Poverty and social exclusion in rural areas: Characteristics, processes and research issues

Against a background of limited research on rural poverty and social exclusion in Europe, this article draws mainly, but not exclusively, on Irish studies to discuss three related themes. The first identifies distinctive characteristics of poverty in rural areas on the basis that specifically rural features restrict the applicability of rural - urban comparisons. The second elaborates on this point in reviewing the problems of finding appropriate indicators of poverty and deprivation in farm households and in rural areas. The third theme moves the discussion from poverty and deprivation as outcomes or static states to social exclusion as a set of dynamic processes which generate and reproduce rural poverty. A number of generic exclusionary processes are posited and their specific rural manifestations illustrated. The review of Irish experience suggests that studies of rural poverty and social exclusion require sensitivity to the specifics of rurality; a theoretical understanding of multidimensionality in processes and outcomes, and an eclectic set of research approaches.