Rethinking Social inclusion

Social inclusion is defined as the process of improving the terms of participation in society, particularly for people who are disadvantaged, through enhancing opportunities, access to resources, voice and respect for rights.

Identifying social inclusion and exclusion.

Key messages • Social exclusion is a multidimensional phenomenon not limited to material deprivation; poverty is an important dimension of exclusion, albeit only one dimension. Accordingly, social inclusion processes involve more than improving access to economic resources. • Social inclusion is defined as the process of improving the terms of participation in society, particularly for people who are disadvantaged, through enhancing opportunities, access to resources, voice and respect for rights. • Measuring social exclusion is challenging due to its multidimensional nature and the lack of standard data sources across countries and for all social groups at highest risk of being left behind. Despite limitations, the existing data allow for a meaningful analysis of key aspects of exclusion. The report presents these data while illustrating data gaps. • While inclusion is a core aspiration of the 2030 Agenda, conceptual and analytical work on what constitutes inclusion, as well as efforts to improve data availability, are needed.

The concept of social inclusion 

Enshrined in the 2030 Agenda is the principle that every person should reap the benefits of prosperity and enjoy minimum standards of well-being. This is captured in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that are aimed at freeing all nations and people and all segments of society from poverty and hunger and to ensure, among other things, healthy lives and access to education, modern energy and information. Recognizing that these goals are difficult to achieve without making institutions work for those who are deepest in poverty and most vulnerable, the Agenda embraces broad targets aimed at promoting the rule of law, ensuring equal access to justice and broadly fostering inclusive and participatory decision-making. These goals and targets, when effectively translated into action and properly benchmarked, represent essential elements of social inclusion processes. However, social inclusion encompasses a broader set of concerns than those reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals. No single global, goal-setting agenda can adequately address the multiple dimensions of Key messages •

 Social exclusion is a multidimensional phenomenon not limited to material deprivation; poverty is an important dimension of exclusion, albeit only one dimension. Accordingly, social inclusion processes involve more than improving access to economic resources. • Social inclusion is defined as the process of improving the terms of participation in society, particularly for people who are disadvantaged, through enhancing opportunities, access to resources, voice and respect for rights. • Measuring social exclusion is challenging due to its multidimensional nature and the lack of standard data sources across countries and for all social groups at highest risk of being left behind. Despite limitations, the existing data allow for a meaningful analysis of key aspects of exclusion. • While inclusion is a core aspiration of the 2030 Agenda, conceptual and analytical work on what constitutes inclusion, as well as efforts to improve data availability, are needed. Leaving no one behind exclusion or comprehensively promote inclusion, particularly given the diversity of circumstances around the globe. 

 1 - Social exclusion

 Although there is no universally agreed definition or benchmark for social exclusion, lack of participation in society is at the heart of nearly all definitions put forth by scholars, government bodies, non-governmental organizations and others (see box I.1). Overall, social exclusion describes a state in which individuals are unable to participate fully in economic, social, political and cultural life, as well as the process leading to and sustaining such a state. 14 Participation may be hindered when people lack access to material resources, including income, employment, land and housing, or to such services as education and health care — essential foundations of well-being that are captured in Agenda 2030. Yet participation is also limited when people cannot exercise their voice or interact with each other, and when their rights and dignity are not accorded equal respect and protection. Thus social exclusion entails not only material deprivation but also lack of agency or control over important decisions as well as feelings of alienation and inferiority. In nearly all countries, to varying degrees, age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, religion, migration status, socioeconomic status, place of residence, and sexual orientation and gender identity have been grounds for social exclusion over time. The term social exclusion was used for the first time by former French Secretary of State for Social Action, René Lenoir (1974), to refer to the situation of certain groups of people − “the mentally and the physically handicapped, suicidal people, aged invalids, abused children, drug addicts, delinquents, single parents, multi-problem households, marginal, asocial persons, and other ‘social misfits’”− whom he estimated to comprise one tenth of the populationof France and who were considered vulnerable yet outside the realm of social insurance systems of the welfare state. The concept soon took hold in other developed countries; more recently, the European Union dedicated 2010 as the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. Experts have questioned the utility of the social exclusion framework to lower-income, developing countries (Saith, 2001). Where the majority of a population work in informal and insecure employment, lack social protection coverage or do not complete secondary education, standards of normality as benchmarks of inclusion or exclusion are not what are aspired to. Yet, in Sen’s (2000) view, the concept and its focus on relational features has led to richer analysis of processes that result in poverty and capability deprivation, many aspects of which are common across regions even at different levels of development. Issues related to the status, segregation and disempowerment of migrants, for instance, affect a growing number of countries − developed and developing. While intertwined, the concepts of poverty and social exclusion are nonetheless distinct. Poverty is an outcome, while social exclusion is both an outcome and a process. Poverty and exclusion need not go hand in hand; not all socially excluded groups are economically disadvantaged. People are often excluded due to a disability or because of their sexual orientation, for instance, without necessarily living in poverty. Levitas and others (2007) observed: “Many of the attempts to define social exclusion distinguish it from poverty… on the basis of its multi-dimensional, relational and dynamic character”. Indeed, whereas poverty is most commonly defined in monetary terms, social exclusion takes a more holistic view of human development

2 - Social inclusion 

In the policy discourse, efforts to promote social inclusion have arisen from concerns over social exclusion. For the purpose of the present report, social inclusion is defined as the process of improving the terms of participation in society for people who are disadvantaged on the basis of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status, through enhanced opportunities, access to resources, voice and respect for rights. Thus, social inclusion is both a process and a goal. In the present report, it is contended that promoting social inclusion requires tackling social exclusion by removing barriers to people’s participation in society, as well as by taking active inclusionary steps to facilitate such participation. As a political response to the exclusion challenge, social inclusion is thus a more deliberate process of encompassing and welcoming all persons and embracing greater equality and tolerance. It should be noted that fostering social inclusion may or may not increase the capacity of people to live together in harmony. Societies that are otherwise cohesive may exclude some sectors of the population (United Nations, 2010). Similarly, social inclusion is not the same as social integration, even though the two terms are at times used interchangeably. Social integration and social inclusion should, however, contribute to making societies more cohesive (see figure).  By touching on some aspects of social cohesion and social integration and examines indicators that are relevant to both concepts, its focus is on the elimination of social exclusion and the promotion of social inclusion. 

3. Elements of exclusion and inclusion

 Thix definition of social inclusion explicitly refers to people who are disadvantaged on the basis of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, or economic or other status for two reasons. First, although anyone may be potentially at risk of social exclusion, certain attributes or characteristics increase such risk. These are often linked to identity or group ascription. Kabeer (2006) described Identifying social inclusion and exclusion two types of identity. One relates to “groups of people who acknowledge their common membership, have shared beliefs and values and act in collective ways. Caste, ethnicity and religion are examples of such group identities”. The other refers to categories of people defined on the basis of some shared characteristic rather than shared values and way of life. Members of these categories do not necessarily know each other and share very little in common, aside from the nature of the discrimination they face. Street children, people with leprosy or AIDS and undocumented migrants are examples of such socially excluded categories. In the present report, the term “group” refers to both types of identity and is recognized as a social construct used to facilitate the analysis. Second, in aspiring to empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all members of society, target 10.2 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Deelopment draws attention to these attributes; under that target, it is emphasized that all should be included “irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status”. The bases of disadvantage included in the report’s definition are therefore those explicitly included by Governments in the Sustainable Development Goals. While not comprehensive, the list highlights many of the attributes that have historically put individuals most at risk of exclusion.