Universty of the Western Cape
The state, hegemony and ideology: reflections on the 1976 student uprisings and the 2015 #feesmustfall movement
Abstract
dc:description.abstractAdvancing a Gramscian critique of the democratic constitutional state in South Africa, this study argues that the hegemonic continuities from apartheid to democratic South Africa still linger 30 years after democracy. The central thesis of this dissertation is that these two states operate primarily on the same logic of capitalist hegemony, and thus reproduce similar tensions between state and civil society. Using a comparative research design, where the case studies are the 1976 Student Uprisings and the 2015 #FeesMustFall movement, the study examines one moment of student protest in each of these regimes, to show the conditions that produce similar moments of dissent, and how both these regimes rely on consent and coercion, in varying degrees, to maintain their hegemony. The theoretical framework through which these cases and hegemonic continuities are assessed is a combination of Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, Foucault’s theory of power and Althusser’s theory of Ideological and Repressive State Apparatus. This framework allows the study to operationalize this comparative research design through subjecting the South African state to an analysis of its use of state institutions to maintain hegemony. To implement this particular research design the study has conducted life histories, semi structured interviews, visited archives, collected data through documentary and video analysis and used autoethnographic accounts and recollections of the author, who was closely involved in the #FeesMustFall movement.
Degree
thesis:*- Grantor dc:publisher.institution
- Universty of the Western Cape
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2024
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
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- Mandyoli, Lindokuhle
- Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
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- Anciano, Fiona