Social exclusion is one of three new frameworks for social development policy analysis which have emerged in the last couple of years, the others being social capital and a rights-based approach to development. All three are useful for giving us ways of thinking which demonstrate that poverty is multi-faceted and that priorities for policy need social as well as economic objectives. The challenge to tackle the interaction between these and preventing them arising in the first place. This appreciation of the interaction between the various elements is crucial. Missing is the idea of process with a focus on the dynamic causes and consequences, as well as the characteristics of poverty.
Social exclusion is about institutions and actors.
The French, who originally invented the term, place a valuable emphasis on participation and social integration, thus contributing to our thinking about the nature of social citizenship. The relations between citizens, as well as between civil society and business, are as important for social policy as are the more traditionally conceived links between citizens and the state. Along with the rights-based framework, the social exclusion framework includes a concern for inequality. Richard Wilkinson's paper in the IDS Bulletin, based on research in the North, shows a link between health status and inequality. People who feel good about themselves and their role and position in society tend to be more healthy.