Changes to Urban Society in Angola: From Limited to Multi-Criteria Stratification

Abstract

Abstract:This article examines the transformations to urban social stratification in Angola during the last decades. The analysis is centered on the indicators of social difference throughout these years: the racial criteria of the colonial times; the political precedence in the first years after independence; and the multi-criteria of the postwar period. Based on research conducted before and after the end of the civil war in 2002, the article explores the construction and reconfiguration of urban society today, providing evidence of increased social mobility—despite the poverty and deeper inequalities—and of the importance of economic and residential criteria.

Diffusion of Innovations and Labor Market Challenges: A Multiple Case Study from Angola

“…Some researchers believed that the concentration of the large population in the urban areas was due to the fact that the civil war forced a significant migration of people from the countryside that generated an urban growth of 15% from 1970 to 62% in 2014 (OECD, 2015). Others were convinced that the different social classes (Udelsmann, 2017), the weakened educational system, and the nonpromotion of local content composes the chronic of the high rate of unemployment since the skilled-labor market was very tight with a labor force mean for education of 4.4 years, in line with low human development countries (Ovadia, 2014;Tordo, Warner, Manzano, & Anouti, 2013).…”