Social exclusion in Europe: some conceptual issues

In the late 20th and early 21st century, social exclusion has become something of a trope around which is pegged justifications for various reforms. The notion of social exclusion has found its way into the lexicon of all major global governance institutions. How has this happened, and what are its implications for scholars of contemporary welfare reforms? In this article, we consider the ‘rise and rise’ of the discourse of social exclusion, with particular reference to its development as a policy paradigm within the European Union. We note that its initial iteration was anchored in a functionalist discourse of social organisation but that this was quickly challenged both by post-structuralist and post-colonial perspectives and by research findings that undermined the view of mainstream institutions as fundamentally integrative and inclusive in nature. The debate about social exclusion, we suggest, is simultaneously a debate about the historical and social dynamics of European modernity.