Outsider and Insider Expertise: The Response ofResidents of Deprived Neighbourhoods to anAcademic Definition of Social Exclusion

The aim of this paper is to compare academic interpretations of the termsocial exclusion with the understanding of people with direct experienceof the phenomenon. A pre-selected group of residents of deprivedneighbourhoods were asked about various aspects of the concept andtheir responses compared with the definitions of social exclusion usedby Burchardt, Le Grand and Piachaud in their 1999 article in the journalSocial Policy and Administration. In general, the residents’ understandingof the term corresponded well with the more academic definitions;however, in one or two key areas there were significant differences, forexample, the importance of neighbourhood and ‘service poverty’, andthe need for action against aspects of social exclusion on the grounds ofsocial justice. This confirms that it might be useful for more academicconcepts to be tested against the views of those with experience of thephenomenon which the concept is trying to capture.[...]