Introduction
In its simplest definition, social exclusion is the lack of participation from the rest of society (DeWall, 2013). It is a concept that carries different meanings to different people depending on the context. In the eyes of social scientists and politicians, social exclusion is among the fundamental concepts by which they focus their political, social, economic, and cultural frameworks. Scholars have also done extensive work in doing away with the confusion surrounding the framework of social exclusion. The result of their efforts has been the view of social exclusion from different angles, all with differing results (DeWall, 2013). As such, social exclusion can be looked at from different angles to serve different situations.
The Value of Social Exclusion
Social exclusion is an all-encompassing concept when it comes to defining society as a whole. While concepts and ideas such as poverty, discrimination, and politics cover some areas of society, social exclusion straddles all of them (Gingrich, 2016). When, for example, an individual uses social exclusion to describe the economic divide between rich and poor people, their definition goes beyond the simple difference in the amount of money and property the rich and the poor have. It thus includes the other issues, such as what problems that come about to the poor for owning less than their rich counterparts. It will also encompass what privileges the rich enjoy for having more money and property. The quality of education, quality of life, and life expectancy, among others, come about when social exclusion is used rather than simply calling it poverty or economic clustering (Southern, 2012).
The significance of social exclusion, therefore, is its allowance of the individual in question to cover the totality of all the divisions that occur in society due to the absence of participation in the activities that govern the direction of society. For instance, if children do not go to school, if parents are not involved in making social decisions and policies, they will be socially excluded. As such, social exclusion lies at the core of the social divide, for example, between rich and poor people, the literate and the illiterate, those with medical cover and those without, those with criminal records and those without, and those actively contributing to society with those who are passive (Embrick, Wright & Lukacs, 2012).
Social Exclusion as a Cultural Concept
When a given group of people is socially excluded owing to their cultural belonging, it means that their participation in the activities of the larger society is not an active one. To policymakers and social scientists, cultural exclusion is a major determining factor when it comes to the advancement of society as a whole (Ashurst, 2014). Most (if not all) countries, cities, and other political areas have people from different cultures. The cultures of these people give them a sense of belonging and identity in whatever place they belong. For the same reason, one’s cultural belonging can be the reason that an individual is socially excluded from the larger society. Taking the United States as an example, while it is the country with the highest number of cultural backgrounds, some of its members suffer from social exclusion due to belonging to minority cultures (Gingrich, 2016). African Americans and Mexicans come to mind in this regard. In this way, when one mentions social exclusion as a cultural concept, they will be referring to the exclusion suffered by an individual owing to their cultural belonging.
Social Exclusion as a Social Concept
In its broadest terms, social exclusion is used with reference to the social divide between groups of people, especially when one group is alienated from the progress of the larger society. Essentially, it brings about a multifaceted concept that details the many ways by which one can be alienated socially (Betti & Lemmi, 2013). It means any individual, whether belonging to high society or low society, can be excluded in various ways. When one cannot access the best education and many other social amenities, they are socially excluded. Not having education, healthcare, and other social amenities makes it difficult for people to escape the exclusion that faces them. For a start, education and most other social amenities offer one the chance to live a normal li,fe whereby they can contribute effectively to the progress of the society (Embrick et al., 2012). Without education, for example, it will be nearly impossible to get into positions of repute to influence the decisions made by those in power. This can be proven by studies conducted in socially excluded groups. In these groups, the level of education is lower than in the rest of the socially included communities.
Social Exclusion as an Economic Concept
Perhaps the most notable exhibition of social exclusion occurs at the economic level. Both social scientists will agree that economic exclusion is at the very center of social exclusion as a whole. Politicians build their manifestos around how they intend to resolve the economic differences between their people (Bhalla & Lapeyre, 2016). As long as there are people who can afford better education, better healthcare, better standards of living, and the best of everything, the rest shall always be left out of the running of society. In most situations, it is the rich who are the most educated, who afford better things, and who hold positions of influence.
