Journal of Social Development in Africa (1995), 10,2,23-33 
Inequality and Underdevelopment: 
Issues for a Social Development 
Curriculum 
PHIWASE M DLAMINI * 
ABSTRACT 
Previous governmental policies in South Africa created a situation where institutional 
poverty fostered inequality and divisions on a racial, gender and class levels. 
The author examines the context of social work practice in this country with this 
historical legacy in mind. He points out that previous social work roles were 
compromised by the fact that social workers were forced to operate within this 
inequitable system and assist people in adapting to the status quo. Following the 
recent changes new roles are called for under the Reconstruction and Development 
Programme. 
The paper traces the context of social work practice in South Africa and the 
contradictions faced by social workers between the service function and the social 
control function. It outlines a rationale for a social development curriculum in a 
country that seeks to redress the economic and political injustices of the past 
Introduction 
This paper reflects on issues of inequality as a social and moral problem that has 
plagued South Africa for more than three centuries. It attempts to forward 
suggestions for introducing a social work curriculum that will incorporate issues 
of international social development in a South African university. South Africa is 
part of a global economy and issues that affect it should be viewed in a broader 
perspective and in relation to its implications for the world. The profession of social 
work is being challenged to respond quickly, through adequate preparation of its 
students for appropriate practice in the country and an informed input in similar 
world issues. 
The argument that is put forward is that there can be no proper human and social 
development in South Africa without the redress of past injustices of which the 
social disease of inequality is one. The view that is adopted in this paper, is that the 
ideology of apartheid, that promoted inequality, influenced social development 
and afflicted the majority of the people in this country, destroyed the fabric of 
* Senior Lecturer, Social Work Department, University of Zululand, South 
Africa.
24 Phiwase Dlamini 
society, family and community life. It prevented a select population of the people 
from maximising their potential within a just society. Now that South Africa is 
governed by a government of national unity, that provides human and individual 
rights for all, social work departments face a challenge of relevance in the training 
of human resources. 
Conceptualisation of the Problem 
The concept of inequality is used to explain a variety of situations, eg gender, 
political, economic, and power inequality. Literature on this concept of inequality 
abounds. It is viewed as an institution, a moral phenomenon, in the sense that 
people evaluate each other on the basis of their differences and in a structural 
manner. There is no moral justification for such differentiation in human society. 
This institution of inequality is not only harmful but unjust as it ranks people in the 
access to livelihood resources and power. 
Myrdal (1970) argues that inequality is brought about by economic and social 
stratification. As a result people who come from underdeveloped countries suffer 
from: 
"...undernutrition, malnutrition, lack of elementary health and educational 
facilities; extremely bad housing conditions and sanitation" (p54). 
Inequality is socially engineered to prevent the majority from competing freely and 
equally with the minority that hold political, social and economic power, which 
consequently results in economic suffering. 
In South Africa, it became important for the past government to entrench social 
inequality between genders through the subordination of African women. It also 
became important to divide people according to ethnic groups to promote fear 
across racial lines and hinder strife for real change. Past policies in South Africa 
have fostered inequality and have not promoted equality. It is clear from the 
perspective of scholars of social policy that it was to the interest of the past South 
African government to favour the promulgation of these policies that were 
oppressive to the African population. 
Myrdal (1970) argues that inequality and the trend toward rising inequality 
stands as a complex of inhibitions and obstacles to development and that consequently, 
there is an urgent need for reversing the trend and creating greater equality 
as a condition for speeding up development. 
In spite of it being an immoral phenomenon in society, inequality continues to 
be pervasive, especially in the modern world. However, the form that it has taken 
in South Africa defies any human imagination. Through this notion of inequality,
Issues for a Social Development Curriculum 25 
not only had people dividedaccordingto racial groups and classes, but this division 
was a source of all human suffering, and a threat to human and societal survival. 
Poverty, especially of women and children, continues to be of concern to a variety 
of professionals - not the least social workers. The increasing number of femaleheaded 
households has sharpened the focus on the poverty of this population. 
