Research ReportAn Investigation of National versus Ethnic IdentityAmong White South African StudentsThe purpose of this study was to explore the,. effects of structural and cultural variables on'identificational assimilation' within a group ofwhite college students in South Africa. Measure-ment of the nature of social and cultural plura-J y lism1 in a society as complex as South Africa iscrucial to an understanding of the processes of" social change within it, as well as predictions ofits future shape. Whilst some approaches tothe society view the white elite as a unified poweri block,2 others claim that '. . . members of thevarious ethnic groups in South Africa shareŁ » no common system of values'3 and so attentionhas been drawn to the cleavages of language,*Ł degree of urbanization, and subsequent politicaldifferences.4 In view of the importance of such'cleavages', this project attempted to separatej national and ethnic identity, as well as relatedsocial and religious factors, within a particular>Ł white ethnic group.Gordon is well-known for his study of assimila-tion in American life, in which he abstracts seventypes of assimilation: cultural or behavioural as-* similation ('change of cultural patterns to those ofthe host society'); structural assimilation (large-scale entrance into cliques, clubs, and institutionsof the host society, on primary group level');marital assimilation ('large-scale intermarriage');identificational assimilation ('development ofsense of people-hood based exclusively on host* society'); attitude receptional assimilation('absence of discrimination'); and civic assimila-tion ('absence of value and power conflict')5. Thistypology therefore reflects two basic formsof assimilation: structural assimilation (structural,marital, attitude and behaviour receptional, andcivic assimilation), and cultural assimilation (cul-tural or behavioural, and identificational assimila-tion), which both reflects and controls the first.Thus, sub-group identities may have importantrestraining or integrating effects on the assimila-tion process and their relationship to structuraland cultural assimilation is, it is suggested, ofcrucial importance. Where the identity of thehost society is accepted, for example, both formsof assimilation may be accelerated. When suchidentity is resisted, as may be the case with ethnicgroups, such assimilation will be restrained anduneven; and the host society may object to thelack of national identity and make further struc-tural assimilation more difficult.Jews were chosen, for study as their ethnicityis resilient and their social position is bothnationally and internationally insecure. As agroup, then, they are particularly suited to a studyof assimilation as their social and cultural bound-aries are sharply defined. Three hypotheses wereformulated as follows:1. Structural assimilation (high social particip-ation in the general society) is positivelyrelated to national identity;752. Cultural assimilation (low ethnicity, such asreligious orthodoxy and conformity) is posi-tively related to national identity;3. Positive perception of the general society(perception of the society as non-prejudiced)is positively related to national identity.PROCEDUREA questionnaire containing items on back-ground information, religious orthodoxy and con-formity, participation in college life, perceptionof South African society, and personal identitywas developed. Selected for study were all themembers of a students' organization at a largeuniversity in South Africa to which most Jewishstudents belonged. The questionnaire was mailedto the students and despite initial resistance,participation was high (80 students, approximate-ly 80 per cent).The variables selected for analysis includedbackground, social, religious, and perceptualcharacteristics. These were age, father's occupa-tion, length of residence in South Africa, degreeof participation in campus activities, degree ofreligious orthodoxy and conformity and percep-tion of a degree of general South Africanprejudice against Jews. Personal identity wasascertained by requesting the student to select oneof the following categories as his predominantidentity: a South African, a South African Jew,a Jewish South African, a Jew. The results weretabulated and a gamma matrix interrelating bothindependent and dependent variables wasdeveloped.RESULTSThe great majority of the students was ethnicin identity. Thus, 66 per cent classified themselvesas either Jewish South Africans or Jews, while33 per cent claimed to be South Africans or SouthAfrican Jews. The highly non-South Africanorientation thus points to the group's general non-assimilation into South African society.Analysis