international arms embargo imposed by the United Nations in 1977. The
South African armed forces were far the most powerful and disciplined in
Africa south of the Sahara.s"
Apartheid Society
South Africa in the apartheid era was unique. It became increasingly
distinctive from other countries as decolonization
and desegregation
spread elsewhere. South Africa was a partly industrialized society with
deep divisions based on legally prescribed biological criteria. As the econo-
my expanded, industry absorbed more and more black workers, but racial
categories continued to define the primary social cleavages.
Possessing privileged access to high-level jobs and high wages, white
South Africans were as prosperous as the middle and upper classes in
Europe and North America. Characteristically, they owned cars and lived
in substantial houses or apartments in segregated suburbs, with black
servants. The state provided them with excellent public services: schools
and hospitals; parks and playing fields; buses and trains; roads, water,
electricity, telephones, drainage, and sewerage. Social custom, reinforced
by the official radio and television and the controlled press, sheltered them
from knowing how their black compatriots lived.I'' Few Whites ever saw