How Can We Cope Better Within A Fractured Society?

South Africa is not a cohesive society – many of its citizens, scarred by crime and violence, are mistrustful of their compatriots. What can be done to address this issue?

- Amanda Visser

Few people will argue against the notion that there are large tears in South Africa’s social fabric. These rips are caused by fear, suspicion and social withdrawal. All these are elements which work against the building of social cohesion, says Gillian Eagle, professor in psychology at Wits University.

Scholars describe social cohesion as “the need for a shared sense of morality and common purpose, aspects of social control and social order, the threat to social solidarity of income and wealth inequalities between people, groups and places, the level of social interaction within communities or families, a sense of belonging some place”.

Eagle examined social cohesion against the background of crime, fear and continuous traumatic stress in SA in an article published in the South African Journal of Science in 2015.

She wrote that “in continuous traumatic stress contexts, the source of the danger is unpredictable and unknown. For people living in such high-threat environments it becomes difficult to discriminate between appropriate and paranoid responses to situations, contributing to suspicion, caution and mistrust in interpersonal engagements.”

People tend to keep their heads down, and demonstrate signs of social inhibition and withdrawal.

Eagle explored the traumatic impact of exposure to “fairly pervasive criminality” through fear of crime and continuous traumatic stress to see what the linkages are to the responses to crime and the role it plays in the erosion of social cohesion.

“The post-apartheid state is under pressure and ruptures are evident across the broad range of social formations including trade unions, political constituencies and civil society groupings.”