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The Bristol Social Exclusion Matrix (BSEM) identifies multiple domains of social exclusion, and the PSE-UK 2012 survey successfully operationalised these for the first time in a single UK household survey. There are many approaches which can be used to explore the relationships between the multiple domains. This chapter uses two different approaches to see how consistent the picture is between them. There is considerable overlap or correlation between some of the domains, suggesting that the original ten can be reduced to a smaller number of broader groups. Material resources and hence poverty not only form one of the main dimensions of exclusion, but also correlate with many other aspects of exclusion. In other words, poverty and deprivation are at the core of the concept of exclusion. Nevertheless, there are aspects of exclusion which are much less connected to material disadvantage, if at all. The concept – and its operationalisation in the PSE-UK survey – therefore succeeds in drawing attention to a wider set of processes producing disadvantage.

In this introductory chapter, Thomas Scharf and Norah Keating identify the scope of the book and provide a synopsis of the chapters. They also introduce key arguments relating to the value of the linked concepts of social exclusion and inclusion as they pertain to ageing and older people. The authors review contrasting interpretations of exclusion and inclusion in order to understand better the circumstances under which groups of older adults may be at risk of exclusion from societal resources. The chapter aims to provide a conceptual orientation point for subsequent chapters. While contributing authors use their own interpretations of the concepts of social inclusion and exclusion, they are consistent in regarding the concepts in terms of their multi-dimensionality, relativity and dynamism. Authors are also consistent in recognising the potential of a deepened understanding of inclusion and exclusion to inform both longstanding and emerging debates on the key challenges associated with population ageing in different national and regional contexts.

Social exclusion, discrimination and widespread disadvantage are common to the Traveller community. The issue of social exclusion affects all areas of Irish Travellers' lives, including education. The difficulties facing Travellers with regard to formal education were recognised by the European Parliament through two resolutions in 1989, which stated that Gypsy Travellers and Occupational Travellers (including bargees, circus workers and fairground workers) are the most socially excluded from school education and with the highest levels of illiteracy. In addition issues of attendance and bullying also contribute to lack of attainment and educational progress. This chapter reports on a study in Northern Ireland which assessed the adequacy and effectiveness of primary level education from the perspective of Traveller children and parents, as well as related voluntary and statutory sector organisations. The findings are discussed in relation to the literature on toleration and how this concept illuminates the experiences of Traveller children. The chapter also considers the policy context for Traveller educational provision in Northern Ireland.

Relating closely to globalisation trends, the context for the chapter by Sandra Torres is the interconnection between international migration flows and the ways in which such migration is changing the demographics of ageing populations across the world and societies' ethnic composition. In examining contrasting approaches to exploring exclusion issues by social gerontologists and researchers who focus on international migration and ethnic relations, the chapter argues that the diversity of older migrants poses a challenge to social gerontology's theoretical, policy- and practice-oriented assumptions regarding who migrants are and what they need. While the 'migratory life-course' is associated with specific exclusionary risks, the mechanisms of social exclusion work differently according to when, why and where older migrants to western industrialised nations have come from. An ethnicity and race-aware take on social exclusion is shown to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions that well-designed policies and practices can reduce exclusion in later life.

Difficulties in pinpointing the meaning of social exclusion are particularly acute. Its relationship to poverty and inequality is explored to try to establish its distinctive features. Discourses of social exclusion (Silver 1994, Levitas 2005) draw on different strands of social theory, while Byrne attributes their origins to different responses to Capitalism. Others root their approaches in conceptualisations of society, its structures and operations. This includes systems and social integration (Lockwood 1992), the interaction between spheres (economic, political, social, etc) and systems, the nature of social relationships and relationship networks as the ties that bind society together. These may converge on institutions or events. The limits to inclusion and cohesion are then explored, noting that inclusion and ways of achieving cohesion may not always be desirable. The chapter concludes with discussion of inequalities – of resources, power and voice – as the cause of weakening the social fabric, to the point of ‘catastrophic rupture’, and the importance of access to relationship networks. It brings as back to the nature of distributive processes and the importance of accurate recognition if social justice is to be achieved.

In addressing age discrimination, a major driver of exclusion in later life, Astrid Stuckelberger, Dominic Abrams and Philippe Chastonay examine steps being taken in Europe and through the United Nations to create a 'society for all ages'. The chapter reviews core processes of discrimination and exclusion based on old age, such as ageism, stigmatisation and stereotyping, and moves on to highlight the extent to which European citizens perceive ageism and age discrimination to be problematic. In terms of legislative responses to age discrimination, the EU has led the way internationally in outlawing different forms of discrimination in the workplace. However, loopholes in the legislative framework need to be filled if the risks of employment-related exclusion are to be minimised. Moreover, despite a range of UN initiatives in recent years, the authors suggest that relatively little progress has been made. As a result, many older people around the world are continuing to experience disadvantage.

This chapter focuses on several key areas of poverty and social exclusion experienced by older people and pensioners using B-SEM. Analyses by pensioner household type (n=2,296) show differences in older adults’: access to material, economic and social resources; participation in common social activities and civic and political participation; and quality of life. Younger pensioners (particularly couples) are least likely to report lower resources and exclusion from participation, and more likely to report higher quality of life. In contrast, older and single (particularly female) pensioners are most likely to report lower levels of economic and social resources and lower scores on participation and quality of life sub-domains. Although the general position of pensioners has improved over the past decade, the findings conclude that this has not been the case for all pensioners. The policy situation explaining some of these disparities and the implications for further policy action are discussed.

