AFRIKANER VALUES IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: AN ...

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The implications of the aforementioned view of culture are, amongst others, that culture
is whatever makes people behave differently; that the function of culture is to sustain
society (Thornton 1988:23 and Whiteley 1971:121); that society can be ordered in terms
of basic cultural contrasts (for example: civilised versus uncivilised and developed
versus undeveloped) (Thomas 2006:54-55); and lastly, that culture has specific
institutionalised ways for the creation and transfer of identity at its disposal (Roosens
1989:151 and Timmerman 2000:97). Seen in this light, identity becomes closely related
to culture (De Beer 1998:34).
However, by highlighting the transactional nature of identity and emphasising the
deliberate decisions of the social actors, the Scandinavian anthropologist, F. Barth
(1969), has made us understand that identity cannot be explained/understood in terms of
a unilateral, exaggerated emphasis on the meaning of culture only. In this regard, he
firstly emphasised the particular role of the individual. For example, Collier (1998:123),
states that individuals continually negotiate and construct their identities in contexts such
as conversations, relationships, contacts, the development of social histories, language,
wordplay, and interpersonal and inter-group dynamics involving power, control, the
bonds created by class, gender, religion, convictions, affiliations and regional
differences. Authors such as Banton (1994:2); Bates and Rassam (1983:85-88); Bekker
(1993:12-13); Martin (1995:14) and Sharp (1988:80), agree that freedom of association
determines the uniqueness of any person, his relationships with others and the resulting
groups that form. When initial relationship patterns between two people change for some
or other reason, the person’s connectedness changes as well. The person is then placed in
a causative and a marginal position relative to the group. Membership of a group and the
degree to which an individual member identifies with the group are changeable and
negotiable. Each person chooses, be it subconsciously or consciously, between
alternative sources for identification when social and economic situations are identified
or manipulated. During his lifetime, a person is confronted with an infinite number of
possibilities where he has to decide about how he identifies with different values and
groups. He has to relate these different identities to each other as well as reconcile the
contradictions between identities. Logically speaking, the individual has to conceive the
meaning attached to the concept of identity. Identification is a personal matter and is the
result of multiple choices that are being made continually.