Women, in pre-colonial times were central to the economy of their households. 
With their current marginalisation, many an African family is unnecessarily poor. 
The gap between white and black; rich and poor is still pronounced in South 
Africa, in spite of the political changes that have taken place in the country. The 
gap is obvious not only in the distribution of income and wealth, but in social ills 
and social problems. McKendrick et al (1992:116) argued that: 
".. .apartheid (that brings about this gap) is maintained at a high price over 
and above the heavy human toll in human degradation and indignity". 
They stated that, in this country, life expectancy of (African) males is 52 years and 
females, 55 years; the infant mortality rate is eighty per one thousand. This rate is 
two times that of coloureds, four times that of Asians and seven times that of whites 
in South Africa. The median family income of whites is double that of Asians; three 
times that of coloureds and eight times that of Africans. The literacy rate (of 
Africans) is forty-six per one hundred. They cite Wilson and Ramphele who claim 
that
".. .in terms of the Gini coefficient—a measure of disparity between the rich 
and the poor, in a society, South Africa has the world's highest measure of 
inequality". 
This situation is not about to be corrected. 
The Context of Social Work Practice in South Africa 
McKendrick (1990) contended that South African social work students were 
educated to practice in a context that is based on differentiation characterised by 
fragmentation and unequal service provision: "The contemporary social welfare 
system is based on racial division and a rejection of socialism". McKendrick 
further highlighted the fact that South Africans who are best protected by social 
security and most adequately aided by personal social services are the white group. 
This status quo has yet to change in South Africa today. 
The Population Registration Act (30/1950) introduced categories into which 
people had to be classified. In terms of the Group Areas Act (41/1950), each group 
could live only in separately allocated areas. This racial separation led to unequal
26 Phiwase Dlatnini 
services, with the groups that comprise the bulk of the population in need (80%) 
"...receiving the smallest slice of the cake" (McKendrick, 1990:2). 
The present population in South Africa is estimated at 36 million, with the 
Africans constituting the majority (80%) of this figure. An estimated fifty-four 
percent is illiterate. This status quo has created a scenario of a population that is not 
adequately skilled for available positions in the labour markeL As the economy of 
the country has slumped in the 'eighties and 'nineties, this has created a generation 
of unemployed people and hence growing poverty and crime. 
Authors who have written on political economy and social welfare policies (eg 
Moscovitch & Drover, 1981) regard moral injustices and inequalities as perpetuating 
problems of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. There is nowhere where 
these arguments find justification and are more clearly reflected than in the South 
African context. Illiteracy for Africans was perpetuated by lack of consistency in 
the education policy in the country. Whereas education for every white, coloured 
and Asian child was a right, enforced by compulsory and free education, for 
African children education was an option, aprivilege, complicated by few schools, 
education that parents should pay for and mostly unqualified teachers, especially 
in rural areas. It is not surprising that most parents did not opt to educate their 
children, because education was viewed as a drain on meagre economic resource. 
Social workers found themselves, in most instances, having to cope with the 
impact of this political imbalance. Their activities mostly involved devising 
strategies for African families to survive the policies that were designed to 
deliberately keep them in the lowest status level of the population. They wittingly 
or unwittingly became allies by working within the insidious policies, administration 
and the world view of the government of the country. Their participation in 
"development" as social workers continued to be viewed as nothing more than a 
collusion with the elite to accept living (for the majority) withoutany, or inadequate 
resources. In short the maxim has been to educate people to continue to do without 
Social workers experience a contradiction between the service function and the 
social control function which leads them to play roles of the oppressed and the 
oppressor. For example, they played a significant role in the determination of 
eligibility of resources (means testing); management of clients through various 
rules and regulations; interpretation of societal problems as personal problems (eg 
the effects of work, alienation, etc), which places the responsibility on the 
individual for the problems. Any type of financial assistance, if any, is channelled 
through an authority relationship which demands that the client abide by the set 
rules, le, the means test. For example, to qualify for what is referred to as a 
maintenance grant, any African woman has to prove that she has no male guardian, 
lather, husband, brother or son, to maintain her.
