INSTITUTIONS, PUBLIC POLICY AND SOCIAL REALITIES, pages: 171 - 180, 2016

Discursive Struggle and Social Change in South Africa in the Mid 1990’s

Rezumat: Discourse has a twofold significance: it shapes reality, whilst simultaneously getting shaped by reality. In South Africa, a counter hegemonic discourse econcouraged both by internal and external factors managed to first dislocate, then replace the narratives of apartheid, bringing about a social change which was convenient for a historically oppressed part of society. The majority of the population adhered to the new narrativ, because it granted them convenient identities, and detached them from the social stigma that had been perpetuated in their detriment for decades. This article observes the social changes in South Africa through the lens of Discourse Theory.