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The changes affecting the poor were changes in kind as well as degree, in quantity, in ideas, attitudes, beliefs. perceptions, values. They were changes in what may be called the "moral imagination". (Gertrude Himmelfarb, referring to England circa 1760, in: The idea of poverty: England in the early industrial age, pp. 18-19.)
Since the mid-1970s, the advanced capitalist democracies have been undergoing a process of profound economic restructuring. As a consequence, new social problems have emerged that appear to challenge the assumptions underlying Western welfare states. While universal social policies still insure against risks predictable from a shared life-cycle, career pattern, and family structure, a standardized life course can no longer be assumed. More and more people suffer insecurity, are dependent upon "residual" means-tested programmes, or are without any form of social protection. In the countries of the European Union, 50 million people live below a poverty line set at one-half the national median income; 16 million people (10.S per cent of the workforce) are officially registered as unemployed, of whom more than half have been unemployed for over a year (EC Commission, 1994).
How are we to understand these developments? As Himmelfarb noted, earlier economic and social upheavals brought about a shift in the "moral imagination", giving us the concepts of "poverty" and "unemployment". Similarly, today's transformations are giving rise to new conceptions of social disadvantage: the "underclass", the "new poverty", and "social exclusion". This article traces the evolution of the term "exclusion" over time, notably but not exclusively in France. It focuses on definitions of the term indicating its numerous connotations, and distinguishes three paradigms within which social exclusion is embedded (solidarity, specialization and monopoly), presenting the theory underlying each, with clarificatory remarks. Finally, the economic dimensions of the three paradigms are discussed. In conclusion, questions regarding the significance of exclusion in politics and social policy are raised.
The exclusion discourse
Exclusion became the subject of debate in France during the 1960s. Politicians, activists, officials, journalists and academics made vague and ideological references to the poor as les exclus (e.g. Klanfer, 1965). However, the exclusion discourse did not become widespread until the economic crisis. As successive social and political crises erupted in France during the 1980s, exclusion came to be applied to more...