A MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONCEPT

The fourth main area of injustice is that of social exclusion. The term emerged in France in the 1970s, where it referred to those falling through the net of social protection, and was adopted by the European Commission in 1989. The intention was to address wider issues than poverty. While some people criticize the notion of social exclusion as diverting attention from fundamental economic inequalities of income and wealth and both absolute and relative poverty, it alerts to other forms of marginalization in our society such as political participation and influence. Ruth Lister noted that:

Four broad dimensions of social exclusion are generally identified:

• impoverishment or exclusion from adequate income or resources;

• labour market exclusion from paid employment;

• service exclusion, for example from education, health and welfare services; and

• exclusion from social relationships, including full participation in political processes and decision-making.

People who are poor often have multiple disadvantages of low or inadequate income, wealth, education, qualifications and skills, poor housing and health, all of which effectively exclude them from full participation in the everyday life of society and in its decision-making processes.