Social Exclusion and Children : a Brief Review of Selected Literature

2. By way of background, the term social exclusion, while somewhat vague in definition, is multidimensional in concept having economic, social, political, and cultural connotations. A key characteristic is the shift from individual responsibility to society and its institutions. Importantly for the development of public policy, social exclusion represents a process rather than a state such as poverty. Silver (1994) presents a thorough historic and theoretical overview of the evolution of the concept of social exclusion using three conceptual models: solidarity (the bond between the individual and society), specialisation (social differentiation and the division of labour), and monopoly (the formation of group monopoly). Having its recent roots in France, the coining of the term is credited to Rene Lenoir in 1974 who identified the mentally and physically handicapped, suicidal people, aged invalids, abused children, drug addicts, delinquents, single parents, multiproblem households, and asocial persons as the primary vulnerable groups. Using the framework of social exclusion, social policies and programs have emerged in France and throughout Europe.