiness, lifesatisfaction and optimism. The thirdround of research finds that the appeal of therainbow as political symbol has waned but isstill inclusive of all groups in society.Projections of national pride have shifted fromthe rainbow as symbol of unity andreconciliation to other icons of achievementsuch as the Reconstruction and DevelopmentProgramme and prowess in sport. The researchers revisitconclusions based on the earlier results(Møller, Dickow and Harris, 1999). Thepublic discourse on the rainbow is reviewedthrough personal interviews with a panel of 25elites contacted in the run-up to the secondgeneral elections. The database for the studyare responses to items placed with a syndicatednational survey conducted countrywide. The paper reports theacceptance of the rainbow as political symbolof unity among the diverse people of SouthAfrica at three times: Immediately after the1994 elections, two years later in 1996, andfive years later in 1999 after the secondgeneral elections. Since the first democratic elections of1994, South Africans are popularly known as the`rainbow people'.
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