Social exclusion: concepts, findings and implications for the MDGs

The concept of ‘social exclusion’ is of relatively recent origin. It gained currency in the European context in response to rising unemployment and income inequalities which characterised the closing decades of the 20 century, a period of considerable economic and social dislocation as countries sought to deal with the challenges of globalisation on their labour markets, welfare states and prevailing ideas about citizenship. ‘Social exclusion’ was seen, as the following definition offered by the European Foundation suggests, to represent the other end of the spectrum to ‘ full participation’: