Comparative analysis of such different and in the meantime similar countries as the United States of America and South Africa requires certain background knowledge, in other words, knowledge of these counties history, geography, literature, religion, politics, language, etc. These are the main constituent parts of culture. Moreover, we should get a clear idea of values and norms, established in these countries, because without it the analysis will incomplete.
If we speak about South Africa, first, it is necessary to trace the history of its independence. For many centuries, the territory of modern South Africa belonged to European superpowers such as The United Kingdom and the Netherlands. It should be also taken into account that South Africa gained its independence from Great Britain only in 1910, which means that it is a relatively young and developing country, especially in comparison with the United States.
The present South African politics are ruled by the African National Congress (ANC) that received 69.7% in the last general election in 2004 and 66.3% in the municipal election in 2006. The incumbent President of South Africa is Kgalema Motlanthe, who substituted Thabo Mbeki on 25 September 2008. Mbeki was a successor to previous President Nelson Mandela in 1999, and was re-elected for a second term in 2004, but submitted his request for resignation on 20 September 2008.
The main opponent to the ANC is the Democratic Alliance party, which got 12.4% of the vote in the election in 2004 and 14.8% in the 2006 election. Helen Zille is the party leader; the former leader was Tony Leon. The formerly dominant New National Party, which established an apartheid regime through its predecessor, the National Party, preferred to join the ANC on 9 April 2005. Other influential political parties represented in the Parliament are the Inkatha Freedom Party that mostly speaks for the rights of Zulu voters and the Independent Democrats, who got 6.97% and 1.7% during the election in 2004.
As regards the foreign policy of South Africa, we can say that since the abolishment of the apartheid regime (before that South Africa was officially boycotted by the international community) this country has always played the role of a peacekeeper or a mediator in African conflicts. At present The Republic of South Africa is a member of the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization (Fleisher, 1995). It also must be mentioned that South Africa was “the only African country, which had nuclear weapons but it was also the first country to renounce this program” (Mwakikagile, 2008).
Another issue, which has already been mentioned, and is of utmost importance, is the problem of apartheid – a system of legislative acts promoting racial segregation. These laws were administered by the government of the National Party within the period of 1948 and 1990. This regime is deeply rooted in the history of the colonization of southern Africa. The National Party launched the program of Apartheid, which practically deprived black people of their civil rights. The apartheid regime was officially abolished in a series of negotiations from 1990 to 1993, but its consequences are still noticeable.
The democratic process in South Africa culminated in elections in 1994, with not restricted suffrage, which was unprecedented for South Africa. Nevertheless, the problem of racial segregation remains a very acute one in South Africa, because people belonging to different cultures still tend to be separated from one another, especially in terms of cultural relations. It also must be taken into consideration that for a long period of time South Africa was relatively isolated because many countries imposed a boycott on the apartheid regime.
It goes without saying, that all of that still has a strong influence on South Africa culture and its society.
As far as the population of South Africa is concerned, it must be noticed that this country is inhabited by more than 48 million people of different origins languages and religions.
According to the last population census, the overwhelming majority belongs to black people (approximately 78%); western Europeans number 9% and people, who possess sub-Saharan ancestry 10%. It also should be taken into consideration that the black population of South Africa is not homogeneous, because all of them take their origin from different tribes that have entirely different languages and profess different faith. The main ethnic groups in South Africa are Xhosa, Zulu, and Basotho. Some of these ethnic groups are unique and their representatives can be found only in South Africa, others may also inhabit the neighboring countries.
Thus we may arrive at the conclusion that the population of South Africa is extremely diverse as well as the population of the United States, but the consequences of the apartheid regime are still very noticeable in South Africa and people of different cultures still tend to separate themselves from each other. If we draw a parallel between South Africa and the United States, we may say that the US population is not so segregated especially as far as cultural relations among different nationalities are concerned.
It comes as no surprise that there is no single culture in South Africa due to the diversity of the population and naturally, we can easily find vast cultural differences as well.
First of all, we should say that the vast majority of black people still live in rural areas and lead rather impoverished life and have no access to high technologies, unlike the white community. However, they are constantly “urbanized and westernized” (Williams, 2000), the present moment the majority of black people are Christian, but some of them still oppose this constant process of globalization especially if it in any way affects their culture and they still try as hard as they can to preserve their religion and language. As regards religion, we can observe “a unique combination of Christianity and their original religion” (Hein, 1987).
As far as the white minority is concerned, we can say that they are in general well-to-do people, and their lifestyle is very similar to that one of western Europeans or Americans. Therefore, we may arrive at the conclusion that there exists a striking difference between the white population and the black population. It applies not to the culture but also to the financial state of people.