Social Exclusion as a Political Concept
No matter the stage of a society in terms of progress and civilization in general, politics stands as the one institution for making the rules and distributing resources. In dictatorial political setups, it is always about what the ruler knows best. Such a society will suffer from gross unfairness as far as exclusion at all levels is concerned (Gingrich, 2016). Whether it is political, social, economic, or cultural exclusion, it is always about the will of the party in power. This does not in any way mean that democracies have the best social inclusion. In fact, there are communities, are, as and institutions that suffer from exclusion in well-developed democracies of the world. To social scientists, these aspects are prime candidates for their studies, given that they aim to find ways of doing away with social exclusion (Sheppard, 2012). For politicians, the very existence of social exclusion in its various forms provides them with an avenue to seek political office where they can correct the exclusions.
Social Exclusion and Social Inclusion
On the opposite end of social exclusion is social inclusion. At times, it is an ambiguous phrase unless the particular type of inclusion is detailed. Basically, social inclusion is the solution to social exclusion. By social inclusion, it means that as many people as possible are to be included in the making of decisions of any society (Winlow & Hall, 2013). Since not everyone can be consulted or even included in the process of making decisions, the use of representatives is called upon. This model works in the ways detailed below.
To remedy the aspect of cultural exclusion in the making of important decisions in society, every culture needs to be represented at the decision-making table. That means that all the issues that concern a given culture should only be addressed with a representative from that culture since they understand their own issues (Betti & Lemmi, 2013). That representative should also have the interest of their people at heart and not be compromised to shortchange their people for personal gain. The same solution also works for social, political, and economic types of exclusion.
It is, however, almost an impossibility to have complete social inclusion and leave everyone satisfied. It is the reason social scientists and politicians alike have tussled with social exclusion since recorded history. At the root of social exclusion is personal gain, which motivates decision-makers to come up with solutions to problems that have the eventual effect of benefiting them. The results of such a decision are that someone along the chain will lose and be excluded from the benefits of the decision (Skoda, Nielsen & Fibiger, 2014). Also, the moment a certain group is excluded, it becomes quite difficult to get back to normalcy and fairness since the privileged or ‘socially included’ parties always defend their positions. Therefore, simply choosing social inclusion as a solution to social exclusion never yields the desired results, as has been proven by history (Ashurst, 2014). The solution lies in the empowerment of each social enclave through proper education and the availability of opportunities. This way, everyone in society will be in a position to call out unfairness, such as social exclusion, and have the capability to help do away with the exclusion.
Conclusion
The problem of social exclusion is a complex one. As such, it needs solutions that have been well thought-out. While a lot of progress has been made in society as a whole, social exclusion from this progress remains a headache for politicians, social scientists, and the affected parties in equal measure. Dealing with social exclusion, therefore, requires dealing with the main problems in society, such as unemployment, crime, illiteracy, poverty, extreme, sm and many others. Solutions such as representation and increasing incomes never yield lasting solutions.
References
Ashurst, F. 2014. Inequality, Poverty, Education: A Political Economy of School Exclusion. New York: Springer.
Betti, G. & Lemmi, A., 2013. Poverty and Social Exclusion: New Methods of Analysis. New York: Routledge.
Bhalla, A. & Lapeyre, F., 2016. Poverty and Exclusion in the Global World. New York: Springer.
DeWall, C., 2013. The Oxford Handbook of Social Exclusion. Auckland: Oxford University Press.
Embrick, D., Wright, T. & Lukacs, A. 2012. Social Exclusion, Power, and Video Game Play. New York: Lexington Books.
Gingrich, L. 2016. Out of Place: Social Exclusion and Mennonite Migrants in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Sheppard, M 2012. Social Work and Social Exclusion: The Idea of Practice. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
Skoda, U., Nielsen, K. & Fibiger, M., 2014. Navigating Social Exclusion and Inclusion in Contemporary India and Beyond. London: Anthem Press.
Southern, A. 2012. Enterprise, Deprivation and Social Exclusion: The Role of Small Business in Addressing Social and Economic Inequalities. New York: Routledge.
Winlow, S. & Hall, S., 2013. Rethinking Social Exclusion: The End of the Social? London: Sage.
