The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (252 page)
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social exclusion
Social exclusion refers to lack of participation in society and emphasizes the multi-dimensional, multi-layered, and dynamic nature of the problem. Definitions of the concept emanate from diverse ideological perspectives, but most share the following features:
‘Social exclusion’ was sufficiently broad to accommodate both these perspectives, and allowed debates about social policy to continue at a European level.
By the mid-1990s, use of the term ‘social exclusion’ by Labour politicians in the UK was commonplace, and the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) was set up shortly after the 1997 General Election. The SEU defined social exclusion as ‘what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown’. This conception fits into the tradition in British social science of investigating multiple deprivation.
Social scientists have increasingly placed emphasis on the duration and recurrence of spells in poverty. Just as the shift from income to multiple deprivation expanded the range of indicators of poverty, so the shift from static to dynamic analysis extended the range along the time dimension. Examining those in poverty at one particular time fails to differentiate between those who are in that state only transiently; those who are on the margins of benefit and work, with alternating periods of poverty and relative wealth; and the long-term poor, such as pensioners living below social assistance levels. A dynamic approach also facilitates an investigation of the processes which lead to poverty and, conversely, what helps people recover.
In the international arena, the United Nations Development Programme has been at the forefront of attempts to conceptualize social exclusion across the developed and developing world. A series of country studies led to the formulation of a rights-focused approach, which regards social exclusion as lack of access to the institutions of civil society (legal and political systems), and to the basic levels of education, health, and financial well-being necessary to make access to those institutions a reality.
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(i) Lack of participation. Protagonists differ over which aspects of society are important and where responsibility for non-participation resides. Most agree that exclusion is a matter of degree, since individuals may be participating to a greater or lesser extent, and that it is relative to the society in question.The term ‘social exclusion’ probably originated in France, where it was used in the 1970s to refer to the plight of those who fell through the net of social protection - disabled people, lone parents, and the uninsured unemployed. The increasing intensity of social problems on peripheral estates in large cities led to a broadening of the definition to include disaffected youth and isolated individuals. The concept has particular resonance in countries which share with France a Republican tradition, in which social cohesion is held to be essential in maintaining the contract on which society is founded. Social exclusion terminology was adopted at a European Union level in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Right-wing governments, including the Thatcher government in the UK, did not recognize the existence of poverty in their own countries, while commentators on the left were becoming increasingly concerned about the social polarization associated with rapidly growing income inequality.
(ii) Multi-dimensional. Social exclusion embraces income-poverty but is broader: other kinds of disadvantage which may or may not be connected to low income, such as unemployment and poor self-esteem, fall within its compass.
(iii) Dynamic.The advent of dynamic analysis and a demand from policy makers to investigate cause as well as effect has generated an interest in the processes which lead to exclusion and routes back into mainstream society.
(iv) Multi-layered. Although it is individuals who suffer exclusion, the causes are recognized as operating at many levels: individual, household, community, and institutional.
‘Social exclusion’ was sufficiently broad to accommodate both these perspectives, and allowed debates about social policy to continue at a European level.
By the mid-1990s, use of the term ‘social exclusion’ by Labour politicians in the UK was commonplace, and the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) was set up shortly after the 1997 General Election. The SEU defined social exclusion as ‘what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown’. This conception fits into the tradition in British social science of investigating multiple deprivation.
Social scientists have increasingly placed emphasis on the duration and recurrence of spells in poverty. Just as the shift from income to multiple deprivation expanded the range of indicators of poverty, so the shift from static to dynamic analysis extended the range along the time dimension. Examining those in poverty at one particular time fails to differentiate between those who are in that state only transiently; those who are on the margins of benefit and work, with alternating periods of poverty and relative wealth; and the long-term poor, such as pensioners living below social assistance levels. A dynamic approach also facilitates an investigation of the processes which lead to poverty and, conversely, what helps people recover.
In the international arena, the United Nations Development Programme has been at the forefront of attempts to conceptualize social exclusion across the developed and developing world. A series of country studies led to the formulation of a rights-focused approach, which regards social exclusion as lack of access to the institutions of civil society (legal and political systems), and to the basic levels of education, health, and financial well-being necessary to make access to those institutions a reality.
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social justice
The requirements of
justice
applied to the framework of social existence. The term has been attacked as involving redundancy, since justice is necessarily a social or interpersonal concern. Indeed, John Rawls's magnum opus is entitled
A Theory of Justice
. What is usually intended by the term is a consideration of the requirements of justice applied to the benefits and burdens of a common existence, and in this sense social justice is necessarily a matter of distribution ( see
distributive justice
). But the particular emphasis in ‘social justice’ is on the foundational character of justice in social life: we are invited to move from a conception of justice to the design of constitutions, to critical perspectives on economic organization, to theories of civil disobedience. In this way, social justice defines the framework within which particular applications of distributive justice arise. A concern with justification, with the appeal to just conditions of social co-operation, has been a marked feature of contemporary
liberalism
. See also
justice
.
AR
justice
applied to the framework of social existence. The term has been attacked as involving redundancy, since justice is necessarily a social or interpersonal concern. Indeed, John Rawls's magnum opus is entitled
A Theory of Justice
. What is usually intended by the term is a consideration of the requirements of justice applied to the benefits and burdens of a common existence, and in this sense social justice is necessarily a matter of distribution ( see
distributive justice
). But the particular emphasis in ‘social justice’ is on the foundational character of justice in social life: we are invited to move from a conception of justice to the design of constitutions, to critical perspectives on economic organization, to theories of civil disobedience. In this way, social justice defines the framework within which particular applications of distributive justice arise. A concern with justification, with the appeal to just conditions of social co-operation, has been a marked feature of contemporary
liberalism
. See also
justice
.
AR
social mobility
Movement from one
class
—or more usually status group—to another. There has been extensive and detailed study of social mobility both between generations and within individuals’ careers. Those who study mobility from occupations of one status to those of another typically note that the proportion of occupations which require formal qualifications and where work is physically light and done in a relatively pleasant environment is increasing at the expense of their opposites. Thus there can be more ‘upward’ than ‘downward’ mobility despite the laws of arithmetic. Their opponents point out that a change of occupation is not necessarily a change of class: and that there is no long-term upward trend in the proportion of the population who are in higher-class jobs. Indeed, in so far as class is defined in terms of hierarchy at work, it could be argued that there never could be net upward mobility. The proportion of those who give orders to those who take them is likely to be stable. Feminists point out that for decades social mobility and related subjects were studied by reference to the occupation of the head of the household, making women almost invisible to mobility researchers. See also
social stratification
.
class
—or more usually status group—to another. There has been extensive and detailed study of social mobility both between generations and within individuals’ careers. Those who study mobility from occupations of one status to those of another typically note that the proportion of occupations which require formal qualifications and where work is physically light and done in a relatively pleasant environment is increasing at the expense of their opposites. Thus there can be more ‘upward’ than ‘downward’ mobility despite the laws of arithmetic. Their opponents point out that a change of occupation is not necessarily a change of class: and that there is no long-term upward trend in the proportion of the population who are in higher-class jobs. Indeed, in so far as class is defined in terms of hierarchy at work, it could be argued that there never could be net upward mobility. The proportion of those who give orders to those who take them is likely to be stable. Feminists point out that for decades social mobility and related subjects were studied by reference to the occupation of the head of the household, making women almost invisible to mobility researchers. See also
social stratification
.
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