‘Social exclusion’ is a label increasingly used by northern governments for a range of problems from poverty and unemployment to gendered inequalities and institutional racism. Can such a concept help understand the problems of poverty in developing countries? It may do, according to new work on social policy in the south.

Research from the Institute of Development Studies shows how the notion of social exclusion can help rethink social policy to address inequality and discrimination, rather than just tackling their symptoms. Homelessness, unemployment and ghettoisation are European social policy concerns and prime examples of ‘social exclusion’, a concept that has proved its worth in analysing social inequality and poverty in the north. Recently moves have been made to apply it to the analysis of poverty in the south. Yet, poverty in the south is not limited to a small ‘underclass’ but is a far more widespread problem. Can the concept help solve problems of poverty in the south?

The framework set out in this article suggests that social exclusion reflects the systematic denial of resources and of recognition. For many groups, the two are interconnected in that economic disadvantage (low pay, restricted access to resources) is often explained and justified by the low social value ascribed to them (on grounds of ethnicity, race or gender). This implies that:

• Excluded groups need to struggle for redistribution of resources as well as social and cultural recognition.
• Institutions matter: rules of membership define who is included and therefore who is excluded.
• Exclusion and inclusion are not necessarily hard and fast categories: members can be privileged insiders who make the rules of membership, or partial insiders, with some benefits. Formal sector workers have a security that informal sector workers do not, for example, but they are still subordinate to management.
• Groups can enforce exclusion by ensuring that the ‘rules of the game’ favour some groups over others. Treating group characteristics as essential to membership, can exclude others. Unwanted groups can also be excluded through simply bending the rules.

Implications for social policymakers are:

• The problem cannot be left to private initiative. Public action is needed because exclusion is itself produced by the unevenness of the mainstream system.
• The remit of social policy needs to encompass all causes and consequences of social exclusion, past and present. This means a larger area of concern than simply poverty (or the consequences of exclusion), because it includes a concern with inequality.
• The role of social policy as a mechanism of exclusion needs to be addressed. Although public action is needed, the state often reinforces, rather than reverses, processes of exclusion.
• The need for improved governance at the meso-level is clear. This means combining the benefits of private and public sectors, to ensure that social service delivery is improved through practical incentives, but that accountability remains a key principle.

Source(s):
‘Social exclusion, poverty and discrimination: Towards an analytical framework’, IDS Bulletin 31 (4) by Naila Kabeer, 2000 Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 16 May 2001

Further Information:
Naila Kabeer
Institute of Development Studies
University of Sussex
Falmer, Brighton
BN1 9RE, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1273 606261
Fax: +44 (0)1273 621202
Contact the contributor: N.Kabeer@ids.ac.uk

Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK

Other related links:
More research from the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion

PovertyNet has details of the World Development report on poverty

See UNDP Poverty for a broad selection of highlights on human development and livelihoods

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers aim to promote growth and reduce poverty in individual countries

Refer to Povamon for Poverty analysis and monitoring

MOST focuses on Poverty and Social Exclusion