Social exclusion, or social marginalisation, is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term used widely in Europe and was first used in France. It is used across disciplines including education, sociology, psychology, politics and economics.
Social exclusion is the process in which individuals or people
are systematically blocked from (or denied full access to) various
rights, opportunities and resources that are normally available to
members of a different group, and which are fundamental to social
integration and observance of human rights within that particular group (e.g., housing, employment, healthcare, civic engagement, democratic participation, and due process).
Alienation or disenfranchisement resulting from social exclusion can be connected to a person's social class, race, skin color, religious affiliation, ethnic origin, educational status, childhood relationships, living standards, or appearance. Such exclusionary forms of discrimination may also apply to people with a disability, minorities, LGBTQ+ people, drug users, institutional care leavers, the elderly and the young. Anyone who appears to deviate in any way from perceived norms of a population may thereby become subject to coarse or subtle forms of social exclusion.
The outcome of social exclusion is that affected individuals or
communities are prevented from participating fully in the economic,
social, and political life of the society in which they live. This may result to a resistance in form of demonstrations, protests, or lobbying from the excluded people.
Overview
Most
of the characteristics listed in this article are present together in
studies of social exclusion, due to exclusion's multidimensionality.
Another way of articulating the definition of social exclusion is as follows:
Social exclusion is a multidimensional process of progressive social rupture, detaching groups and individuals from social relations and institutions and preventing them from full participation in the normal, normatively prescribed activities of the society in which they live.
In an alternative conceptualization, social exclusion theoretically
emerges at the individual or group level on four correlated dimensions:
insufficient access to social rights, material deprivation, limited social participation
and a lack of normative integration. It is then regarded as the
combined result of personal risk factors (age, gender, race);
macro-societal changes (demographic, economic and labor market
developments, technological innovation, the evolution of social norms);
government legislation and social policy; and the actual behavior of
businesses, administrative organizations and fellow citizens.
Individual exclusion
The marginal man...is one whom fate has condemned to live in two societies and in two, not merely different but antagonistic cultures....his mind is the crucible in which two different and refractory cultures may be said to melt and, either wholly or in part, fuse.
Social exclusion at the individual level results in an individual's exclusion from meaningful participation in society. An example is the exclusion of single mothers from the welfare
system prior to welfare reforms of the 1900s. The modern welfare system
is based on the concept of entitlement to the basic means of being a
productive member of society
both as an organic function of society and as compensation for the
socially useful labor provided. A single mother's contribution to
society is not based on formal employment,
but on the notion that provision of welfare for children is a necessary
social expense. In some career contexts, caring work is devalued and motherhood is seen as a barrier to employment. Single mothers were previously marginalized in spite of their significant role in the socializing of children
due to views that an individual can only contribute meaningfully to
society through "gainful" employment as well as a cultural bias against
unwed mothers. When the father's sole task was seen as the breadwinner,
his marginalization was primarily a function of class condition. Solo
fatherhood brings additional trials due to society being less accepting
of males 'getting away with' not working and the general
invisibility/lack of acknowledgement of single fathers in society.
Acknowledgement of the needs participatory fathers may have can be found
by examining the changes from the original clinical report on the
father’s role published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in May 2004.
Eight week paternity leave is a good example of one social change.
Child health care providers have an opportunity to have a greater
influence on the child and family structure by supporting fathers and
enhancing a father's involvement.
More broadly, many women face social exclusion. Moosa-Mitha discusses the Western feminist movement as a direct reaction to the marginalization of white women in society.
Women were excluded from the labor force and their work in the home was
not valued. Feminists argued that men and women should equally
participate in the labor force, in the public and private sector, and in
the home. They also focused on labor laws to increase access to
employment as well as to recognize child-rearing as a valuable form of labor. In some places today, women are still marginalized from executive positions and continue to earn less than men in upper management positions.
Another example of individual marginalization is the exclusion of individuals with disabilities from the labor force. Grandz discusses an employer's viewpoint about hiring individuals living with disabilities as jeopardizing productivity, increasing the rate of absenteeism, and creating more accidents in the workplace. Cantor also discusses employer concern about the excessively high cost of accommodating people with disabilities.
The marginalization of individuals with disabilities is prevalent
today, despite the legislation intended to prevent it in most western
countries, and the academic achievements, skills and training of many disabled people.
There are also exclusions of lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender (LGBT) and other intersexual people because of their sexual orientations and gender identities. The Yogyakarta Principles require that the states and communities abolish any stereotypes about LGBT people as well as stereotyped gender roles.
Isolation is common to almost every vocational, religious or cultural group of a large city. Each develops its own sentiments, attitudes, codes, even its own words, which are at best only partially intelligible to others.
