Homelessness, unemployment and ghettoisation are European social policy concerns and prime examples of social exclusion , a concept that has proved its worth in analysing social inequality and poverty in the north. Recently moves have been made to apply it to the analysis of poverty in the south. Yet, poverty in the south is not limited to a small underclass but is a far more widespread problem. The framework set out in this article suggests that social exclusion reflects the systematic denial of resources and of recognition. Formal sector workers have a security that informal sector workers do not, for example, but they are still subordinate to management.
Groups can enforce exclusion by ensuring that the rules of the game favour some groups over others.
Treating group characteristics as essential to membership, can exclude others. Unwanted groups can also be excluded through simply bending the rules. Public action is needed because exclusion is itself produced by the unevenness of the mainstream system. The remit of social policy needs to encompass all causes and consequences of social exclusion, past and present. The role of social policy as a mechanism of exclusion needs to be addressed.