What Is Social Exclusion, Why Is It Relevant to Social Work and How Have Attempts to Address the Issues Associated with It Influenced Social Work Practice and Its Value Base
What is social exclusion, why is it relevant to social work and how have attempts to address the issues associated with it influenced social work practice and its value base?
The idea of citizenship conferring rights and privileges and defining boundaries can be traced back to Diogenes of Sinope in 3rd century B.C. Greece (Navia,L, 2005). However, the term ‘social exclusion’ is a comparatively new one, first utilised in France in the 1970’s. It was used to describe the marginalized population or those that were outcast. It included people that were discriminated against (e.g. the disabled) and those that were not citizens (e.g. an asylum seeker).
The French political system was and remains a very different animal to that of the UK. There is a much greater emphasis on state support of citizens and social cohesion and less emphasis on free market drivers to the delivery of public services. In the latter half of the last century social policy in the UK had concentrated on lifting those people close to the breadline out of (relative) poverty. Political leaders claimed that poverty in the UK had been eradicated. In reality financial inequality was in fact rising and the number of people living in poverty increased.
The concept of social exclusion spread from France and embedded itself in European social policy, notably in the Maastricht Treaty of 1996. In 1997 Labour was elected in the UK and the concept quickly became a central policy of the new Government although neither it nor poverty was often mentioned in their election manifesto. The Social Exclusion Unit was set up in 1997. Its remit was to provide strategic advice and policy analysis in a drive against social exclusion. The SEU published a series of reports on five key issues: neighbourhood renewal; rough sleepers; teenage pregnancy; young people not in education, training or employment, and truancy and school exclusion.
The SEU outlined social exclusion as:
"A shorthand label for what can happen
The idea of citizenship conferring rights and privileges and defining boundaries can be traced back to Diogenes of Sinope in 3rd century B.C. Greece (Navia,L, 2005). However, the term ‘social exclusion’ is a comparatively new one, first utilised in France in the 1970’s. It was used to describe the marginalized population or those that were outcast. It included people that were discriminated against (e.g. the disabled) and those that were not citizens (e.g. an asylum seeker).
The French political system was and remains a very different animal to that of the UK. There is a much greater emphasis on state support of citizens and social cohesion and less emphasis on free market drivers to the delivery of public services. In the latter half of the last century social policy in the UK had concentrated on lifting those people close to the breadline out of (relative) poverty. Political leaders claimed that poverty in the UK had been eradicated. In reality financial inequality was in fact rising and the number of people living in poverty increased.
The concept of social exclusion spread from France and embedded itself in European social policy, notably in the Maastricht Treaty of 1996. In 1997 Labour was elected in the UK and the concept quickly became a central policy of the new Government although neither it nor poverty was often mentioned in their election manifesto. The Social Exclusion Unit was set up in 1997. Its remit was to provide strategic advice and policy analysis in a drive against social exclusion. The SEU published a series of reports on five key issues: neighbourhood renewal; rough sleepers; teenage pregnancy; young people not in education, training or employment, and truancy and school exclusion.
The SEU outlined social exclusion as:
"A shorthand label for what can happen
References: Home Office and Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) (2005) ‘Citizen Engagement and Public Services: Why Neighbourhoods Matter’ London DCLG IASSW/IFSW, (2001) ‘International Definition of Social Work’ http://www.iassw-aiets.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory &id=26&Itemid=51 Accessed on 11/01/12 Navia, L (2005)’Diogenes The Cynic’ New York: Humanity Books Raffo, C (2009) ‘Interrogating poverty, social exclusion and New Labour’s programme of priority educational policies in England’ Critical Studies in Education, 50:1, 65-78 Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) (1997), ‘Social Exclusion Unit: Purpose, work priorities and working methods’, London: The Stationery Office Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) (2001), 'Preventing Social Exclusion’ Cabinet Office report, March 2001 Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) (2004), ‘Breaking the cycle: taking stock of progress and priorities for the future – a report by the Social Exclusion Unit.’ ODPM report September 2004 Townsend, P (1979) ‘Poverty in the United Kingdom’, London: Penguin.