Racism and Authoritarianism among White South Africans

Summary Previous work with student samples has suggested that authoritarianism may not have the same significance in relation to racism in South Africa as it does elsewhere. It has been proposed instead that both racism and authoritarianism are simply social norms in South Africa. The present study examined these hypotheses on a random sample of 100 residents of Johannesburg. When compared with the results of similar surveys in Australia, the South Africans were found in fact not to be particularly authoritarian or racially prejudiced. Prejudice and F scale score correlated .59, but a scale of authoritarianism in personality inventory format predicted prejudice not at all (r = −.07). It was concluded that the F scale was primarily a measure of social conservatism and that South African institutional racism could best be understood as a response to perceived threat.