Ironies of Solidarity - Insurance and Financialization of Kinship in South Africa

Set in one of the world''s most unequal and violent places, this ethnographic study reveals how insurance companies discovered a vast market of predominantly poor African clients. After apartheid ended in 1994, South Africa became a ''testing ground'' for new insurance products, new marketing techniques and pioneering administrative models with a potentially global market.Drawing on Rorty''s notion of irony for understanding how the contradictions inherent to solidarity affect inequality and conflict as well as drawing on a vast array of case studies, examines how both Africans enjoy the freedoms that they have gained in financial terms and how the onset of democracy effected the risks faced in everyday life. Bahre examines the ways in which policies are sold and claims are handled, offering a detailed analysis of South Africa''s insurance sector.>

Product details

• Authors: Erik Bahre, Erik Bähre
• Publisher: Zed Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.01.2020
• EAN: 9781786998583
• ISBN: 978-1-78699-858-3
• No. of pages: 264
• Series: Politics and Development in Contemporary Africa; Politics and Development in Contemporary Africa; Politics and Development in Co
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general); Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Politics; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Johannesburg, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Urban, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Economic Development, Cape Town, Republic of South Africa, Political science & theory, urban economics, Political science and theory, Development Studies, Development economics & emerging economies, Development economics and emerging economies, For higher / tertiary / university education, EDUCATION / Schools / Levels / Higher, For graduate / post-graduate and equivalents, Regional / urban economics