INTRODUCTION

This study is based on a survey of Soweto conducted in January 1997, initiated by Danny Kekana in 1995 already. It was co-ordinated and written up by a team of researchers based mainly in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand.

The aim of the study is to provide a comprehensive profile of Soweto through the use of a household survey. While the media has targeted Soweto, as an area of interest and concern, up until this survey there has not been a comprehensive sociological study. Although there has been many small scale studies conducted, many of them tend to concentrate on specific issues and failing to give the picture as a whole, including:

• The broad demography (population)
• Sociological features
• Housing conditions
• Health
• Education
• Migration
• Legal attitudes
• Gender relations
• Social ties

This study attempts to fill these gaps by looking at the different issues listed below:

• The Setting: Physical and Historical Contexualisation
• Some Surprises: Key Demographic Indicators
• Differentiation Abounds: Physical Living Conditions
• The Lure off the City: Migration and Urbanisation
• Gender, Marriage and the Family
• Health, Diseases and Disability
• Increasing Insecurity: Crime and Violence
• Limited Knowledge and Resources: Human Rights and the Use of Legal Institutions
• Neighborhood Patriotism: Perceptions of the Quality of Life
• Conclusion

The study, which will be presented on this web page, is in its revised form and basically highlights the type of information available in the full documented version "Change and Continuity: A Survey of Soweto in the Late 1990's".

Full credit of this document goes to the Sociology Department at the University of the Witwatersrand. For further inquiries on detailed information pertaining to the listed issues, please contact:

Dr Alan Morris
University of the Witwatersrand
Department of Sociology
Tel: 011 716 2942