Community exclusion
Many communities experience social exclusion, such as racial (e.g., black) (e.g., Untouchables or Low Castes or Dalits in Indian Caste System ) and economic (e.g., Romani) communities.
One example is the Aboriginal community in Australia. Marginalization of Aboriginal communities is a product of colonization. As a result of colonialism,
Aboriginal communities lost their land, were forced into destitute
areas, lost their sources of livelihood, and were excluded from the
labor market. Additionally, Aboriginal communities lost their culture
and values through forced assimilation and lost their rights in society.
Today various Aboriginal communities continue to be marginalized from
society due to the development of practices, policies and programs that
"met the needs of white people and not the needs of the marginalized
groups themselves". Yee also connects marginalization to minority communities, when describing the concept of whiteness as maintaining and enforcing dominant norms and discourse. Poor people living in run-down council estates and areas with high crime can be locked into social deprivation.
Other contributors
Social
exclusion has many contributors. Major contributors include race,
income, employment status, social class, geographic location, personal
habits and appearance, education, religion and political affiliation.
Global and structural
Globalization
(global-capitalism), immigration, social welfare and policy are broader
social structures that have the potential to contribute negatively to
one's access to resources and services, resulting in the social
exclusion of individuals and groups. Similarly, increasing use of
information technology and company outsourcing have contributed to job insecurity
and a widening gap between the rich and the poor. Alphonse, George
& Moffat (2007) discuss how globalization sets forth a decrease in
the role of the state with an increase in support from various
"corporate sectors resulting in gross inequalities, injustices and
marginalization of various vulnerable groups" (p. 1). Companies are
outsourcing, jobs are lost, the cost of living continues to rise, and land is being expropriated by large companies. Material goods are made in large abundances and sold at cheaper costs, while in India for example, the poverty line
is lowered in order to mask the number of individuals who are actually
living in poverty as a result of globalization. Globalization and
structural forces aggravate poverty and continue to push individuals to
the margins of society, while governments and large corporations do not
address the issues (George, P, SK8101, lecture, October 9, 2007).
Certain language and the meaning attached to language can cause
universalizing discourses that are influenced by the Western world,
which is what Sewpaul (2006) describes as the "potential to dilute or
even annihilate
local cultures and traditions and to deny context specific realities"
(p. 421). What Sewpaul (2006) is implying is that the effect of dominant
global discourses can cause individual and cultural displacement, as
well as an experience of "de-localization", as individual notions of
security and safety are jeopardized (p. 422). Insecurity and fear of an
unknown future and instability can result in displacement, exclusion,
and forced assimilation
into the dominant group. For many, it further pushes them to the
margins of society or enlists new members to the outskirts because of
global-capitalism and dominant discourses (Sewpaul, 2006).
With the prevailing notion of globalization, we now see the rise of immigration
as the world gets smaller and smaller with millions of individuals
relocating each year. This is not without hardship and struggle of what a
newcomer thought was going to be a new life with new opportunities.
Ferguson, Lavalette, & Whitmore (2005) discuss how immigration has
had a strong link to access of welfare support programs. Newcomers are
constantly bombarded with the inability to access a country's resources
because they are seen as "undeserving foreigners" (p. 132). With this
comes a denial of access to public housing, health care benefits, employment support services, and social security benefits (Ferguson et al., 2005). Newcomers are seen as undeserving, or that they must prove their entitlement in order to gain access to basic support necessities. It is clear that individuals are exploited and marginalized within the country they have emigrated (Ferguson et al., 2005).
Welfare states
and social policies can also exclude individuals from basic necessities
and support programs. Welfare payments were proposed to assist
individuals in accessing a small amount of material wealth
(Young, 2000). Young (2000) further discusses how "the provision of the
welfare itself produces new injustice by depriving those dependent on
it of rights and freedoms that others have…marginalization is unjust
because it blocks the opportunity to exercise capacities in socially
defined and recognized way" (p. 41). There is the notion that by
providing a minimal amount of welfare support, an individual will be
free from marginalization. In fact, welfare support programs further
lead to injustices by restricting certain behaviour, as well the
individual is mandated to other agencies. The individual is forced into a
new system of rules while facing social stigma and stereotypes
from the dominant group in society, further marginalizing and excluding
individuals (Young, 2000). Thus, social policy and welfare provisions
reflect the dominant notions in society by constructing and reinforcing
categories of people and their needs. It ignores the unique-subjective
human essence, further continuing the cycle of dominance (Wilson &
Beresford, 2000).