Eldin Fahmy examines the nature, extent and social distribution of youth deprivation and social exclusion amongst 16-29 year olds living in Britain. He explores our understanding of youth marginality and disadvantage, through supplement income data with direct measures of deprivation of living standards and exclusion from customary norms. There is a focus on the social profile of vulnerability amongst young people, beyond relative low-income measures. He compares data for 1990, 1999 and 2012 to explore young people’s vulnerability and disadvantage in the context of youth transitions and disadvantage.

This chapter examines Northern Ireland and the Border Counties from a social and economic development perspective - some understanding of this and the extent of its contributory role in the conflict is deemed useful in understanding social and economic development (and the progress made by the three programmes) as a transforming factor. Social and economic development is also at the heart of the three transformation tools, suggesting that deprivation, poverty and social exclusion are viewed by the EU and the Irish and British governments as part of the conflict's legacy. With the normalisation of politics in Northern Ireland, the economy has begun to take centre stage indicating the transformation process as a whole will not succeed without a specific concentration on this area. A key consideration is whether the ongoing transformation process has made any substantial difference to the social and economic lives of the peoples of this region. A very brief overview of the conflict from 1600 until the ceasefires in 1994 is provided, followed by an examination of the effects of the conflict on the region's social and economic development in terms of the economy, unemployment, educational disadvantage and poverty and social exclusion.

With social exclusion debates originating in western industrialised nations, there have been few attempts, to date, to extend the exclusion lens to the situation of older people in developing nations. In this chapter, Peter Lloyd-Sherlock, Armando Barrientos and Julia Mase contribute to emerging debates about exclusion in non-western nations by examining older people's circumstances in the middle-income countries of Brazil and South Africa. Framing their analysis within the context of Cowgill's (1976) study on development and modernisation and the consequences for older people, the authors use original empirical data to provide a more subtle perspective on such general claims. While access to financial security and pensions provides insights into the material resources domain of social exclusion, older people's perceptions of inclusion and the quality of their social relationships address its relational dimensions. The chapter emphasises the key contribution of material resources to older people's social relations and subjective well-being in developing countries.

This chapter provides an introduction to the volume. It sets out the historical development of the PSE approach to the measurement of poverty and social exclusion, and summarises the economic and social context within which the latest survey took place. The definition and measures of poverty covered by the survey are presented, as is the approach to defining and measuring social exclusion. The chapter concludes with an outline the structure of the rest of the book. An appendix provides technical details on the surveys.

One in three people in employment is not enjoying the inclusionary benefits usually associated with paid work: they are in poverty, in poor quality jobs or in insecure employment. People in this group can be described as being in ‘exclusionary employment’. The people most at risk of exclusionary employment are those who are younger, are lone parents, have a health problem or disability which limits daily activity, have few qualifications, are in semi-routine or routine occupations or are working part-time. Some industries have much higher concentrations of exclusionary employment than others, notably the Wholesale & Retail and Accommodation & Food sectors where more than half of all workers are in exclusionary employment. For those in semi-routine or routine occupations, the risks of exclusionary employment are high in all industries. People in exclusionary employment are much more likely to be excluded in relation to the other domains examined here: health and well-being, social relations and participation, and housing and neighbourhood environment.

This chapter has two broad aims. First, it seeks to summarise a growing, international body of gerontological knowledge relating to the theme of social exclusion as it affects ageing adults. Second, it presents a range of evidence concerning different forms of exclusion experienced by older people in Ireland, identifying possible trends in such disadvantage over the course of the recession and austerity programme. In a concluding section, the chapter reflects on the accumulated evidence to consider the ways in which ageing policy has developed in Ireland under the influence of the economic downturn, outlining potential implications for tackling exclusion in later life. Extending the lens beyond Ireland, the chapter offers an alternative view to that which currently dominates policy and media debates on ageing in a number of countries, one that identifies older people as being a relatively homogeneous group that has emerged from the period of austerity largely unscathed.

One of the early initiatives of the Labour government was the establishment of the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU). This unit aimed for neighbourhood renewal and for the eradication of social exclusion of marginalised groups. Up to 2004, the groups which SEU produced reports on were: pupils excluded from school or truanting; rough sleepers; teenage parents; sixteen- to eighteen-year-olds not in education, employment, or training; young runaways; ex-prisoners; and children in care. This chapter evaluates New Labour's record on the first three groups. For each in turn, the chapter examines the policy context and trends before 1997, the targets set, and the policies recommended by the SEU, and the outcomes. In addition to discussing the three groups, the chapter also discusses another marginalised group which the SEU failed to consider. This group is the asylum seekers. Asylum seekers provide an interesting case study because they are among the most vulnerable of vulnerable groups. They often arrive traumatised, penniless, and unable to speak the language. Furthermore, asylum has been one of the active areas of government policy, with four major parliamentary acts in the last decade and one currently making its way to Parliament, however one policy can have the effect of generating social exclusion rather than eradicating it. The chapter ends with an assessment of the extent of the success of the government's efforts to reduce the exclusion of marginalised groups. Although it lauded the evidence-based approach by the SEU, the chapter notes the gap that has often emerged between the structural analysis of the problems and the ‘supply-side’ nature of proposed solutions.

Having adequate material resources is central to the well-being of people in both developing and industrialised nations. In western industrialised nations, lack of income and an inability to afford the types of goods and services that most people in a society have access to or to participate in social activities that are taken for granted typically figure strongly in attempts to operationalise the concept of social exclusion. Drawing on empirical data from EU nations, Asghar Zaidi not only highlights the degree to which older people across Europe are prone to the risk of income poverty, but also examines their capacity to afford key items of expenditure. The chapter shows the substantial variation that exists across European nations in relation to older people's access to material resources, and in particular the extent to which cross-national differences exist arising from the measurement approach adopted.