Social Exclusion
. Introduction Welfare economics is concerned with how the allocation of resources and the distribution of income and opportunities affect the well-being of individuals and society. While traditional welfare analysis has focused heavily on income and consumption (poverty measured in monetary terms), scholars such as Amartya Sen have argued that deprivation is multi-dimensional. Social exclusion is one of the most important of these non-income dimensions of deprivation, and it has become a central concept in modern welfare economics, development studies, and public policy. Social exclusion refers to the process through which individuals or groups are wholly or partially shut out from full participation in the economic, social, political, and cultural life of the society in which they live. It is both a condition (a state of being excluded) and a process (the mechanisms and relationships that produce and sustain exclusion). 2. Meaning and Definition The term 'social exclusion...