Kosovo Human Development Report 2010 - UNDP Kosovo - United ...

1.1
Social inclusion/
exclusion: evolution
of the concept in
Europe
What is social exclusion? There are
currently multiple definitions. However,
each one emphasizes a process
through which deprivation is driven
by alienation from the mainstream -
locking individuals or groups out of
normal economic, social and political
processes.
From this perspective, social exclusion
is both a process and an outcome.
The process occurs when the
institutions and social constructs that
allocate resources and assign value
operate in ways that systematically
deny some groups full participation in
society. 14 The outcome is “a complex
and dynamic set of relationships that
prevent individuals or groups from accessing
resources and asserting their
rights”. 15
Rooted in French and German sociology,
16 social exclusion is a largely European
construct. In France, the term
“social exclusion“ was first used in the
1970s to refer to the plight of those
who fell through the net of social protection
- the poor, people with mental
and physical disabilities, as well as racial
and ethnic minorities. In early debates
on social exclusion and marginality,
social exclusion was usually nar-
CHAPTER 1
Social inclusion and human development
a conceptual background 13
“The obvious is the most difficult to see: The true wealth of a country is its people.”
Mahbub ul Haq, founder of the Human Development Reports
rowly viewed as individual-level challenge
experienced by some individuals
17 who were not able to participate
in mainstream society. As the concept
evolved, it started to include societal,
institutional, policy and cultural barriers
as well as individual-specific challenges.
When the European Commission
(EC) adopted the term in the late
1980s, social exclusion as a concept
was finally absorbed into Europe’s internal
political discourse. 18 Over time,
it became understood as both a relative
and absolute concept. Exclusion
can only be judged by comparing
the circumstances of an individual (or
group or community) relative to others
within the same society. However, the
individual’s right to “a life associated
with being a member of a community”
is fundamental, transcending borders
and different socio-cultural norms. 19
When first introduced into the EU
policy discourse, the concept of social
inclusion posited participation in
the labour force as the primary nexus
of social interaction. The concept understood
social exclusion in terms of
exclusion from the paid labour force
and explicitly assigned an active obligation
to the State to identify and
remove barriers to full participation
in paid employment and to regularly
report on its progress. The adoption of
the Lisbon Strategy in 2000, however,
SOCIAL INCLUSION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT - A CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND
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