Issues for a Social Development Curriculum 27 
Social workers reinforced the policies of the state through continued implementation 
of the social policies without effort toward changing them. They served as 
a means of social control over the resultant disillusionment of the people, which 
most often erupted into violence or crime, and by their silence about oppressive 
legislation. Their incorporation into the system removed social workers from 
looking at issues, to defining problems in affective or emotional terms. These 
policies and rules humiliate people and make their work as social workers 
undignified. By implementing policies of inequality they become parties to the 
government's 'development'. Furthermore, through utilising micro approaches, 
they constrict their role and "...provide a framework for defining services and 
controlling the victims" (Moscovitch & Drover, 1981). 
The Reconstruction and Development policy enacted by the Government of 
National Unity calls for the review of the: 
"existingpoolofsocialserviceworkersandtheirconditionsofservice...many 
social workers must be reorientated and retrained within a developmental 
approach to social welfare" (1994:56). 
The profession can provide a transformation in the current status quo through 
taking a position in society and abandoning neutrality and conservatism. Knowledge 
about inhibiting policies and issues of development seem to be indicated for 
any training institution that is in a so-called "developing country". 
Rationale for a Social Development Curiculum in South Africa 
Social workers have long been challenged by Jane Adams (1930), who stated that 
there is a superior role for them other than remaining to care for the victimised (in 
Fraser, et al, 1991). This, to my mind, was not meant to minimise the role of the 
micro approaches in social work, but to challenge the profession to move ahead to 
areas of conflict, where the struggle must be pressed to bring about an order of 
society with fewer victims. Furthermore, Hamilton, in Specht (1968:35), in 
illuminating the issue further, argued that: 
"...one cannot successfully solve problems of interrelationships without a 
sound economic and political structure. All social work practice has 
political implications whether or not they are recognised". 
Social work education in South Africa has modelled itself against Western values 
that emphasise individuality, that is not necessarily the experience of all Africa and 
its people. The focus of training is micro in orientation with limited attempts to 
focus on the macro approaches. Furthermore, because students are trained only for
28 Phiwase Dlandni 
beginning practice within the profession, (ie offering a BA in Social Work), the 
perspective that has been adopted by all the universities in the country is generalist 
in nature. These models that have been utilised have not, in short, adequately met 
and served the socio-political and economic needs of the country's majority. 
The state of social work education has led the profession to be viewed not only 
as conservative and neutral, but as an instrument of domination and control over 
the majority of people as a means of furthering the apartheid policy. Many a 
committed social worker has been frustrated to be motivated to look for alternative 
contexts for practice, eg within labour unions, political and church organisations. 
If social work education is to be relevant and address the needs of the people 
being served, crucial issues of the curriculum need to be examined and implemented. 
While social work literature from the European and other western 
countries is vital, indigenous material seems to be indicated to sensitise students 
about local problems and needs of people of a developing country that South Africa 
is. 
The focus of training should be on empowering students with skills that will 
enable them to play a significant role that will change the institutional patterns of 
South Africa. Bernstein & Gray (1991:251) have argued that social work students 
need to be conscientised about the inequities of apartheid and prepared for the postapartheid 
era. This statement emanates from the fact that the experiences of all the 
students of social work, black and white, are so very different. This focus can be 
achieved through reflecting on issues of international social development, that 
promote particular sets of values - eg, concern for justice and equity. 
One of the decisions to be made in re-defining social work education is training 
for leadership; offering programmes that will relate to need-based problems of 
South Africa in general, and of Africans in particular as the most marginalised 
sector of the community. These problems pertain to inequality and poverty. This 
means a deliberate effort in curriculum design to encompass social development 
issues. Focus should be on training social work specialists who will effectively 
discharge their function. The process will not be an easy one, but with South 
Africa's commitment to change, and with interested colleagues in South Africa and 
abroad, who want to be part ofanewSouth Africa, this process seems to befeasible. 
