Poverty Is Not Sufficient Explanation For Social Exclusion

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Poverty Is Not Sufficient Explanation For Social Exclusion
Social exclusion is the marginalization and isolation of some members of society from social activities and restriction of access to resources and social services (Peace, 2001). Social exclusion disadvantages vulnerable groups, such as the youth, the homeless, the disabled and the poor, and pushes them to the fringes of society where access to resources and social services is limited or lacking. The exclusion can be caused by lack of availability of social services, or lack of affordability. When services and resources are not available, such as absence of theaters, hospitals or electricity in some areas, the exclusion is termed as collective because it limits groups/communities’ access regardless individuals’ purchasing power. Social exclusion is termed as individual exclusion when it is caused by low purchasing power as some people are not able to afford certain services such as medical care, social luxuries such as eating out, going to the pub, or going to the theatre.
The statement that poverty is not sufficient explanation for social exclusion is true because while poverty is a major factor for social exclusion, there are other aspects of exclusion that are not influenced by individuals’ economic status. A good example is collective exclusion whereby groups of people are excluded from social services not because they can’t afford them, but because there unavailable.
Poverty is looked at as the explanation for social exclusion considering factors such as service exclusion. Lack of access to basic services such as utility services (electricity and tap water) is largely attributable to poverty since it limits people’s purchasing power. According to a 2000 survey in the UK, Gordon et al (2000), 6% of the population had experienced disconnections from utility services due to inability to pay, while 11% restricted their consumption because they were not bale to afford them . Disconnection from utility services and restricted consumption constitutes individuals social exclusion because its severity changes across social classes. Within the same neighborhood, for example, some families may have piped water while others don’t. Similarly, consumption levels can differ because some families cannot afford to use certain services freely. A good example is when one family uses cold showers to save electricity, while their neighbor can afford to use hot showers. With regards to water consumption, some families may have swimming pools, while others may not afford to pay for the more water than they need for household use. In such cases, some services which are readily affordable to a few people are regarded by some as a luxury they can do without.
Despite poverty being one of the causes of social exclusion, there is still a weak relationship between the two. Although poverty explains some of the social...