Definitions, dimension, indicators and discourses.
… is difficult
l Meanings vary
l Meanings are shifting
→ complex settings indicate that approaches towards social
exclusion/inclusion are (country-) specific and contextdependent
(history, discourse, public policies,
institutions, cultural understanding of social relations, etc.)
l “Social exclusion may be understood as an accumulation of confluent
processes with successive ruptures arising from the heart of the economy,
politics and society, which gradually distances and places persons, groups,
communities and territories in a position of inferiority in relation to centres of
power, resources and prevailing values” (Estivill 2003, p 19)
l “the dynamic process of being shut out ... from any of the social, economic,
political and cultural systems which determine the social integration of a
person in society” (Walker and Walker 1997, p 8)
l ”lack of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods;
hunger and malnutrition; ill health; limited or lack of access to education and
other basic services; increased morbidity and mortality from illness;
homelessness and inadequate housing; unsafe environments and social
discrimination and exclusion. It is also characterised by lack of participation in
decision-making and in civil, social and cultural life.” (United Nations, 1995, p
57)
l “inability to participate effectively in economic, social, political and cultural
life, alienation and distance from the mainstream society” (Duffy 1995)
l Economic activities
l Social activities
l Political activities
...discussions might go even further…
l Community
l Individual
l Group
l Spatial
l Multidimensional phenomenon
l Need for set of indicators
l Depending on meanings and discourses, nature and
understanding of social exclusion/ its causes
1. Indicators capturing basic needs
l Material deprivation
l Income deprivation
l Deprivation in basic needs (nutrition, clothing,
vacancy/holiday)
l Deprivation in housing (housing conditions,
infrastructure)
l Health deprivation
l Deprivation in social contacts
§ 2. Complementary indicators
§ Participation in political and social/cultural events/life of
the society
§ Access to institutions influencing life chances (schools,
social services, banks, theaters, ecc.)
Level one
1.The risk of financial poverty as measured by 50% and 60% of national median
income (is the amount that divides the income distribution into two equal groups, half
having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount)
2. Income inequality as measured by the quintile share ratio, ie the ratio of the share of
national income received by the top 20% of households relative to the bottom 20% of
households
3.The proportion of those aged 18-24 with only lower secondary education (and not in
education or training)
4. Overall and long-term unemployment rates measured on ILO basis.
5. Proportion of population living in jobless households
6. Proportion of population dying before the age of 65, or the ratio of those
in bottom and top income quintile groups who classify their health as bad or very bad
on the WHO definition
7. Proportion of people living in households lacking specified amenities or with
specified housing faults
Level two
1. Proportion of persons in households below
40% and below 70% of median income, and
proportion below 60% of the median fixed in
real terms at a particular date
2.Value of 60% of median threshold in
purchasing power standards for one- and
four-person households
3. Proportion of the population living in
households permanently at risk of financial
poverty
4. Mean and median equalized poverty gap for
a poverty line set at 60% median income.
(This measures depth of poverty by
calculating the extent to which those in
poverty fall below the poverty line.)
5. Income inequality as measured by the decile
ratio and the Gini coefficient
6. Proportion of the population aged 18-59 (64)
with only lower secondary education or less
7. Proportion of discouraged workers,
proportion non-employed and proportion in
involuntary part-time work, as a percentage
of total 18-64 population excluding those in
full-time education
8. Proportion of people living in jobless
households with current income below 60%
median
9. Proportion of employees living in households
at risk of poverty (60% median)
10. Proportion of employees who are low paid
11. Proportion of people unable to obtain
medical treatment for financial reasons or
because of waiting lists
12. Proportion of the population living in
overcrowded housing
13. Proportion of people who have been in
areas on rent or mortgage payments
14. Proportion of people living in households
unable in an emergency to raise a specified
sum
l Development of other sets of indicators including wider
range of dimensions of social exclusion
1. Non-monetary indicators of deprivation
2. Differential access to education
3. Housing of poor environmental quality
4. Housing cost
5. Homelessness and precarious housing
6. Literacy and numeracy
7. Access to public and essential private services
8. Social participation and access to internet
l Conceptualisation of subjective (material) deprivation
Differences
l Priority of aims
l Understanding of the
exclusion
l Approach to inclusion
l Definition of boundaries
l Solutions of exclusion
l Presentation of
relationship between
inclusion and exclusion
Common features
l Ideal types
l Work as a major factor in
inclusion
l Moral content
l term still quite new
l concept is very flexible (country, context-specific)
l missing a well-developed set of indicators
l clarifying the definition and the concept would undermine
the flexibility of the concept
Any other potential problems?