Social exclusion and the perception of being excluded

This paper examines the empirical usefulness of the exclusion concept, which mediates between research on inequality and investigations on poverty. To this end, a differentiation is made between an "objective" exclusion constellation, which results from a precarious situation in the life of an individual, and the "subjective" perception of exclusion, the feeling that one does not belong. Various factors such as the economic situation of the household, actual employment status, an individual's social network, trust in institutions, and psycho-physiological wellbeing are identified as dimensions that contribute to the state of precarity and the stress it produces; the perception of being excluded is related to a sense of belonging to society as a whole. The perception of exclusion thus constitutes a decisive precondition for a process in which various discrete forms of experiencing exclusion merge and are reinforced to form a "syndrome of exclusion" that affects the entire individual.