of the interrelationship between themajor variables is given in Table I, relating thepredictor variables to a South African identity.6The major trends may be summarized asfollows:1. Age is negatively related to national identity,as well as orthodoxy and religious conform-ity. It thus appears that assimilation is low-er among the older students who also tendto perceive prejudice in the society at large.2. On the other hand, the negative associationbetween age and length of South Africanresidence suggests that the older studentshave spent less time in the country. Ingeneral, however, we cannot claim increas-ing assimilation over time. One reason, maybe the limited, cross-sectional nature of thestudy, while another interpretation wouldemphasize increasing awareness of ethnicityand subsequent disidentification from SouthAfrican society.3. Social class is negatively related to bothperceived prejudice and national identity. Itappears, then, that the middle class Jew ismore assimilated into South African societydespite the fact that his professionalcounterpart is less aware of anti-Semitismin the society at large. Origins are alsopositively associated with length of resi-dence, suggesting that while residence resultsin lower perceived prejudice it does notdevelop increased assimilation among theupper class and professional Jews.74. Length of South African residence is associ-ated with a decline in campus activities anda similar decline in perceived prejudice andincreased national identity.5. Campus activities show a slight positiveassociation with national identity, thus pro-viding some evidence for the hypothesisconcerning structural assimilation.Table IGAMMA MATRIX OF BACKGROUND, SOCIAL, RELIGIOUS, PERCEPTUAL AND NATIONALVARIABLESIDENTITY11. Age2. Father's Occupation3. Length of South African Residence4. Campus Activity5. Degree of Orthodoxy6. Degree of Conformity7. Degree of South African prejudice8. Degree of national identity,02-,17,30,00,04-,40Š 24,04,106 7Š,40,00,14,01,10,40-,10-51,04.04Š 33Š 20,21,1632,-30,2076r* *t.I*- '6. Support for the hypothesis concerning cul-tural assimilation is provided in the resultsconcerning degree of orthodoxy. While thegammas are not high, both orthodoxityand conformity are negatively related toassimilation. High participation in ethnic-religious culture thus restrains identification-al assimilation in the society at large.7. Finally, the hypothesis concerning perceivedprejudice is confirmed although, once again,the level of association is not very high.Thus, students who perceive less prejudicein the South African society at large tendto be national rather than ethnic in identity.CONCLUSIONThe purpose of this project was to examine theeffects of structural and cultural variables onassimilation within an ethnic group, using person-al identity as the dependent variable. The pre-dominance of ethnic rather than national identitywas found. As might be expected, the Jews inthis group are relatively unassimilated into thesociety at large. However, examination of thevariables relating to assimilation produces certainpatterns: length of residence in South Africa,low religious involvement, and a positive percep-tion of the society are positively related to aSouth African rather than Jewish identity. On theother hand, age and social class are negativelyrelated to such an identity, even though there isa positive association between the latter andlength of residence, it would thus appear that forcertain social groups, structural and culturalassimilation is effective in developing identifica-tional assimilation but not for others who tend toremain socially and culturally incapsulated.t kREFERENCES1. For a discussion of the term 'pluralism' see VAN DEN BERGHE, P. L, 1964 Toward a Sociology of Africa, SocialForces, 43, 11-18.2. See, for example, BANTON, M. 1967 White Supremacy in South Africa In: BANTON, M. ed. Race Relations.London. Tavistock, 164-93,3. VAN DEN BERGHE, 13.4. See, for example, VAN DER MERWE, H. W. 1969 'Political unity and diversity among the white South Africanelite'. Paper read at the Conference of the African Studies Association, Montreal.5. GORDON, M. M. 1964 Assimilation in American Life, The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins. NewYork, Oxford University Press, p. 71.6. Gamma was used as all the variables were viewed as ordinal, including identity, in which a 'South African' identitywas viewed as high assimilation through the other categories to 'Jew' which represents virtually no assimilation at all.7. Non-South African Jews in this sample came in the main from Israel, their parents being immigrants to SouthAfrica.University of NatalG, C. KINLOCHD. A. NIPPER77