There is a place for the social development curriculum even at a beginning level 
of practice for social work students. There have been arguments that specialist 
training cannot be offered at undergraduate level. Boehm, in Dinerman & Geismar 
(1991:97),forexample, has reiterated thattrainingatundergraduatelevelprovides: 
"...foundation knowledge and the specialist role.Js impracticable". However, 
beginning knowledge of social development could form part of the social work 
curriculum in South Africa. Active recruitment of students for a higher level of 
education has not been pursued in the past by social work departments or schools.
Issues for a Social Development Curriculum 29 
Furthermore, very few schools have taught programmes at MSW level in the 
country, and even fewer PhD programmes The schools offer mostly individualised 
programmes, mainly thesis writing at post-graduate level. If higher social work 
education is pursued in earnest, the social development curriculum could be 
developed further to provide areas of specialisation in the field. 
Fitting Social Development into the Social Work Curriculum 
For any effort to incorporate the social development content into a social work 
curriculum to succeed, there needs to be an agreed upon and common conceptualisation 
of this term. There have been extensive discussions in the literature about 
what social development means. However, there is no standardised or universally 
accepted meaning. Meinert & Kohn (1987:7) contend that there are many reasons 
why it is difficult to operationalise social development. They suggest three reasons 
that include: 
• its normative/value-laden focus; 
• its interdisciplinary nature that brings a unique perspective to the definitional 
process, and 
• its dynamic andprocessual quality that deals with integrated social components 
which do not lend themselves to mainstream quantitative methods of study. 
These authors argue that this concept has been discussed from the personal to the 
global, rather than the other way around. 
Ekins' view is that social and human development is predicated on key social 
factors that include, inter alia, the following: 
- "political and social commitment to equity 
- equitable distribution and access to public health 
- uniform access to the educational system with a focus on the primary level 
- availability ofadequatelnutrition at all levels of society in a manner that does 
not inhibit indigenous agricultural activity" (1992:3a). 
His argument is that poverty and disease do not stem from inadequate resources, 
or from overpopulation in current times, but from unfair distribution of resources, 
knowledge and power, which always appears to be in the hands of a few. 
A conception of social development that appears to address the issues that face 
South Africa today, seems to be the one propounded by Farris (1987) which views 
development within a normative framework and that emphasises the necessity of 
a reciprocal relationship between a person and the collectivity. It further emphasises 
the value of equal respect of all people. His view of a socially developed
30 Phiwase Dlamini 
country is one that attempts to eliminate the economic and political conditions that 
prevent or are the opposite of such equal respect. He cites Jurgen Habermas who 
views social development as: 
"...related to the elimination of certain forms ofexploitation. ..bodily harm 
(hunger, illness), then personal injury (degradation, servitude, fear), and 
finally spiritual desperation (loneliness, emptiness) -for well being and 
security, freedom and dignity, happiness and fulfilment" (1987:43). 
Care should be taken not to regard social development as a finished product but as 
a process of being. 
Curricula issues of social development should be based on values associated 
with social development and objectives that the school seek to achieve. As 
previously outlined, the problems of social development in South Africa, ie, social, 
economic and political inequalities that lead to the disenfranchisement of the 
majority, mainly stem from the apartheid ideology and the country's colonial past. 
Estes (1992) proposes several values that are central to social development, viz, 
conscientisation, distributive justice; non-exploitative rationality; de-tribalisation; 
co-operation; the emergence of humanocracy and participation. These values 
are or should be basic for any social development curriculum, especially in a 
country that has been characterised so much by its emphasis on differentiation. 
These differences, it should be emphasised in educating social work students, 
should be a source of "national strength and vitality" (Estes, 1992). 
