Gore, Charles; Figueiredo, Jose B.; Rodgers, Gerry
Abstract
The term social exclusion came into use among French sociologists to describe “a breakdown of the relationship between society and the individual.” When these connections are broken the consequence may be poverty, alienation, or disqualification from the rights and benefits of participation in society. The concept of social exclusion is meaningful in the French context because of the Republican tradition of solidarity, but it has also come into play in two other contexts: the formation of the European Union, and the crisis of the welfare state under the pressure of global economic restructuring. The article summarized here explores whether social exclusion is also a useful lens for examining dimensions of disadvantage in developing countries as well.