Asians, who are mostly of Indian origin, try to maintain their own culture, language, and religion. They are Christian, Hindu, or Sunni Muslim and speak English by preference. Such Indian languages as Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, or Gujarati are spoken no so There is a small Chinese community in South Africa, although its number has significantly increased because of the constant immigration from China.
It is also necessary to mention the system of values and norms, established in South Africa. We cannot say that it is homogeneous, because people in South Africa are of immensely different origins, therefore we can speak only about various ethnic groups but not about the whole population. It should be taken into account that such a notion, as value system is an extremely complex one and it comprises a great number of aspects like for instance attitude to family, friendship, ones own country. It also includes some behavioral aspects. Therefore, a thorough analysis of this issue will take much more than this paper.
However, if we present it in the most general way it is necessary to focus attention on the following issues. First, it is the attitude to marriage and family. Such a phenomenon as polygamy is quite acceptable in some South African tribes. The very idea of an illegitimate child in South Africa is almost inconceivable. We must also take into account that in some traditional South African cultures the extended family is as much important as the nuclear one, perhaps the concept of the tribe still plays an important role. Despite constant urbanization, members of the black South African community always try to remain in touch with the extended family. In the meantime, English-speaking white community attributes much more importance to the nuclear family.
Most South Africans, irrespective of the ethnic group they belong to, prefer tête-a-tête meetings to more impersonal forms of communication such as email, letter, or phone conversation.
It is also worth attention that South Africans regardless of their ethnicity cannot stand unpunctuality. The proverb “punctuality is the politeness of kings” is one of the basic principles in the South African community.
Comparing two cultures, we should certainly discuss gender issues, which are, undoubtedly, of crucial importance. South Africa shows considerable differences in the social status of men and women. There is some inequality between them. The poorest people in South Africa remain black women, and they are socially discriminated against in terms of earning power, gaining access to education, and employment. Besides, South African women have to surmount obstacles in other spheres: for instance, in some southern African cultures,” a woman is not permitted to own property” (Normant, 1994).
As far as the question of religion is concerned, we can say that judging from the last national census in 2001; Christians numbered 79.7% of the population. This also comprises Zion Christian 11.1%, Pentecostal 8.2%, Roman Catholic 7.1%, Methodist 6.8%, Dutch Reformed 6.7%, Anglican 3.8%, and other Christian 36%. Islamic community numbered 1.5% of the population, Hinduism about 1.3%, and Judaism 0.2%. 15.1% of the population had no religious belonging, 2.3% (Mwakikagile, 2008).
It must be mentioned that many citizens of South Africa have a unique combination of Christianity and their original religion. Comparing South Africa and the United States, we can say that these countries are both extremely diverse in terms of religious beliefs.
In South Africa, there are eleven official languages: Sesotho, Sepedi, siSwati, Tshivenda, Setswana, Afrikaans, Xitsonga, English, etc. In this regard, South Africa is surpassed only by India in number. Although each of the above-mentioned languages is equal to every other, some of them are more or less widespread. In accordance with National Census in 2001, the three most common home languages are Zulu 23.8%, Xhosa 17.6%, and Afrikaans 13.3%. Despite the fact that English is considered to be the language of administration, it was spoken by only 8.2% of South Africans in everyday life in 2001. Therefore, we may conclude that the population of South Africa prefers to speak its home languages rather than English (Mwakikagile,2002).
As far as literature is concerned, such famous writers as Nadine Gordimer and J. M. Coetzee have also achieved international recognition; both are awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa in 1892. Naturally, all of these authors were writing in English.
Another very acute problem of South Africa is the so-called “brain drain”, which has some racial contours: a great number of white South Africans go abroad. This process began approximately 25 years ago, and it is very detrimental to the regional community (Saul,1996).
Having compared and contrasted cultures of such countries as South Africa and The United States, we may say that they have some similar features, for instance the immense diversity of the population, culture religion. Nevertheless, there are some different features, for example, the tendency of South Africa to be to a certain degree segregated from the point of view of culture and financial position. Moreover, it is necessary to mention that the position of women in South Africa leaves much to be desired.
Bibliography
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Hein D. (1987). Religion and Politics in South Africa. London, Sage.
Mwakikagile G. (2002). South Africa in Contemporary Times. Johannesburg, New Africa Press.
Norment L. (1994). Women in South Africa. Ebony, 49(2), 98-105.
Saul J.S. (1996). South Africa: The Crisis Deepens. The Monthly Review, 37, 7-21.
Williams S. (2000). Globalization and The New South Africa. African Business, 32.