Unemployment
Whilst recognizing the multi-dimensionality of exclusion, policy work undertaken at European Union level focuses on unemployment
as a key cause of, or at least correlating with, social exclusion. This
is because in modern societies, paid work is not only the principal
source of income with which to buy services, but is also the fount of
individuals' identity and feeling of self-worth. Most people's social
networks and sense of embeddedness in society also revolve around their
work. Many of the indicators of extreme social exclusion, such as
poverty and homelessness, depend on monetary income which is normally
derived from work. Social exclusion can be a possible result of
long-term unemployment, especially in countries with weak welfare safety
nets. Much policy to reduce exclusion thus focuses on the labour market:
- On the one hand, to make individuals at risk of exclusion more attractive to employers, i.e. more "employable".
- On the other hand, to encourage (and/or oblige) employers to be more inclusive in their employment policies.
The EU's EQUAL Community Initiative
investigated ways to increase the inclusiveness of the labour market.
Work on social exclusion more broadly is carried out through the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) among the Member State governments.
Religion
Some religious traditions recommend excommunication of individuals said to deviate from a religious teaching, and in some instances shunning by family members. Some religious organisations permit the censure of critics.
Across societies, individuals and communities can be socially
excluded on the basis of their religious beliefs. Social hostility
against religious minorities and communal violence occur in areas where governments do not have policies restricting the religious practise of minorities. A study by the Pew Research Center on international religious freedom found that 61% of countries have social hostilities that tend to target religious minorities. The five highest social hostility scores were for Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Iraq, and Bangladesh. In 2015, Pew published that social hostilities declined in 2013, but Harassment of Jews increased.
Social inclusion
Social inclusion, the converse of social exclusion, is affirmative action to change the circumstances and habits that lead to (or have led to) social exclusion.
The World Bank
defines social inclusion as the process of improving the ability,
opportunity, and dignity of people, disadvantaged on the basis of their
identity, to take part in society. The World Bank's 2019 World Development Report on The Changing Nature of Work
suggests that enhanced social protection and better investments in
human capital improve equality of opportunity and social inclusion.
Social Inclusion ministers have been appointed, and special units
established, in a number of jurisdictions around the world. The first Minister for Social Inclusion was Premier of South Australia Mike Rann, who took the portfolio in 2004. Based on the UK's Social Exclusion Unit, established by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1997, Rann established the Social Inclusion Initiative in 2002. It was headed by Monsignor David Cappo and was serviced by a unit within the department of Premier and Cabinet. Cappo sat on the Executive Committee of the South Australian Cabinet
and was later appointed Social Inclusion Commissioner with wide powers
to address social disadvantage. Cappo was allowed to roam across
agencies given that most social disadvantage has multiple causes
necessitating a "joined up" rather than a single agency response. The Initiative drove a big investment by the South Australian Government in strategies to combat homelessness,
including establishing Common Ground, building high quality inner city
apartments for "rough sleeping" homeless people, the Street to Home
initiative
and the ICAN flexible learning program designed to improve school
retention rates. It also included major funding to revamp mental health
services following Cappo's "Stepping Up" report, which focused on the
need for community and intermediate levels of care and an overhaul of disability services. In 2007 Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd appointed Julia Gillard as the nation's first Social Inclusion Minister.
In Japan, the concept and term "social inclusion" went through a
number of changes over time and eventually became incorporated in
community-based activities under the monikers hōsetsu (包摂) and hōkatsu
(包括), such as in the "Community General Support Centres" (chiiki hōkatsu
shien sentā 地域包括支援センター) and "Community-based Integrated Care System"
(chiiki hōkatsu kea shisutemu 地域包括ケアシステム).
Consequences
Health
In gay men, results of psycho-emotional damage from marginalization from a heteronormative society, suicide, and drug addiction.
Scientists have been studying the impact of racism on health. Amani Nuru-Jeter, a social epidemiologist at the University of California, Berkeley and other doctors have been hypothesizing that exposure to chronic stress may be one way racism contributes to health disparities between racial groups. Arline Geronimus,
a research professor at the University of Michigan Institute for Social
Research and a professor at the School of Public Health, and her
colleagues found that psychosocial associated with living in extreme poverty can cause early onset of age-related diseases.
The 2015 study titled, "Race-Ethnicity, Poverty, Urban Stressors, and
Telomere Length in a Detroit Community-based Sample" was conducted in
order to determine the impact of living conditions on health and was
performed by a multi-university team of social scientists, cellular
biologists and community partners, including the Healthy Environments
Partnership (HEP) to measured the telomere length of poor and
moderate-income people of White, African-American and Mexican race.
In 2006, there was research focused on possible connections between exclusion and brain function.
Studies published by both the University of Georgia and San Diego State
University found that exclusion can lead to diminished brain
functioning and poor decision making.
