Dimensions and Drivers of Inequality in the Lives of South African Youth: Informing Developmental Social Work Training

Abstract It is known that South Africa suffers from high levels of inequality. Inequality is particularly evident in the prevalence of unemployment, and the South African youth is a particularly vulnerable population with a 63.9% unemployment rate. There is a clear relationship between unemployment and vulnerability. We propose that inequality can only be understood when we examine the drivers that feed the lack of social justice and how youths are affected by various dimensions of inequality. Addressing inequalities and striving for social justice are widely entwined in the social work agenda. Therefore, when practising developmental social work among the youths, the social work service must remain relevant to the social injustices experienced by youths. This study aimed to qualitatively explore South African youths’ experiences regarding social justice and identify drivers and dimensions of inequality for developmental social work practice and training in South Africa. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted, and data were collected from a group of South African youths using an online survey. The collected data were processed using thematic analysis. The emerging drivers of inequality were found to be poverty, rurality, gender-based violence, and race. The most significant dimensions affected by these drivers are education, health care, service delivery, and unemployment. This implies that these drivers and dimensions should be added as content for social work students in South Africa to study.