This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Louw, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Social Context and Psychological Testing in South Africa, 1918-1939

University of Cape Town, LOUW{at}psipsy.uct.ac.za

In the period between the two world wars the social and human sciences in South Africa became important contributors to the debates about vital social issues, of which `the Native question' was a particularly pressing one. Psychological knowledge, too, was utilized in the legitimation of a social order based on race, since the perception was that psychological testing produced empirical data which supported certain explanations of this order. Two ideological positions developed in the period under review in South Africa: eugenics and Christian-nationalism. The contribution of psychological testing, eugenics and Christian-nationalism to the construction of `race' in the local context forms the focus of this paper. It is argued that eugenics provided arguments for social inequality in terms of biology, while its counterpart, Christian-nationalism, provided similar arguments based on theology. However, Christian-nationalism also enabled Afrikaner politicians and social scientists to mobilize impoverished Afrikaans speakers, and hence it had more of a policy impact than eugenics. Psychological testing became recognized as a source of authority on social controversies, particularly with reference to educational policies, where race played a significant mediating role.

Key Words: Christian-nationalism • eugenics • psychological testing • South • Africa

Theory & Psychology, Vol. 7, No. 2, 235-256 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/0959354397072006


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. J. Stam Ten Years after, Decade to Come: The Contributions of Theory to Psychology Theory Psychology, February 1, 2000; 10(1): 5 - 21. [Abstract] [PDF]