The objectives for social development education should be, inter alia: 
a) broadening awareness in students of the socioeconomic and political systems 
and how they have promoted and sustained inequality and poverty in our country; 
b) facilitating the critical analyses of policies and problems in the country that 
maintain social injustice and inequality, so that they can be motivated to action; 
c) helping promote humanitarian values that will sustain any effort toward social 
development; 
d) promoting action toward the elimination of poverty, that is people-centered and 
looks toward global interdependence. 
This approach, if fitted into the curriculum, would liberate social work students 
from the hegemony of micro approaches that have tended to dominate social work
Issues for a Social Development Curriculum 31 
training and practice in South Africa. It would, further, promote fuller participation 
of the oppressed masses so that they access needed resources and cease to be 
viewed as objects but become subjects in their own right. Healy (1992) emphasises 
the following key foundation components in a development curiculum: 
- Human Behaviour/Social Environment: This subject focuses on the interaction 
between human behaviour and social, cultural and political contexts of practice. 
- Special Populations: focusing on women, children, the disabled and other 
disadvantaged populations. 
- Social Welfare Policy: focusing on analyses of economic and social policies. 
- Practice: focusing on development skills. 
- Ethics and the Profession. 
Based on this notion then, the social development curriculum should include: 
• basic assumptions about human beings, their nature and capability; 
• theories about human relationships and actions - compare what exists in South 
Africa and elsewhere in the world; 
• theories of development that appear to be relevant to the context of South Africa. 
These should include the social, economic and political perspectives; 
• analysis of these policies that impact on human lives; 
• poverty and hunger issues; gender inequality; children's issues; social justice 
and human rights issues; 
• national and global contexts of afore-mentioned issues; 
• strategic planning for intervention. 
It is the responsibility of the profession to train and prepare social workers to 
understand and perceive parameters of practice and to engage in social action. 
Social work students should understand issues of inequality and how they strip 
people of their dignity and degrade them. They should be able to meet the demands 
that are social, political and economic that afflict the majority of the people 
Estes (1992:11) states that there is an increased push within the profession to 
concentrate on the social, political and economic issues as they affect the masses 
of people in any country. He contends that the greatest challenge of the profession 
is to: 
• address issues of inequality, injustice and human degradation; 
• acknowledge that without social justice and equity in any country, there can be 
no social development, nor in turn, human development; 
• mobilise the unique body of knowledge, values and skills that can positively 
impact upon the world social situation.
32 Phiwase Dlamini 
All this knowledge could be located and infused within the BSW courses, 
especially those that have a macro perspective, ie community organisation, 
planning and administration. A major part of the practicum, especially for the third 
and fourth years of the undergraduate training, could be on developing skills that 
expand knowledge of community mobilisation and action. Students could also be 
encouraged to undertake research projects that promote issues of social development. 
A possibility of developing a taught Master's programme could promote 
these ideas even further. Students at the Master's level could specialise in this field, 
allowing them to crystallise the issues involved in social development in South 
Africa. Hopefully policy issues could result from these deliberations. 
Conclusion 
The paper has attempted to outline what is considered human injustice in South 
Africa, that takes the form of social, economic, and political inequality. The major 
thrust of the paper has been to indicate how a school of social work could 
incorporate a social development curriculum, to come to terms with the conceptualised 
problems in the country. 
These reflections indicate that the problems in South Africa cannot be solved 
without taking into consideration basic global issues of inequality andpoverty, and 
how this country contributes to continuing oppression of the masses. 
There is a continuing pressure for change in the world, but more so for South 
Africa. At present, this country can be considered to be in transition, and hence the 
need to concern ourselves with a curriculum that is relevant for the social work 
profession, to allow it to contribute and promote such needed change for the better 
in the country. 
References 
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Social Work Profession", in International Social Work, Vol 34 (3). 
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Education, NASW, USA. 
Ekins, P (1992) A New World Order, Routledge, London. 
Estes, R (1992) Internationalizing Social Work, University of Pennsylvania, 
Pennsylvania.
Issues for a Social Development Curriculum 33 
Farris, B (1987) "Introducing Social Development Content into the Social 
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