Exclusion has come to hold a prominent place in the political discourse of all governments in the European Union and in the European Commission itself. As such, it figures importantly in various research agencies’ funding priorities attracting academics to develop and conduct major research programmes. But what does it mean? This book analyzes the different meanings the term exclusion has come to convey and surveys a wide variety of actual applications in different European countries.

Across Europe concern is rising over the disintegration of social relations and the growing number of people who are being socially excluded. social Exclustoin in European Cities, the first major study of this topic, provides a definition of social exclusion and looks at both the processes which cause it and the dimensions of the problem throughout Europe. The experiences of people living in areas or neighbourhoods with low rates of social integration are considered, illuminating the human impact of exclusion where it is most visible. Finally the contributors evaluate the various policy and community initiatives which are currently confronting the problem in a wide sample of European Cities on a variety of levels, from inform individual actions to supra-national European Union policy, and suggest new ways in which social exclusion could be tackled. With most large cities experiencing some degree of social exclusion, this is an important volume for all those working in the areas of regional policy, town planning, housing management, social work, community development, sociology, political science and urban studies.

Based on 250 life-story interviews in seven European Union countries, Biography and social exclusion in Europe: analyses personal struggles against social exclusion to illuminate local milieus and changing welfare regimes and contexts; points to challenging new agendas for European politics and welfare, beyond the rhetoric of communitarianism and the New Deal; vividly illustrates the lived experience and environmental complexity working for and against structural processes of social exclusion; refashions the interpretive tradition as a teaching and research tool linking macro and micro realities. · · Students, academic teachers and professional trainers, practitioners, politicians, policy makers and researchers in applied and comparative welfare fields will all benefit from reading this book.

Social Exclusion in European Welfare States focuses on the complex relationship between economic welfare, labor market performance and social inclusion/exclusion. The contributors to the volume examine in detail the alleged trade-off between the social and economic capabilities of a society and their impact on the well-being of the citizens. Furthermore, they identify welfare regimes whose policies are more balanced in terms of prioritizing economic as well as social goals and, hence, are more successful in promoting social inclusion along with faster growth.

This book examines the potential role of European Union law in combating poverty and social exclusion in the European Union. Anti-poverty strategies have been part of the European Union agenda for decades. Most saliently, over a decade ago, the EU’s Member States pledged to lift 20 million people out of poverty. In spite of this commitment, the EU did not even meet a quarter of this target, and over 113 million people still were at risk of poverty and social exclusion by the end of 2020. This book addresses the incongruence between a quite developed EU policy strategy and a well-embedded legal objective on the one hand, and the lack of direct legal action on the other. Analysing the role of social policy instruments, fundamental rights, and the constitutional framework of the European Union, it makes a detailed case for a contribution of EU law to the policy objective of combating poverty and social exclusion. Drawing on work in law, politics, social policy and economics, this book will interest scholars and policymakers in the areas of EU law, labour and social security, human rights, political science and social and public policy.

This book analyses the dichotomy between the goal of social inclusion and the effect of social exclusion through over-indebtedness since 2008 in Europe. Filling a vital gap in the current literature on the effects of the financial and economic crisis, this volume puts into context academic discussion with the real-life dimension of over-indebtedness. Reports from six European countries provide socio-economic and legal information on over-indebtedness as well as the regulatory and judicial responses to the problems entailed by over-indebtedness. They form the empirical background for five analyses of different aspects of the inclusion-exclusion dichotomy. It becomes clear that in the context of credit expansion, individual over-indebtedness has turned into a social issue, which the current design of the consumer credit and mortgage system in Europe has helped to produce while disregarding the consequential danger of social exclusion.

Frist published in 1997, this book aims to answer if European ‘post-national’ citizenship provide a practical opening and a conceptual challenge to cope with the diverse and close-circuiting crises of national European social models? What then might a new sphere of European social inclusion look like? This book also provided the first attempt to go well beyond ‘national gridlock’. Old solutions will no longer do. Is new land in sight? With monetary integration almost implemented this is a highly relevant exploration of a central complementary ‘common currency’ in Europe’s future.

With contributions from leading experts in the field, this book presents the findings of the first comparative study of unemployed youth in Europe.

This book confronts readers with questions emerging from the 'gap' between EU aspirations to reduce youth unemployment without increasing social exclusion - and what is actually happening in practice. Aimed at a diverse readership, it is based on a three year European Union (EU) project into education, training, guidance and employment (ETG) programmes for young adults across six countries. Insights are grounded in the lives and stories of disadvantaged young adults, and of those who work with them, bringing to life unintended impacts of well intended interventions. The authors consider the influence of shifting political and pedagogical ideologies in the EU on local practices and young peoples’ lives and choices. They also consider the impact of policy and performance management discourses ’on the ground’. This work uses rigorous yet innovative narrative forms to invite readers into a ’whole system’ inquiry into these complexities. Unemployed Youth and Social Exclusion in Europe will make an important contribution to reflecting critically on current policy and practice, as well as to academic understandings of unemployed youth, and restrictive and reflexive approaches to learning for inclusion across Europe.