Post-apartheid Economic Policy and the Black Middle Class in South Africa

After the ending of apartheid in 1990, South Africa has seen a tremendous shift in economic policy trying to mend the damages done during the 40 years of segregation. After years of oppression and inequality, South Africa had a revolutionary stand against the white minority political party in hope to end the oppression, and to grow a more equal economic, political and social dynamic to the country. With a new political agenda of creating a more equal playing field, one goal was to bring the majority, the black population, out of poverty along with grow the economy of South Africa as a whole. Policy changes helped increase the black middle class tremendously in the years following the ending of apartheid, however; even if the class after apartheid law has been lifted, many black families continually struggle to climb out of poverty. This paper aims to define the middle class in South Africa and discuss policy changes that have impacted the economic, social and political transformation of South Africa within the post-apartheid era.Further research is aimed to explore why the ending of apartheid and the onset of democracy not had been accompanied by the decline of inequality throughout the nation.