The Triumph of Marxist Approaches in South African Sodal and Labour History:
[Article]
A Comment
Brian E. Dollery
Leiden
Brill
Martin Murray provides an excellent synoptic survey of recent trends in South African historiography in which he claims that the twin perspective Marxist approach has replaced the liberal orthodoxy as the dominant paradigm. It is argued that Murray's survey is deficient in at least three ways. Firstly, the implicatiom; of the divisions between "social historians" and "structuralists" are not sufficiently explored. Secondly, the contentious periodisation issue is ignored. And thirdly, the impact of Merle Lipton's monumental study and the consequent possibility of a synthesis emerging are neglected.