Poverty and Exclusion in a Global World

The notion of social exclusion is relatively new in the Anglo-Saxon literature but it rapidly gained currency during the 1990s. It was first developed in France by sociologists concerned by the emerging social problems related to the socioeconomic transformations in the 1980s. It refers to the loss of social cohesion resulting from growing inequalities and the return of mass social and economic vulnerability for an increasing part of the population. Indeed, the lack of access of a growing number of individuals to a decent job (or simply a job), income, housing, health service or education and a more diffused feeling of insecurity among some portions of the population goes hand in hand with new opportunities for others who can take advantage of the potential for prosperity. Social exclusion is related not only to a lack of material wealth but also to symbolic exclusion, social deprivation and incomplete participation in the main social institutions (Silver, 1995). It emphasizes the quality of the relationship between the individual and society. An approach in terms of social exclusion highlights the new social question affecting social cohesion which calls for major changes in social policy.

Having defined the concept of exclusion in economic, social and political terms, our next task is to examine whether these three dimensions can be integrated into a coherent analytical, conceptual and operational framework. This is the chief concern of this chapter. We examine the three dimensions in respect of two chief aspects, namely, the distributional (economic) and the relational (social and political) for this purpose. We also explore whether suitable indicators of social exclusion can be found to make the concept testable and measurable. The framework presented in this chapter is then tested in Chapters 3 to 7.

Having presented an analytical framework and a set of indicators of the economic, social and political dimensions of exclusion in Chapter 2, in this chapter we examine the merits and limitations of two specific indicators of social exclusion, namely, long-term unemployment and job precariousness.

In Chapters 2 and 3 we developed an analytical and operational framework for the study of social exclusion. This and the following chapter are concerned with the testing of this framework in both industrialized countries and the transition economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In this chapter we examine the experiences of North America (the underclass) and Western Europe (social exclusion). In order to place the discussion in a concrete country setting, we undertake a case study of France. Our discussion covers the following three related sets of main issues: (a) economic, social and political aspects of exclusion, (b) distributional and relational issues and (c) indicators of job precariousness.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a neoliberal counterrevolution occurred within most of the former Central and Eastern Europe including the former Soviet Union. The countries in this region rejected all hybrid forms of market socialism on the grounds that this so-called ‘third way‘ had proved to be unworkable. Kornai (1986) played a major role in that radical shift of Eastern European elite on the efficiency and reformability of socialist systems.

Our concern in this chapter is to examine, in the context of developing countries, economic, social and political dimensions of exclusion and the interrelationships between its distributional and relational problems defined in Chapter 2. Although economic and social dimensions of exclusion may be discussed separately for ease of exposition, they are closely interrelated. As we noted in Chapters 1 and 2, the state of economic exclusion is embedded in the prevailing social and political structures.

In Chapters 1 to 6 we discussed the economic and social issues largely in a national context, even though the framework in Chapter 2 explicitly recognized the importance of the global dimension. The causes of exclusion are a complex interaction of both internal and external factors. The purpose of this chapter is to extend our analysis to the external factors and the global dimension of exclusion. The two main global phenomena in the twenty-first century are (i) the emergence of a global economy involving increasing interdependence between countries of the North and South and (ii) an acceleration of the process of democratization in most developing societies briefly discussed in Chapter 6. Both these phenomena have implications for the analytical as well as normative aspects of the concept of exclusion discussed in the earlier chapters. While globalization may alleviate poverty and exclusion in some societies which are equipped to benefit from it, it may accentuate marginalization and exclusion in others, as is increasingly demonstrated by a growing anti-globalization movement and a softening of the protagonists‘ stance. Does globalization generate exclusion and social disintegration and thereby threaten social cohesion and sustainable growth? This question is addressed below in the context of both industrialized and developing countries.