Social Exclusion in Great Britain

An Empirical Investigation and Comparison with the EU

Matt Barnes

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781351148900
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Social Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Originally published in 2005. In Great Britain, the reduction of social exclusion has been at the forefront of New Labour's social policy since 1997. However, there is ambiguity about what the notion of social exclusion actually encompasses, caused in part by the limited extent of attempts to measure and understand social exclusion empirically. This key work addresses this problem, employing data from a nationally representative survey of British households to quantify levels of social exclusion and the composition of the socially excluded population. It also incorporates data from a European Commission-funded household survey to compare social exclusion in Great Britain with eleven other countries in the European Union. In the book, Matt Barnes argues that social exclusion refers to enduring disadvantage on a wide range of living standards, not just those that reflect economic values. As well as looking at standard measures of poverty he looks at more relational measures of disadvantage such as neighbourhood discontent and social isolation, in order to determine exclusion from the economic, social and cultural systems that determine the integration of a person in society.

Chapter 1

Towards An Empirical Operationalization of Social Exclusion

Existing definitions of poverty and deprivation are sufficiently broad to incorporate attention to a range of dimensions, to take a longitudinal view, and to allow for causes of disadvantage other than low income, but most research has not reflected all these elements (Burchardt, 2000, p. 388).

Introduction

New Labour has embraced the notion of social exclusion, describing it as ‘the greatest social crisis in our times’ (Peter Mandelson, 1997) and has placed the reduction of social exclusion at the forefront of Government social policy. Despite such well-intentioned commitments there is a lack of clarity, within both academic and political circles, about what the notion of social exclusion actually captures and this is something that can seriously undermine policy making. One of the reasons for this ambiguity is the limited extent of attempts to operationalize and understand social exclusion empirically. The aim of the book therefore is to build upon theoretical discussions of social exclusion to construct an empirical model, using quantitative survey data, to investigate the nature and extent of social exclusion in Great Britain. This investigation of social exclusion is also taken to a European level by comparing findings for Great Britain with other European Union (EU) Member States.¹

The notion of social exclusion incorporates much of the most influential conceptual and methodological contributions of over a century of theoretical research into disadvantage. Hence, the theoretical foundation of the book is a clarification of the conceptual properties that are crucial to the notion of social exclusion (as compared with those that are associated with other popular notions of disadvantage in society, such as ‘poverty’ and ‘deprivation’). Two of the most important theoretical properties of social exclusion are that it incorporates the use of information on a range of disadvantage domains and that it uses the concept of time to identify the most disadvantaged individuals (see Room, Ed. 1995, 1998, 2000). Thus a multi-dimensional and longitudinal model of social exclusion is constructed here to identify the prevalence of social exclusion in Great Britain and to distinguish socio-demographic characteristics of individuals associated with an increased likelihood of such experiences.

This empirical model of social exclusion is also used in a comparative manner to place the experiences of Great Britain in a European context by comparing and contrasting the prevalence and nature of social exclusion in Great Britain with other EU Member States. This analysis contributes to the methodological advances of the cross-country analysis of social exclusion by applying multi-dimensional and longitudinal techniques, of which there are very few attempts to do so in current European empirical research.²

At the end of the book, the results of the empirical investigations are used to discuss the theoretical and policy implications of operationalizing social exclusion. This discussion includes an assessment of the contribution an empirical model of social exclusion offers the research and policy process over and above more commonly used, less complex models of disadvantage (such as poverty and deprivation). These comparisons will contribute to an assessment of the importance of the conceptualization and operationalization of social exclusion and the role social exclusion has in the advancement of theoretical research and in policy making aimed at improving the situation of the most disadvantaged members of society.

Objectives

In order to operationalize and investigate social exclusion empirically a number of research objectives have to be successfully accomplished. These objectives are:

• To clarify the conceptual properties of social exclusion;

• To operationalize this notion of social exclusion using empirical models based on quantitative survey data;

• To examine in detail the nature of social exclusion in Great Britain, in particular its multi-dimensional and longitudinal characteristics;

• To identify the prevalence of social exclusion in Great Britain and the socio-demographic characteristics associated with increased odds of social exclusion;

• To compare the extent of social exclusion and the characteristics of the socially excluded in Great Britain with other EU Member States;

• To discuss the theoretical and policy implications of operationalizing social exclusion in this way.

