Academic Scientific JournalsThe Geographies of Social Capital in South Africa’s Education Systems
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26881/jpgs.2026.1.05Keywords:
Social Capital, Community network, Geography, South African Education, Spatial Theory of Production of Space, Spatial InequalityAbstract
This study examines how the spatial dynamics of social capital perpetuate educational inequality in post-apartheid South Africa, offering a critical geographical analysis relevant to systemic reform. The study mobilized a conceptual synthesis of Henri Lefebvre’s spatial triad and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capital to argue that space is an active producer of educational outcomes. A systematic literature review methodology was conducted following PRISMA protocols, drawing from peer-reviewed articles. The findings reveal a constitutive spatial dialectic: urban educational advantage is co-produced with networks of bridging and linking capital, which facilitate access to material resources and institutional power. Conversely, the dense bonding capital prevalent in township and rural communities, while vital for resilience and solidarity, remains spatially bound within a political economy of scarcity, limiting its conversion into broader educational mobility. This demonstrates that the unequal distribution and function of social capital is a fundamental mechanism reproducing socio-spatial stratification, an enduring legacy of apartheid’s spatial planning.
Downloads
References
Abbasy, M. B., & Quesada, E. V. (2017). Predictable influence of IoT (Internet of Things) in the higher education. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 7(12), 914–920.
Aldrich, D. P. (2017). The importance of social capital in building community resilience. Rethinking resilience, adaptation and transformation in a time of change, 357–364.
Alecu, A., Helland, H., Hjellbrekke, J., & Jarness, V. (2022). Who you know: The classed structure of social capital. The British Journal of Sociology, 73(3), 505–535.
Archer, L., Dawson, E., DeWitt, J., Seakins, A., & Wong, B. (2015). “Science capital”: A conceptual, methodological, and empirical argument for extending Bourdieusian notions of capital beyond the arts. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(7), 922–948.
Arendse, L. (2020). Inequality in the public basic education system: The role of the South African courts in effecting radical transformation (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pretoria).
Arthur, N. (2017). Supporting international students through strengthening their social resources. Studies in Higher Education, 42(5), 887–894.
Atmore, E. (2019). An interpretive analysis of the early childhood development policy trajectory in post-apartheid South Africa (Doctoral dissertation, Stellenbosch University).
Bernard, J., Steinführer, A., Klärner, A., & Keim-Klärner, S. (2023). Regional opportunity structures: A research agenda to link spatial and social inequalities in rural areas. Progress in Human Geography, 47(1), 103–123.
Biagi, F. (2020). Henri Lefebvre’s critical theory of space. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Case, J. M., Marshall, D., McKenna, S., & Disappele, M. (2018). Going to university: The influence of higher education on the lives of young South Africans. African Minds.
Caswell, M., Gabiola, J., Zavala, J., Brilmyer, G., & Cifor, M. (2018). Imagining transformative spaces: the personal–political sites of community archives. Archival Science, 18, 73–93.
Cook, K. S. (2014). Social capital and inequality: the significance of social connections. Handbook of the social psychology of inequality, 207–227.
Cullinan, J., Flannery, D., Harold, J., Lyons, S., & Palcic, D. (2021). The disconnected: COVID-19 and disparities in access to quality broadband for higher education students. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 18, 1–21.
Dale, K., Kingma, S. F., & Wasserman, V. (Eds.). (2018). Organisational space and beyond: The significance of Henri Lefebvre for organisation studies. Routledge.
Dubos, R. (2017). Social capital: Theory and research. Routledge.
Eloire, F. (2018). The Bourdieusian conception of social capital: a methodological reflection and application. Forum for Social Economics, 47(3–4), 322–341.
Engelbrecht, P., Nel, M., Smit, S., & Van Deventer, M. (2016). The idealism of education policies and the realities in schools: The implementation of inclusive education in South Africa. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 20(5), 520–535.
Forman, C., & Van-Zeebroeck, N. (2019). Digital technology adoption and knowledge flows within firms: Can the Internet overcome geographic and technological distance? Research Policy, 48(8), 103697.
Fuchs, C. (2019). Henri Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space and the critical theory of communication. Communication Theory, 29(2), 129–150.
Gamoran, A., Miller, H. K., Fiel, J. E., & Valentine, J. L. (2021). Social capital and student achievement: An intervention-based test of theory. Sociology of Education, 94(4), 294–315.
Hamann, C., & Horn, A. C. (2022). Socio-economic inequality in the City of Tshwane, South Africa: a multivariable spatial analysis at the neighborhood level. GeoJournal, 87(3), 2001–2018.
Hariram, N. P., Mekha, K. B., Suganthan, V., & Sudhakar, K. (2023). Sustainalism: An integrated socio-economic-environmental model to address sustainable development and sustainability. Sustainability, 15(13), 10682.
Hlalele, D. (2012). Social justice and rural education in South Africa. Perspectives in Education, 30(1), 111–118.
Hlatshwayo, N., & Wotela, K. (2018). Social capital as survival strategy for immigrants in South Africa: A conceptual framework. Immigration and Development, 109–135.
Hurlbert, J. S., Beggs, J. J., & Haines, V. A. (2017). Social networks and social capital in extreme environments. In Social Capital (pp. 209–231). Routledge.
Israel, E., & Frenkel, A. (2018). Social justice and spatial inequality: Toward a conceptual framework. Progress in Human Geography, 42(5), 647–665.
Jensen, D. H., & Jeppesen, J. (2015). Bridging and bonding interactions in higher education: social capital and students’ academic and professional identity formation. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 126.
Jovchelovitch, S. (2019). Knowledge in context: Representations, community and culture. Routledge.
