{"product_id":"predatory-welfare-how-finance-capital-profiteers-from-social-grants","title":"PREDATORY WELFARE, how finance capital profiteers from social grants","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e304pp., illus., paperback, \u003c\/em\u003eJacana, Johannesburg, 2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eISBN: 9781431436880\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published by Duke University Press in 2026.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eErin Torkelson challenges the widely held belief that social grants, distributed in the form of direct cash transfers, can solve poverty, and \u003cspan\u003eoffers a bold rethinking of welfare, development and racial inequality.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDrawing on seven years of immersive fieldwork in South Africa - in grant payment queues, loan offices, grocery stores, Parliament and the Constitutional Court - she demonstrates how cash transfers are often leveraged by lenders as collateral and instead of offering relief pull recipients, especially Black women, into cycles of debt. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Who owes what to whom? Can the intergenerational debts of racial capitalism be repaid, let alone repaired? What role, if any, might basic income payments play in this process? Far beyond a simple story about the ills of financialization to be redeemed by a romanticized state, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003ePredatory Welfare\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a beautifully detailed ethnography about the intertwined histories, presents, and potential futures of racialization and social welfare in South Africa.” Hannah Appel, author of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Licit Life of Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“What is so critically important about the cash payments made to poor rural South Africans portrayed in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003ePredatory Welfare\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e? Torkelson, a geographer, shows readers that predatory capitalism in ‘unimportant’ places is a window onto the production of odious debt everywhere. This exemplary research is a must-read not only for South Africanists but also for all those committed to reforming the global financial architecture.\" Anne-Maria Makhulu, author of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eMaking Freedom\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eScholar and activist \u003cstrong\u003eErin Torkelson\u003c\/strong\u003e is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of the Western Cape \u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003eand holds a doctorate in geography from the University of California, Berkeley. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHer popular articles have appeared in \u003cem\u003eCounterpunch, Znet, GroundUp, The Daily Maverick\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Mail and Guardian\u003c\/em\u003e, and she made a documentary film for The Cutting Edge on SABC1. She works with the Black Sash, Open Secrets and Institute for Economic Justice on the South African social grant system and has presented her research to the Constitutional Court-appointed Panel of Experts, the National Credit Regulator, the South African Social Security Agency, and the Department of Social Development.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Torkelson (E.)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42295038804014,"sku":null,"price":340.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0265\/3182\/3662\/files\/PredatoryWelfare.jpg?v=1777028907","url":"https:\/\/clarkesbooks.co.za\/products\/predatory-welfare-how-finance-capital-profiteers-from-social-grants","provider":"Clarke's Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}