Social Exclusion, Social Isolation and the Distributionof Income

It is worth distinguishing social exclusion from social isolation, definingsocial isolation as the phenomenon of non-participation (of anindividual or group) in a society’s mainstream institutions, whilereserving ‘social exclusion’ for the subset of cases in which socialisolation occurs for reasons that are beyond the control of those subjectto it. First, it is likely that different causal processes are at workproducing on one hand social exclusion and on the other the voluntarysocial isolation of, for example, a religious community. Second, even ifthere are reasons for concern about both voluntary and involuntarysocial isolation, there are reasons for concern about social exclusion thatdo not apply to voluntary social isolation.The familiar form of social exclusion affects those who are unableto participate in the institutions patronised by the majority. There isalso, however, exclusion of the majority by a minority who are in aposition to opt out of the mainstream institutions: the epitome of this isthe ‘gated community’. Social exclusion is a violation of the demands ofsocial justice in two ways: it conflicts with equality of opportunity and isassociated with an inability to participate effectively in politics. Analternative account of what is wrong with social exclusion is that itundermines social solidarity. Voluntary social isolation has the sameeffect, but is less likely to have such adverse consequences. In particular,the logic of competitive electoral politics is liable to lead to publicpolicies that discriminate against stigmatised minorities.[...]