Social exclusion
Topic: Poverty and Inequality: Measurement and Policy · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Social exclusion is the process by which people or groups are denied full participation in economic, social and political life. The grounds include caste, tribe, gender, disability or location. It blocks access to land, credit, markets and services, so it is both a cause of poverty and a reason poverty persists. It helps explain why deprivation clusters in particular groups rather than being spread evenly.
Example
In India, Scheduled Tribes show the highest incidence of multidimensional poverty, followed by Scheduled Castes. A Dalit family may be kept from owning land or getting formal credit. A tribal hamlet in a remote forest area may lack roads, schools and health centres. Both stay poor even when the wider economy grows.
Don't confuse with
- Income poverty: this looks only at whether spending is below a money line. Exclusion is about being shut out of opportunities, and it can affect people who are not income-poor.