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This paper explores why young Black South African men refuse low-wage jobs in a time of mass joblessness. Drawing on in-depth qualitative data from an informal settlement on the outskirts of Johannesburg, the paper examines the work histories and social aspirations that underpin young men’s decision to voluntarily quit low-wage employment. This inquiry is animated by a long history of urban young men rejecting the wage relation in favour of alternative livelihoods. It shows that the refusal of low-wage jobs is sustained by other forms of inequality and is closely entangled with race, gender and citizenship. The paper argues that the refusal of low-wage jobs is at once a critique of precariousness and racialized inequality, and a political demand for social and economic inclusion. In taking this demand seriously, the paper maintains that voluntary quitting is a relatively unrecognized form of worker resistance, with implications for how we understand labour market volatility, and the place of wage labour in South Africa’s policy debates and politics.

Living, not just surviving: The politics of refusing low-wage jobs in urban South Africa