Social Exclusion: Identity and Issues

The present work "Social Exclusion: Identity and Issues" is the out come of a few selected papers presented in the national and international conferences or prepared for specific purposes during the last year by the author. Hope, the work will be of immense benefit to* the researches policy makers, planners and politicians in understanding and framing the policy paradigm for excluded societies. Social exclusion describes a situation where certain groups with in a Society are systematically disadvantagcd because they are discriminated against; such groups are often differentiated by race, ethnicity, age or gender. Social exclusion exists to some degree in all societies and can occur across a number of dimensions: economics, -social, political and cultural. These different forms of disadvantage form a self rein forcing cycle. Exclusion can be official or unofficial and can take place in a number of areas, from the iegal, health and education system lo the household and community. Process of exclusion can be highly visible and deliberate, but can also be hidden and unintentional. In developing countries, exclusion is often a product of historical developments, including colonialism. As a concept, social exclusion helps us to focus on groups of people rather than individuals, which leads us to look at societies for the causes and solutions. One of the strength of the concept of social exclusion is that it focuses attention on agency who is being excluded and who is actively excluding others.