Urban Inequality: Theory, Evidence and Method in Johannesburg

Based on new evidence that challenges existing theories of
urban inequality, Urban Inequality argues that the changing
pattern of earnings and occupational inequality in Johannesburg is
better described by the professionalionalisation of employment
alongside high-levels of chronic unemployment.
Central to this examination is that the social polarisation
hypothesis, which is accepted by many, is simply wrong in the
case of Johannesburg. Ultimately, Crankshaw posits that the post-
Fordist, post-apartheid period is characterised by a completely
new division of labour that has caused new forms of racial
inequality. That racial inequality in the post-apartheid period is
not the result of the persistence of apartheid-era causes, but is
the result of new causes that have interacted with the historical
effects of apartheid to produce new patterns of racial inequality.