Analysing the Impact of Financialisation on the Distribution of Social Cash Transfers in South Africa
(2024) UTVK03 20241Sociology
- Abstract
- Cash transfer programmes have been adopted by various countries across the Global South to alleviate extreme levels of poverty and deprivation. To increase the reach and quality of the programmes, international development organisations have suggested incorporating market-based solutions into national social protection schemes. This thesis aims to examine these efforts by analysing the impact of private financial actors on the implementation and distribution of social cash transfers in South Africa. The study uses a desk-based research design and draws on existing research as its main source of data. The research employs a theoretical framework grounded in economic sociology for the analysis, which is based on the concepts of unanticipated... (More)
- Cash transfer programmes have been adopted by various countries across the Global South to alleviate extreme levels of poverty and deprivation. To increase the reach and quality of the programmes, international development organisations have suggested incorporating market-based solutions into national social protection schemes. This thesis aims to examine these efforts by analysing the impact of private financial actors on the implementation and distribution of social cash transfers in South Africa. The study uses a desk-based research design and draws on existing research as its main source of data. The research employs a theoretical framework grounded in economic sociology for the analysis, which is based on the concepts of unanticipated consequences and social power. The literature review highlights the South African context and traces the financialisation process of the social cash transfer programme. The findings presented in the analysis suggest that processes of financialisation have altered the distribution of social cash transfer programmes in numerous ways. Outsourcing the delivery of the cash transfers has been challenging for the responsible state agency and advantages of recently incorporated digital systems have been haltered by a lack of technical infrastructure. Financialising the programmes has increased their reach, but simultaneously granted administrative power to private financial actors which contributed to ongoing political discussions surrounding the transfers. Lastly, grant recipients have been included into formal financial systems on paper, but accessing the grants presents an obstacle due to a lack of necessary infrastructure in rural areas and low levels of digital and financial literacy. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9167046
- author
- Stöllinger, Julian LU
- supervisor
-
- Olle Frödin LU
- organization
- course
- UTVK03 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- South Africa, financialisation, social cash transfers, financial inclusion, poverty
- language
- English
- id
- 9167046
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-25 16:55:04
- date last changed
- 2024-06-25 16:55:04
@misc{9167046,
abstract = {{Cash transfer programmes have been adopted by various countries across the Global South to alleviate extreme levels of poverty and deprivation. To increase the reach and quality of the programmes, international development organisations have suggested incorporating market-based solutions into national social protection schemes. This thesis aims to examine these efforts by analysing the impact of private financial actors on the implementation and distribution of social cash transfers in South Africa. The study uses a desk-based research design and draws on existing research as its main source of data. The research employs a theoretical framework grounded in economic sociology for the analysis, which is based on the concepts of unanticipated consequences and social power. The literature review highlights the South African context and traces the financialisation process of the social cash transfer programme. The findings presented in the analysis suggest that processes of financialisation have altered the distribution of social cash transfer programmes in numerous ways. Outsourcing the delivery of the cash transfers has been challenging for the responsible state agency and advantages of recently incorporated digital systems have been haltered by a lack of technical infrastructure. Financialising the programmes has increased their reach, but simultaneously granted administrative power to private financial actors which contributed to ongoing political discussions surrounding the transfers. Lastly, grant recipients have been included into formal financial systems on paper, but accessing the grants presents an obstacle due to a lack of necessary infrastructure in rural areas and low levels of digital and financial literacy.}},
author = {{Stöllinger, Julian}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Analysing the Impact of Financialisation on the Distribution of Social Cash Transfers in South Africa}},
year = {{2024}},
}