Social Exclusion and Marginalization:
1- Introduction:
Social exclusion and backwardness is a manifestation of social deficit. The term was first used in France and is now used worldwide. The term is frequently used in sociology, education, psychology, political science, and economics, where social exclusion is an important topic. Social exclusion is a process in which individuals or a group of people are deprived of the rights, opportunities and resources that are believed to be necessary for everyone in society. These rights are generally fundamental to the formation of a society such as housing, employment, health facilities, education, social relations and democratic rights etc. Socially excluded people or groups of people are generally called disadvantaged people or disadvantaged groups. "backwardness" refers to those persons or any such group of persons who:
i- Suffer from special problems such as physical or mental disabilities,
ii-Who
are severely cash-strapped or who have very low incomes.
iii- Those who have no power under the political system or lacking the
other resources of influencing.
The term "disadvantaged" is generally used to
refer to people who belong to low-income groups or minority groups.
Economically, the term is used to refer to individuals who are deserving to
receive free assistance and facilities from government agencies like free or
reduced cost provision of food to poor students
in schools.
As a result of social exclusion, segregation can be
linked to a person's class, race, colour, family, standard of living or
religion. Any person deviating from the generally accepted practices or customs
of a community may be considered undesirable in the community or may be
considered deserving of any form of social exclusion. As a result of social
exclusion, the affected individuals or groups are prevented from playing a
healthy role in the economic, social and political life of the society of which
they are a part. Social exclusion at the individual or group level can be
manifested in four interrelated dimensions. That is, lack of access to social
rights, poverty, limited participation in social activities and deprivation of
a standard condition necessary to be a part of society. The concept of social exclusion
appears to be a complex and versatile phenomenon.
2- Origin of the concept of social disconnection:
The concept of social exclusion became popular in the twentieth century and especially in the 1990s in Western Europe. The roots of this concept existed even in the time of Aristotle. The modern concept of social exclusion emerged in France in the 1970s. The reason for this was the social unrest that arose due to social defects in the late 1960s, which resulted in unemployment and economic and social inequalities. The use of this term spread from France to institutions of the European Union and it had been using for the awareness of the problems due to poverty.
This concept was especially adopted by the newly elected
Labour Government in the UK in 1990, when the International Labour Organization
played an important role in bringing this concept to the less developed
countries. The beginning of the development of this concept is connected with
the concept of individualism introduced in 1970 and to some extent with
neo-liberal ideology.
The political benefits obtained from the use of the
concept of social disconnection can also be considered as a reason for the
promotion of this concept. It is argued that it is considered less dangerous
than poverty and due to its wide range of use, it is considered acceptable in
certain political situations. For example, revised principles of
immigration rights in Europe and America.
In addition, its popularity can also be linked to the notion that social
isolation provides a true picture of the social world. Being universal, this
concept has the characteristic that it can naturally provide a new insight or
awareness of the causes and consequences of poverty, deprivation, inequality,
marginalization or discrimination. The debate on social disconnection gives a
new direction to planning, especially planning for the development of
education. It also points to the danger that the term exclusion can be used as
a cover to hide extreme poverty or that it can be used for the purpose the poor
class should be held responsible for this situation.
3- Meaning of Social Exclusion:
Silver, Levitass, and Beall have played an important role in understanding and clarifying the political reasons behind different theories of social relations and its different definitions. They also worked to define the strategies and practical measures through which the problem of social exclusion can be solved. Although many definitions of social exclusion give opposite meanings However, different perspectives on them play an important role in clarifying the difference between the outcasts and the rest of society and the practice of social exclusion. Simplifies the process of defining and evaluating roles.
Social exclusion is a term that has its own specific
meaning. And these meanings have been derived in terms of its evolution in the
world. It is not possible that the term social relation has been used in
different ways at different times to describe different institutional,
political, historical and geographical backgrounds. Social distancing has been
redefined over time and used strategically in different contexts. "In the
first stage of social disconnection, the group that is at risk of disconnection
is identified. In society, the meaning of this term itself is to identify those
individuals who are meant to be cut off from social processes and social
connections. The next step is to define the social process by which
disconnection is intended and the circumstances in which this process of
disconnection will be articulated and enforced. . The last important step is
that the people who use the term also understand it according to their own
understanding.
Keeping all these aspects in mind, one can define the
following meaning of the term social exclusion.
“It is a multifaceted process that includes social,
cultural, political and economic dimensions and operates on different social
norms, it has different effects over different time scales. It is defined as
the loss of social and interpersonal relationships and this loss of
relationships leads to a lack of participation in social processes, social
security, social connections, and other social functions.”
The concept of social exclusion is formed by the social
attitudes of the dominant groups in the society which affect a subgroup of the
population and alienate them from the mainstream of social systems and
relationships. Similarly, the process of social exclusion can also be defined
as the process of unequal distribution of power in a state or federation which
leads to inequality or gives rise to various forms of marginalization.
According to one school of thought, it is the name of the participation of
members of the society in a social process, while the other school of thought
defines it as the deprivation of access to basic rights of a certain section of
the society. Access and participation can be considered elements of fundamental
importance in the process of exclusion from society compared to inclusion in
society. However, inclusion depends on how different groups in the society have
access to economic and social resources, services, goods and various systems as
well as to some extent in the decision-making process related to the society.
Another aspect of this is that full participation in the social process
requires mutual trust. When ever this trust decrease in social relations,
social relations begin to suffer.
4- Factors Influencing Social Exclusion:
Overall, there are two types of factors that influence the lack or excess of social exclusion namely structural factors and cultural factors.
1:-
Structural Factors:
The detail of structural factors is as under:
(i)-Economic-technological
factors:
What is your economic background? What quality is given
to this background in society? This includes labor market efficiency, labor
market defects and the decline of urban labor markets. which reduces employment
opportunities in cities and concentrates benefits at the local level, promotes
international competition and globalization. It is a large collection of
elements.
(ii)-
Socio-demographic factors:
Which country of the world or which part of a country do
you belong to? And how is it seen in the society? This collection of elements
can be described from economic and demographic aspects. Such as increased
dependence on members of society due to increased longevity, stable supply of a
growing labor force, increased school enrollment and decreasing duration of
employment relative to life span. Decline in birth rate, increasing trend of
individualism (single household), establishment of society comprising of
different races and cultures and increase in migration trend due to
unencouraging employment opportunities.
2:- Cultural Factors:
Does your behavior conform to social norms? Various cultural factors have a significant impact on the process of social exclusion. Such as generally accepted views, cultural values and customs and expectations associated with negative roles, general attitudes towards minorities and vulnerable groups, the development of a culture of deprivation in a group excluded from society, poverty and inequality.
Education and Social Exclusion/Inclusion:
Education is not the only cause of exclusion nor it can be the only solution. However, many of such causes are present on the basis of which educational achievements or the use of education and training and teaching opportunities play an important role in the process of social exclusion.
Unequal access to
a better education play an important role in the increase of social exclusion.
Socio-economic low-status families or children whose parents' income is not
reasonable usually do not complete upper secondary level or even secondary
education. Similarly, children from migrant families also have fewer
opportunities to complete upper secondary level education.
Many thinkers present the opinion that only education and
training and acquisition of knowledge cannot guarantee the success of an
individual, but in this era of knowledge economy, these elements are considered
necessary for increasing social development. It is clear that people living in
extreme poverty or those without any source of permanent income, or members of
poor communities and settlements, are among those to whom the term social
exclusion applies.
During the last century, special attention has been paid
to the inequality in educational opportunities. There are clear evidences that
the economic and social background of students has profound effects on their
academic achievements and academic performance.
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