What do we mean when we talk about social exclusion and the negative impacts of social exclusion on peoples lives? The term social exclusion is not just used by academics and social scientists it really does have negative connotations for those who are effected by it. “Social exclusion” is a contested term. Not only is it used to refer to a wide range of phenomena and processes related to poverty, deprivation and hardship, but it is also used in relation to a wide range of categories of excluded people and places of exclusion INTRODUCTION “Social exclusion” – what do these two words mean? Why have they become popular in policy discourse in parts of the English-speaking world? How and in what ways are they a contested concept? Arguably, they signify a new concept somehow related to notions of poverty, hardship, deprivation and marginalisation, but the contexts in which the concept appears are often ambiguous and contradictory. Despite over 20 years of use in the European Union (especially France) and in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, there is debate about what the concept signifies and how it is best used in rhetorical and policy contexts. Notwithstanding the level of debate, the concept is widely used and seems to be profoundly attractive to the producers of social policy discourse. However, here at mkfacp our social scientists often refer to the psycho- social effects of social exclusion on the lives of people. Psycho-Social Effects of Exclusion The categories of people “effected” by exclusion are those for whom the discourse of social exclusion is less potent. Psycho-social effects may include: psychological problems, relational problems, loss of identity, loss of cultural affiliations, de-integration from work relations, problems of mental depression, internal de-structuring of the person, loss of purpose, de-integration from family ties, processes of subjective implication, the inner dimension of poverty, and de-integration from social relations (Peace 1999:400). Other “relational problems”, “loss of identity”, “mental depression” and so on, are also those people that the Poverty Programmes were beginning to target such as the Bedroom tax. The consequent, employment are often associated with individuals who have a depleted capacity to engage in well-paid work and are frequently engaged in cycling in and out of paid work, with rapid changes in status and increasing vulnerability in the paid work market as they develop a reputation for workplace unreliability. Oh what a crazy world we live in, and i dont just mean in the West. 2010 was hailed the year of combating social exclusion but we asked what went wrong? The Scottish Office suggests that: Social Exclusion is complex: its causes are connected, and its effects themselves become causes of further exclusion; for example, poverty is both a key cause of social exclusion and a key effect. Action to promote social inclusion therefore needs to be both comprehensive and co-ordinated: it must address the full range of issues facing an individual, a family or a community. (Scottish Office 1999: 1-2 online, emphasis added), The UK Social Exclusion Unit, which has effect in England, in its earliest manifestations tended to focus more on “individuals” and to define exclusion more in terms of conventional “poverty discourse”. Thus, the complexity was identified in terms such as “linked problems”: Social exclusion is a shorthand label for 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. (Social Exclusion Unit 2012) Here is an older journal that i believe explains the concept in detail. bris.ac.uk/poverty/downloads/keyofficialdocuments/Drivers%20of%20Social%20Exclusion.pdf So, when you see us refer to the terms social exclusion, we thought we would give you a little more information about what we do to combat the negative impact of it within the projects work. If you would like to know more about the work we do - then join us, help us make a difference we all have skills we can share. jrf.org.uk/work/workarea/monitoring-poverty-and-social-exclusion?gclid=CKbd9uTAhLsCFfHMtAodV2EAxA
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 08:38:31 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015