No abstract available.Some pages might not display fully due to a faulty original copy. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Anthropology and Archaeology / unrestricted

Workers’ protection can be achieved, to a large extent, through labour law and workers’ organisation through trade unionism. Workers’ protection is defined as social protection. This study investigates workers’ experiences of their employment with regard to social protection as manifested in job security and wage adequacy. In this study workers’ perception of labour law, as a tool for workers’ protection, is considered in relation to the argument of the régulation theorists that law serves as a ‘mode of regulation’ to perpetuate the stability of the prevailing capitalist regime of accumulation. The impact of the changing nature of work on the effectiveness of labour law at achieving workers’ protection is investigated from the perspective of workers. A large employer subcontracting some support services was selected as a site of study. Data was collected using one-on-one in-depth interview to ‘tap’ into the working experiences of relevant workers and union officials. This study concludes that the changing nature of work as manifest in the decline of standard employment relationships and increase of atypical (non standard) employment, such as subcontracting undermines workers’ protection. Wages and other benefits of workers are affected. Workers survive through the support of their families and by borrowing from micro lenders which tend to suck them into a poverty cycle. The ineffectiveness of labour law to adequately protect subcontracted workers substantiates the position of régulation theorists that law is an extra-economic institutionalised practice helping to stabilize the prevailing capitalist regime of accumulation. The thinking here is that labour law is not unilaterally imposed by the state, rather, it is a product of social interaction (social relation) or struggle between labour, capital and the state within a social ‘field’ or ‘subfield’. The nature of employment of subcontracted work weakens the power of workers’ collective through trade unions. The restructuring of work leads to deunionisation and the ability of unions to organise these workers is undermined by difference in employer and pay-point between permanent workers and subcontracted workers. Copyright / Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Sociology / unrestricted

In this study a linguistic investigation of the traditional colour terms of Northern Sotho was carried out. The research comprised three separate phases. In all three phases two aspects were emphasised, namely, the nature of the concept underlying each colour term and the nature and extent to which the selection requirements of the term affected the antecedent. In the first phase, the definitions of selected colour terms, as given in three standard Northern Sotho dictionaries, were studied and compared. These dictionaries included: Pukuntšu, The New Sesotho Dictionary and the Groot Noord-Sotho Woordeboek. Special reference was made to (a) the description of colour as given in the definition, and (b) the selection requirements with regard to the antecedent. The concept “colour term” itself is problematic as the definitions of these terms encompass more than mere references to colour. When comparing the definitions of these terms in Northern Sotho dictionaries, however, little unanimity could be found regarding: (a) the the concept underlying the colour terms, and (b) the selection requirements of these terms in respect of the antecedent. In phase two, six mother-tongue speakers of Northern Sotho were interviewed. The descriptions of the colour terms provided by these respondents were then analysed in the same manner as that of the dictionaries. The informants were all professional people with notable linguistic ability and knowledge of livestock. An Electronic Data Base (compiled by the Department of African Languages, University of Pretoria) was consulted in the third phase of study. The objective of this phase was to collect data on the frequency of use of these colour terms and in light of this to make deductions on their selection requirements. Finally, a synthesis was made of the information collected during the three phases. As indicated above, this is a practical study falling within the ambit of the science of language-usage. At most it can be claimed that the conceptualisation of colour and the manner in which it is reflected in language, has a psycho-linguistic basis. As a result of the nature of the study, it could not always be carried out within a strict theoretical framework. / Dissertation (M A (African Languages))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / African Languages / unrestricted