%0 Journal Article %1 hunter_changing_2007 %A Hunter, Mark %D 2007 %J Social Science & Medicine (1982) %K Adult, Africa, Class, Female, Humans, Infections, Male, Marital Politics, Social South Status, Unemployment {HIV} %N 3 %P 689--700 %R 10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.09.015 %T The changing political economy of sex in South Africa: the significance of unemployment and inequalities to the scale of the AIDS pandemic %U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17097204 %V 64 %X Between 1990 and 2005, HIV prevalence rates in South Africa jumped from less than 1\% to around 29\%. Important scholarship has demonstrated how racialized structures entrenched by colonialism and apartheid set the scene for the rapid unfolding of the AIDS pandemic, like other causes of ill-health before it. Of particular relevance is the legacy of circular male-migration, an institution that for much of the 20th century helped to propel the transmission of sexually transmitted infections among black South Africans denied permanent urban residence. But while the deep-rooted antecedents of AIDS have been noted, less attention has been given to more recent changes in the political economy of sex, including those resulting from the post-apartheid government's adoption of broadly neo-liberal policies. As an unintentional consequence, male migration and apartheid can be seen as almost inevitably resulting in AIDS, a view that can disconnect the pandemic from contemporary social and economic debates. Combining ethnographic, historical, and demographic approaches, and focusing on sexuality in the late apartheid and early post-apartheid periods, this article outlines three interlinked dynamics critical to understanding the scale of the AIDS pandemic: (1) rising unemployment and social inequalities that leave some groups, especially poor women, extremely vulnerable; (2) greatly reduced marital rates and the subsequent increase of one person households; and (3) rising levels of women's migration, especially through circular movements between rural areas and informal settlements/urban areas. As a window into these changes, the article gives primary attention to the country's burgeoning informal settlements--spaces in which HIV rates are reported to be twice the national average--and to connections between poverty and money/sex exchanges.

@article{hunter_changing_2007, abstract = {Between 1990 and 2005, {HIV} prevalence rates in South Africa jumped from less than 1\% to around 29\%. Important scholarship has demonstrated how racialized structures entrenched by colonialism and apartheid set the scene for the rapid unfolding of the {AIDS} pandemic, like other causes of ill-health before it. Of particular relevance is the legacy of circular male-migration, an institution that for much of the 20th century helped to propel the transmission of sexually transmitted infections among black South Africans denied permanent urban residence. But while the deep-rooted antecedents of {AIDS} have been noted, less attention has been given to more recent changes in the political economy of sex, including those resulting from the post-apartheid government's adoption of broadly neo-liberal policies. As an unintentional consequence, male migration and apartheid can be seen as almost inevitably resulting in {AIDS,} a view that can disconnect the pandemic from contemporary social and economic debates. Combining ethnographic, historical, and demographic approaches, and focusing on sexuality in the late apartheid and early post-apartheid periods, this article outlines three interlinked dynamics critical to understanding the scale of the {AIDS} pandemic: (1) rising unemployment and social inequalities that leave some groups, especially poor women, extremely vulnerable; (2) greatly reduced marital rates and the subsequent increase of one person households; and (3) rising levels of women's migration, especially through circular movements between rural areas and informal settlements/urban areas. As a window into these changes, the article gives primary attention to the country's burgeoning informal settlements--spaces in which {HIV} rates are reported to be twice the national average--and to connections between poverty and money/sex exchanges.}, added-at = {2011-03-11T10:05:34.000+0100}, author = {Hunter, Mark}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/24fbb9e53a854aa608fce25a9755691fe/jelias}, doi = {10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.09.015}, interhash = {fee9800ce02fc4e73242ada94a5ce845}, intrahash = {4fbb9e53a854aa608fce25a9755691fe}, issn = {0277-9536}, journal = {Social Science \& Medicine (1982)}, keywords = {Adult, Africa, Class, Female, Humans, Infections, Male, Marital Politics, Social South Status, Unemployment {HIV}}, month = feb, note = {{PMID:} 17097204}, number = 3, pages = {689--700}, shorttitle = {The changing political economy of sex in South Africa}, timestamp = {2011-03-11T10:06:45.000+0100}, title = {The changing political economy of sex in South Africa: the significance of unemployment and inequalities to the scale of the {AIDS} pandemic}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17097204}, volume = 64, year = 2007 }