Such studies corroborate with earlier beliefs of sociologists. The
effect of social exclusion have been hypothesized in various past
research studies to correlate with such things as substance abuse and
addiction, and crime.
Economics
The problem of social exclusion is usually tied to that of equal opportunity, as some people are more subject to such exclusion than others. Marginalisation of certain groups is a problem in many economically more developed countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, where the majority of the population enjoys considerable economic and social opportunities.
In philosophy
The marginal, the processes of marginalisation, etc. bring specific interest in postmodern and postcolonial philosophy and social studies.
Postmodernism question the "center" about its authenticity and
postmodern sociology and cultural studies research marginal cultures,
behaviors, societies, the situation of the marginalized individual,
etc.
Implications for social work practice
Upon
defining and describing marginalization as well as the various levels
in which it exists, one must now explore its implications for social
work practice. Mullaly (2007) describes how "the personal is political"
and the need for recognizing that social problems are indeed connected
with larger structures in society, causing various forms of oppression
amongst individuals resulting in marginalization.
It is also important for the social worker to recognize the
intersecting nature of oppression. A non-judgmental and unbiased
attitude is necessary on the part of the social worker. The worker must
begin to understand oppression and marginalization as a systemic problem, not the fault of the individual.
Working under an anti-oppression perspective would then allow the
social worker to understand the lived, subjective experiences of the
individual, as well as their cultural, historical and social background.
The worker should recognize the individual as political in the process
of becoming a valuable member of society and the structural factors that
contribute to oppression and marginalization (Mullaly, 2007).
Social workers must take a firm stance on naming and labeling global
forces that impact individuals and communities who are then left with no
support, leading to marginalization or further marginalization from the
society they once knew (George, P, SK8101, lecture, October 9, 2007).
The social worker should be constantly reflexive, work to raise the consciousness, empower,
and understand the lived subjective realities of individuals living in a
fast-paced world, where fear and insecurity constantly subjugate the
individual from the collective whole, perpetuating the dominant forces,
while silencing the oppressed.
Some individuals and groups who are not professional social workers build relationships with marginalized persons by providing relational care and support, for example, through homeless ministry. These relationships validate the individuals who are marginalized and provide them a meaningful contact with the mainstream.
Juridical concept
There are countries, Italy for example, that have a legal concept of social exclusion. In Italy, "esclusione sociale" is defined as poverty combined with social alienation, by the statute n. 328 (11-8-2000), that instituted a state investigation commission named "Commissione di indagine sull'Esclusione Sociale" (CIES) to make an annual report to the government on legally expected issues of social exclusion.
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, a document on international human rights instruments affirms that "extreme poverty and social exclusion constitute a violation of human dignity
and that urgent steps are necessary to achieve better knowledge of
extreme poverty and its causes, including those related to the program
of development, in order to promote the human rights of the poorest, and
to put an end to extreme poverty and social exclusion and promote the
enjoyment of the fruits of social progress. It is essential for States
to foster participation by the poorest people in the decision making process by the community in which they live, the promotion of human rights and efforts to combat extreme poverty."
Quotations
Social exclusion is about the inability of our society to keep all groups and individuals within reach of what we expect as a society...[or] to realise their full potential.
Whatever the content and criteria of social membership, socially excluded groups and individuals lack capacity or access to social opportunity.
To be "excluded from society" can take various relative senses, but social exclusion is usually defined as more than a simple economic phenomenon: it also has consequences on the social, symbolic field.
Women of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Caribbean descent [in Britain] are doing well in schools but are still being penalised in the workplace...80-89% of 16-year-olds from those ethnic groups wanted to work full-time...but they were up to four times more likely to be jobless.
Philosopher Axel Honneth thus speaks of a "struggle for recognition", which he attempts to theorize through Hegel's
philosophy. In this sense, to be socially excluded is to be deprived
from social recognition and social value. In the sphere of politics, social recognition is obtained by full citizenship; in the economic sphere (in capitalism) it means being paid enough to be able to participate fully in the life of the community.
This concept can be gleaned from considering examples of the "social
integration crisis: poverty, professional exclusion or marginalization,
social and civic disenfranchisement, absence or weakening of support
networks, frequent inter-cultural conflicts", These relate not only to gender, race and disability, but also to crime:
Social exclusion is a major cause of crime and re-offending. Removing the right to vote increases social exclusion by signalling to serving prisoners that, at least for the duration of their sentence, they are dead to society. The additional punishment of disenfranchisement is not a deterrent. There is no evidence to suggest that criminals are deterred from offending behaviour by the threat of losing the right to vote.....(and) the notion of civic death for sentenced prisoners isolates still further those who are already on the margins of society and encourages them to be seen as alien to the communities to which they will return on release.
