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Key Text Social Exclusion: The Concept and Application to Developing Countries

Author: R Saith
Date: 2001
Size: 17 pages (125 KB)

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Summary

Is it possible to apply the concept of social exclusion to developing countries? This paper from Queen Elizabeth House discusses the origin of this approach in relation to unemployment status and its spread in Western Europe and developing countries. It suggests that rather than trying to transplant the concept to developing countries, its advantages – particularly the emphasis on processes that lead to poverty - could be incorporated into existing frameworks in developing countries.

The term social exclusion emerged in Europe in the 1970s and 80s, to denote exclusion from activities and standards considered the norm in industrial societies (such as participation in the welfare state or the organised labour force). It recognised that employment was not just about income, but also about social networks and self-worth, and that the unemployed were excluded from participation in the normal activities of society. The concept has been useful in widening poverty analyses beyond a purely monetary approach to include a multidimensional set of conditions and the dynamics and processes leading to poverty or deprivation. At approximately the same time, concepts which share many of the features of the social exclusion approach emerged in developing countries, for example, basic needs, entitlements, capabilities, vulnerability and human development.

Given the differences in patterns of social integration between industrialised and developing countries, it is questionable whether the concept of social exclusion, as developed originally in Europe, can be applied in developing countries.

There is a lack of a well formed welfare state in developing countries; people identified as socially excluded on the basis of exclusion from social security measures would be the majority of the population.
Social security in developing countries does not involve only the state and specific state-run programmes but also the public, non-governmental organisations and social, political and humanitarian institutions.
Using employment status to classify individuals as socially excluded in developing countries is fraught with problems because the percentage of the population involved in formal employment is a minority.
Attempts to modify the concept of social exclusion to suit particular developing country contexts have usually produced work similar to earlier multidimensional poverty studies in the respective countries.
The arrival of the social exclusion concept has played a role in the reopening of old debates and discussions in developing countries under new terminology.

Rather than trying to transplant the social exclusion concept to developing countries, its advantages could be incorporated into existing frameworks in developing countries. This would be beneficial as it would:

Emphasise the investigation of processes which lead to poverty rather than focusing on outcomes, as has been the predominant approach in development.
Prevent the need to re-do poverty analyses under the rubric of social exclusion.
Highlight the extensive research that has already been conducted into causes, correlates and processes of poverty in developing countries.

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Source: Saith, R. (2001) ‘ Social Exclusion: The Concept and Application to Developing Countries’, Queen Elizabeth House Working Paper Series, University of Oxford, Oxford
Author: Queen Elizabeth House, (QEH), http://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/