Poverty and Income Stratification in South Africa

The use of income stratification in social research has lot of significance. Most times scientist choose different approach in describing income and poverty. South African society is influenced by historical and cultural factors, and has rapidly changed since apartheid including distribution of income, yet income of subgroups within the country has not been appropriately expounded. The relative approach, based on the median income value was applied as the core standard of living and used to describe and distinguish income groups for poverty situation in South Africa. The empirical data for the analysis was from international comparative surveys by International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) from 2005 – 2015. The findings of the research show that majority of South Africans are living in lower income group and their income makes them poor. Unemployment and unequal income distribution results in poverty. Although the country has small number living in extreme poverty, most South Africans are poor. The analysis show that, the application of the relative approach in income stratification is more useful due to the social and regional diversity of South Africa.