This text explores the issue of social exclusion, considering its measurement, main determinants, and ways in which it may be reduced. The editors show how a focus on the topic may alter the relevant policy questions by fostering debate in government.

The future of the social state is, throughout the world, uncertain, but, as Piketty argues, it is of the utmost importance. The dominant paradigm for thinking about social policy both in terms of government action and academic analysis has been the social service model, as exemplified in the...

The paper analyses changes in poverty in Britain since 1997. A poverty level of 60 percent of median equivalised income is used. The first part examines the changes that occurred between 1996/7 and 2000/1 as shown by the Family Resources Survey, on which government estimates of Households Below...

Types of capital which determine the ability of individuals, of communities and of nations to avoid poverty and social exclusion are analysed. This analysis draws on changing explanations of economic growth and the recent literature on social capital. Five forms of capital are distinguished...

Recent government pronouncements in the UK and above all the recent Conservative Party (2008) policy document on welfare reform suggest that US welfare reform is increasingly being taken as a model for the UK. What lessons should the UK draw from US experience? The long established means tested...

Children's lives have been transformed over the past century. Family incomes have increased, children lead more solitary lives, attitudes to childhood have changed, new products have been developed and commercial pressures on children have increased. The importance of these commercial pressures...

Despite prolonged economic growth, poverty has become a more notable and noted feature of Chinese society. The paper examines three phases of development since the foundation of the People's Republic: the central planning era (1949 -1978); the pro-urban growth model (1978 - 1999); and more...