From 20th century
Colonial Africa
Colonial societal integration describes the formation of new social relationships and hierarchical structures within African colonies, especially through metropolitan connections, regional integration, wage labour, officialdom, cash-crop production, education, and new centres. It combined horizontal integration among regions and ethnic communities with vertical integration among emerging social strata, while remaining uneven and shaped by colonial economic and political priorities.
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The Story
Colonialism increased the scale of social relations and produced a distinctive form of societal integration in African colonies. This integration had a horizontal dimension, linking regions within colonial boundaries, and a vertical dimension, incorporating emerging social strata into a system corresponding to the colonial state. The two dimensions were connected because regional and ethnic origins influenced the composition of social strata.
Communications revealed the direction of this integration. Tarred roads generally led to the capital or to another entrepôt that served as a channel for material and symbolic exchange with the metropolis. Regions differed in their involvement according to what they could offer the outside world, such as cash crops, or what they sought from the colonial centre, such as education. Integration therefore developed primarily between regions and the centre rather than directly among the regions themselves.
Colonial rule introduced or transformed relationships between employers and wage or salary earners, as well as between officials and subjects. These relationships contributed to the beginnings of national systems of social stratification, but integration remained uneven: some local social relations and political statuses continued to operate outside wider systems. The state, especially in national centres and cities, played a crucial role in forming rather than merely reflecting the emerging stratification system.
From 20th century
Colonial Africa
Colonial societal integration describes the formation of new social relationships and hierarchical structures within African colonies, especially through metropolitan connections, regional integration, wage labour, officialdom, cash-crop production, education, and new centres. It combined horizontal integration among regions and ethnic communities with vertical integration among emerging social strata, while remaining uneven and shaped by colonial economic and political priorities.
Continue exploring
The Story
Colonialism increased the scale of social relations and produced a distinctive form of societal integration in African colonies. This integration had a horizontal dimension, linking regions within colonial boundaries, and a vertical dimension, incorporating emerging social strata into a system corresponding to the colonial state. The two dimensions were connected because regional and ethnic origins influenced the composition of social strata.
Communications revealed the direction of this integration. Tarred roads generally led to the capital or to another entrepôt that served as a channel for material and symbolic exchange with the metropolis. Regions differed in their involvement according to what they could offer the outside world, such as cash crops, or what they sought from the colonial centre, such as education. Integration therefore developed primarily between regions and the centre rather than directly among the regions themselves.
Colonial rule introduced or transformed relationships between employers and wage or salary earners, as well as between officials and subjects. These relationships contributed to the beginnings of national systems of social stratification, but integration remained uneven: some local social relations and political statuses continued to operate outside wider systems. The state, especially in national centres and cities, played a crucial role in forming rather than merely reflecting the emerging stratification system.