The Social and Economic Underpinning of Paternalism and Violence on the Maize Farms of the South‐Western Transvaal, 1900–1950*

All social systems ‐ including highly repressive ones ‐ manifest features of accommodation as well as those of coercion. These are often seen as discrete entities and, in the case of modern South Africa, the pervasiveness of racial oppression has given rise to a literature which fails to explore more accommodatory ideologies and social practices such as paternalism. In this essay it is argued that paternalism and violence are not necessarily exclusive phenomena. Indeed, it is suggested that the very presence of paternalistic relationships can ‐ at various historic junctures ‐ exacerbate the propensity to violence.