Social Exclusion

By: Sharon White
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:25:20
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Social exclusion is a notion that acquires importance while discussing the problems of the society as a whole. This notion is to review and study all the social defects that are adequate for the modern society, or at least their majority, for example: unemployment, discrimination, segregation, financial needs and poverty. Social segregation is often viewed as multi-aspect approach to the problem of poverty. Poverty and social exclusion should be approached as two interacting concepts that reflect different measures of everyday situations. Social exclusion occurs where individuals become excluded from mainstream society, thus placing them at a disadvantage in terms of life chances.

Contrary to the common view that social exclusion is confined only to council estates, individuals from teenage mothers to older adults of various socio-economic levels and family types can easily become excluded from society.

This essay shall explain the common occurrences of social exclusion within council estates and their causes. I shall then proceed to discuss the strategies used by various housing organisations to combat the problem.

According to the government - the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, ‘Social exclusion is a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown’.

To be excluded from society is not a situation exclusive to residents of council estates suffering from disrepair; individuals become excluded from society when various factors prevent or limit their ability and opportunity to participate in the mainstream of society. The following are commonly reported examples of social exclusion.

One of the most common examples of social exclusion occurs in council estates, where the residents are generally not content with their living conditions but feel it is the best they can gain. They typically spend most of their time in the home or around the estate, rarely venturing out of the surrounding area. The majority of their life surrounds socialising with family and friends. This ‘estate life’ is therefore important to them because it occupies such a large part of their lives and provides the large majority of their social contacts.

Such a resident will have relatively low levels of aspiration and motivation, which is commonly the result of feeling stuck in ‘low-level’ employment or having to rely on social security and other benefits for a relatively long duration. This is known as the ‘benefits trap’. They are also poorly qualified and skilled, sometimes with low levels of literacy.

The type of people who live in this situation do not perceive the high rates of joblessness or increasing disrepair on their estate as significant problems and take it all ‘in their stride’. As a result, they accept: the level of crime, caused mainly by drugs misuse and the anti-social behaviour of other residents; their actual and expected levels of relatively low personal achievement and educational attainment; qualities in their environment that wouldn’t normally be accepted within mainstream society, such as prolonged disrepair and noise pollution for instance; high levels of pressure from peers to conform to their activities and standards. The main cause of this common example of social exclusion was the major shift from the manufacturing industries to service industries, mainly over the last two decades. This shift was propelled mainly by the fall of the Keynesian economics and the rise in free market economics. The Thatcherism approach adopted by the conservative government of that time also increased the competitiveness of the services sector, thus improving the sector for the public and making the sector more efficient and profitable.

This made many redundant from society as a large proportion of people that were skilled in the manufacturing sector made unemployed and left in a generally unsuccessful search for employment. This is because they are not skilled or experienced in the service industry. This was further worsened by the use of ineffective and inflexible housing policies; the under funding of public services, which in turn led to the deterioration and withdrawal of public services from housing estates.

As a direct result, those that could move out of the area, did move out of the area, resulting in the residualisation of the social renting sector as ‘council housing becomes a service for those who can not afford to buy’ (Forrest and Murie, 1990). The housing estates have become poorer places with more unemployed residents, less adequate services and a poorer physical and social environment.

When those with the opportunity leave the area, it becomes much more difficult to reverse the process of residualisation through renewal and regeneration of the estate. On the other hand, various factors such as inertia, the feeling of little worth and not being able to aspire to achieve more, lack of security, poor educational facilities for children, poor job prospects and a worsening environment, are all valid reasons to move away. Having grown up in the area, however, many feel tied and are reluctant to leave, despite the fact that the quality of the area has deteriorated.

Article source: Expert Articles