Social Exclusion

Daniel Béland

Distinct from, and typically broader than, the traditional concept of poverty, social exclusion is a contested, broad concept that can take very different meanings from one policy setting to another. A central aspect of most definitions of social exclusion available in the literature is the lack of adequate work opportunities, which can lead to unemployment or underemployment. But reducing social exclusion to employment-related issues would be a mistake, as the concept refers to issues ranging from gender and ethnic discrimination to housing problems and limited access to health and social care, among other things. Another central aspect of social exclusion is its complexity. According to Hilary Silver and S. M. Miller (2003), for example, social exclusion appears as (1) multi-dimensional [italics added] (…); (2) dynamic , [italics added] denoting a process, movement or trajectory from full integration to a condition of multiple exclusions; (3) relational , [italics added] in that ...

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