Social Exclusion and Social Policy Research: Defining Exclusion

This chapter examines recent social policy research on social exclusion, exploring the way in which the term has been conceptualized and defi ned. It discusses research on the multidimensional measurement of social exclusion, on the process of social exclusion, and on the use of social indicators to monitor trends in social exclusion across countries over time. The empirical research that has captured and measured multidimensional disadvantage has identifi ed various dimensions, including material and situational circumstances, with the aim of exploring the extent of social exclusion. The research indicates that there is a degree of consensus in the social policy literature and that material poverty is not the same as social exclusion. Overall, the results from these studies tend to suggest that, although some people and groups experience relatively high rates of social exclusion as measured by these indicators, there is not a large degree of overlap across the various dimensions.