THE JOHANNESBURG STATION EXPLOSION AND ETHNIC ATTITUDES

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Band 33, Heft 2, S. 180-189

Abstract

The explosion which occurred at the Johannesburg railway station in Jul 1964 was, for South Africans, one of the most traumatic events of that yr. The incident could be construed as a physical attack upon whites in the cause of the pol'al advancement of non-whites. As such, it was expected to have an effect on ethnic att's. The explosion at the Johannesburg station 'interrupted' a soc survey which was being conducted in 31 of the 311 suburbs within the municipal boundaries of Johannesburg. The survey was concerned, inter alia, with the measurement of ethnic att's. The effect of the Johannesburg station explosion on ethnic att's was studied by a 'conversion' of the descriptive res design to the form of a natural exp. 5 hyp's were formulated & tested. The possible reverberations of the Johannesburg station explosion on variables other than those tested are discussed. AA.