Julien, C. (2015). Bourdieu, social capital and online interaction. Sociology, 49(2), 356–373.
Kang, L., Jiang, Q., & Tan, C. H. (2017). Remarkable advocates: An investigation of geographic distance and social capital for crowdfunding. Information & Management, 54(3), 336–348.
Khaile, F. T., Roman, N. V., October, K. R., Van Staden, M., & Balogun, T. V. (2022). Perceptions of trust in the context of social cohesion in selected rural communities of South Africa. Social Sciences, 11(8), 359.
Lembani, R., Gunter, A., Breines, M., & Dalu, M. T. B. (2020). The same course, different access: the digital divide between urban and rural distance education students in South Africa. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 44(1), 70–84.
Li, K., Huang, R., Liu, G., Shrestha, A., & Fu, X. (2022). Social capital in neighborhood renewal: a holistic and state-of-the-art literature review. Land, 11(8), 1202.
Lin, N. (2017). Building a network theory of social capital. Social capital, 3–28.
Maarman, G. J., & Lamont-Mbawuli, K. (2017). A review of challenges in South African education and possible ways to improve educational outcome. Africa Education Review, 14(3–4), 263–289.
Maharaj, B. (2020). South African urban planning in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Urban and Regional Planning and Development, 101–112.
McKeever, M. (2017). Educational inequality in apartheid South Africa. American Behavioral Scientist, 61(1), 114–131.
Mishra, S. (2020). Social networks, social capital, social support and academic success in higher education: A systematic review. Educational Research Review, 29, 100307.
Mollegaard, S., & Jaeger, M. M. (2015). The effect of grandparents’ economic, cultural, and social capital on grandchildren’s educational success. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 42, 11–19.
Monama, S. A., & Mokoele, N. J. (2023). The efficacy of traditional leadership on service delivery provision in rural South Africa. Journal of Public Administration, 58(2), 413–429.
Murray, B., Domina, T., Pettis, A., Renzulli, L., & Boylan, R. (2020). “We’re in this together”: Bridging and bonding social capital in elementary school PTOs. American Educational Research Journal, 57(5), 2210–2244.
Napoletano, B. M., Foster, J. B., & Clark, B. (2022). Antinomies of space and nature or an open totality? Human Geography, 15(3), 245–258.
Naughton, L. (2014). Geographical narratives of social capital. Progress in Human Geography, 38(1), 3–21.
Neal, S., Bennett, K., Cochrane, A., & Mohan, G. (2017). Lived experiences of multiculturalism. Routledge.
Neveu, E., Medvetz, T., & Sallaz, J. J. (2018). Bourdieu’s capitals. Oxford Handbook of Pierre Bourdieu, 347–374.
Okolie, U. C., Nwajiuba, C. A., Binuomote, M. O., Ehiobuche, C., Igu, N. C. N., & Ajoke, O. S. (2020). Career training with mentoring programs in higher education. Education + Training, 62(3), 214–234.
Osher, D., Cantor, P., Berg, J., Steyer, L., & Rose, T. (2021). Drivers of human development. In The science of learning and development, 55–104.
Pierce, J., & Martin, D. G. (2015). Placing Lefebvre. Antipode, 47(5), 1279–1299.
Pillay, I. (2021). Inequality and COVID-19 on education in South Africa. African Journal of Career Development, 3(1).
Portes, A. (2024). Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. New Critical Writings in Political Sociology, 53–76.
Ramlagan, S., Peltzer, K., & Phaswana-Mafuya, N. (2013). Social capital and health among older adults in South Africa. BMC Geriatrics, 13, 1–11.
Reed-Danahay, D. (2019). Bourdieu and social space: Mobilities, trajectories, emplacements. Berghahn Books.
Rogoa, S., & Baranovia, B. (2016). Social capital and educational achievements: Coleman vs. Bourdieu. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 6(2), 81–100.
Salmon, T., & Sayed, Y. (2016). Teacher governance reforms and social cohesion in South Africa. Education as Change, 20(3), 38–56.
Schmid, C. (2022). Henri Lefebvre and the theory of the production of space. Verso Books.
Schwartz, S. E., Kanchewa, S. S., Rhodes, J. E., Gowdy, G., Stark, A. M., Horn, J. P., & Spencer, R. (2018). Social capital intervention for first-generation college students. American Journal of Community Psychology, 61(1–2), 166–178.
Strauss, M. (2019). Spatial injustice and segregated urban settlement in South Africa. Fundamina, 25(2), 135–168.
Tahlyan, D., Stathopoulos, A., & Maness, M. (2022). Social capital and urban activity participation. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 15, 100629.
Todes, A., & Turok, I. (2018). Spatial inequalities and policies in South Africa. Progress in Planning, 123, 1–31.
Vaide, J. (2023). Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theory as methodology. Journal of Urban Culture Research, 26, 298–311.
Van den Berg, S., & Spaull, N. (2020). COVID-19 school closures in South Africa. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 10(1), 1–13.
Wacquant, L. (2022). Bourdieu in the city. John Wiley & Sons.
Walker, M., McLean, M., & Mukwando, P. (2022). Low-income students and higher education in South Africa. African Minds.
Wei, Y. D. (2015). Spatiality of regional inequality. Applied Geography, 61, 1–10.
Woldegiorgis, E. T., & Doevenspeck, M. (2015). Student mobility in African higher education. International Journal of Higher Education, 4(2), 105–115.
Yao, J., Wong, D. W., Bailey, N., & Minton, J. (2019). Spatial segregation measures: A methodological review. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 110(3), 235–250.
