Social Exclusion in Relation to Disability and Gender

881 Words2 Pages

Social exclusion is the exclusion of an individual from the current social system, their individual rights and privileges. This is usually a result of a person living in poverty due to circumstances he or she has no control over, or their own human error. Becoming socially excluded can also be the result of the individual belonging to a minority social group. Social exclusion refers to individuals whom are excluded from certain aspects of social life such as employment and social relations. This can be due to reasons such as whether or not the individual would like to participate in social activities, or whether he or she is unable to participate in social activities for reasons which are beyond their control, such as a disability (Burchandt et al. 2002). Social exclusion can be a major problem, studies have shown that being socially excluded from a group/s in fact activates particular areas of the brain, areas which would usually only be activated by physical pain (Eisenberger et al, 2003). Not only can social exclusion have negative effects on an individuals mental health and wellbeing, but it can also cause exploitation, oppression and marginality. Social exclusion also prevents equality, fairness and social justice. People are socially excluded for many reason such as their gender and also any disabilities they may have. An individuals gender is their personal sexual identity. This is regardless of his or hers biological and outward sex. Because of a persons decisions to act in a way opposite of their biological sex, they may face social exclusion as others may disagree with their way of expressing themselves. “...women, as a group, are socially excluded in terms of their participation in consumption, production, political e... ... middle of paper ... ...Reducing the social exclusion of girls. New York: The Population Council. [Online] [Accessed on 10th December 2013] Available from: http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/TABriefs/PGY_Brief27_SocialExclusion.pdf Houston, D.M. (2007) ‘Women's social exclusion.’ In Abrams, D., Christian, J.N. and Gordon, D. (ed.) The Multidisciplinary Handbook of Social Exclusion Research. Wiley: Chichester, pp. 17-28. Instablogs. (2008) Britain's aging men facing Social Exclusion. [Online] [Accessed on 30th November 2013] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZtH-5KqTl8 Lewis, M.A. and Lockheed, M.E. (2006). Inexcusable Absence: Why 60 Million Girls Still Aren’t in School and What to Do About It. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development. Mensch, B.S., Ibrahim, B.L., Lee, S.M. and El-Gibaly. O. (2003) “Gender-role attitudes among Egyptian adolescents.” Studies in Family Planning 34(1): 8-18.

Open Document