Final answer:
The official policy of racial segregation in South Africa from 1948 to 1994 was called apartheid, a system that enforced white supremacy and subjugated the nonwhite majority.
Step-by-step explanation:
The name of the official policy used by South Africa between 1948 and 1994 to separate races is apartheid. This system was designed to ensure the complete subjugation of the African majority by legally enforcing white supremacy.
Under apartheid, people were classified into racial categories of black, white, colored (mixed race), and Indian or Asian backgrounds, leading to legalized segregation in every aspect of society. Despite being constructed as a means of managing the diversity of South African society, apartheid served to cement the control of the white minority over the nonwhite majority, who were deprived of fundamental political and civil rights.
Apartheid found its way into South African culture, creating divisions that lasted well beyond its legal end. It became institutionalized through laws that dictated where people could live, work, and socialize, as well as whom they could marry. Racial barriers erected by the policy had profound socio-political implications and took generations to begin to dismantle.