These objectives will be attempted sequentially to build towards the operationalization of social exclusion, the identification of the extent and nature of social exclusion in Great Britain and Europe and a discussion of resultant theoretical and policy implications.

Outline of research methods

The theoretical foundation of the book is based on over a century of academic work on disadvantage, particularly contemporary debates on the notion of social exclusion. A review of this literature is necessary to clarify the conceptual properties crucial to the operationalization and measurement of social exclusion. The crux of the book, an empirical measurement of social exclusion, is achieved through use of quantitative research methods that involve the analysis of secondary survey data. Investigations of social exclusion are made possible through the use of two complex longitudinal datasets – the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) survey. Both datasets contain information on a wide-range of social exclusion related topics, including income, the possession of durable items, housing quality, social relationships and health. Both datasets are also longitudinal; meaning that they contain information routinely collected for the same individuals for annually repeated waves of the survey.

The BHPS dataset is appropriate for an in-depth investigation into the multidimensional and longitudinal nature of social exclusion for a number of reasons. The BHPS contains information on various aspects of British society crucial to an understanding of social exclusion. The BHPS has been conducted since 1991 and at the time of writing nine waves of data are available to the researcher. This allows for an extensive analysis of the longitudinal nature of disadvantage, including an examination of patterns of duration for almost the whole of the 1990s (1991–1999).³

The ECHP survey on the other hand provides the most appropriate dataset for a comparative analysis of social exclusion in Europe (the ECHP was in fact devised for such purposes). The ECHP contains information for the same individuals for each annual wave of the survey across participating EU Member States. This information is collected using a harmonized questionnaire, making comparable data easy to collect and ensuring that concepts are analogous across countries. The survey is designed specifically to collect information on social exclusion in Europe; meaning recent methodological advances in the collection of such data are incorporated into the questionnaire. Although at the time of writing only three waves of data (1994–1996) are available to the researcher, this still allows for the identification of longitudinal aspects of social exclusion, particularly persistent disadvantage (disadvantage experienced in three consecutive waves).

The unit of analysis in panel surveys such as the BHPS and ECHP is the individual, as it is these who are followed over time (households cannot be followed over time as by definition they change, and hence are different entities, as members enter and exit the household). Individuals, therefore, are the unit of analysis in this research.⁴ However, instead of focussing on social exclusion as it affects all members of society, the study concentrates on the experiences of working-age adults only. There are two main reasons for this focus. First, there are some methodological constraints. The majority of information supplied in both surveys refers only to adults 16 years of age and over (in other words there is a distinct lack of information on children). Secondly, much of recent government welfare policy in relation to social exclusion, particularly labour market policy, is aimed specifically at working-age adults. It is therefore justifiable to omit individuals of retirement age and over from this investigation.⁵

The operationalization of social exclusion is carried out through the use of quantitative techniques to construct binary outcome indicators of separate domains of social exclusion. These indicators are constructed in an identical way in each wave of the survey to enable valid longitudinal analysis to be performed.⁶ These indicators are used in various ways – independently and concurrently, and, at a point in time and longitudinally – to provide an in-depth investigation of the multidimensional and longitudinal nature of social exclusion. As well as determining the prevalence of social exclusion in society, analysis examines which groups of individuals are at particular risk of such experiences. Multivariate analysis, using logistic regression techniques, is used to predict the occurrence of social exclusion (in the form of odds ratios) based on individual and household socio-demographic and economic characteristics.

Chapter outline

Chapter 2 attempts to clarify the conceptual and methodological properties of social exclusion by reviewing and evaluating theoretical work on disadvantage. The discussion draws out the main conceptual and measurement issues from key studies of poverty, deprivation and social exclusion. This provides the foundation on which to create four summary models to be used in the development of empirical work to operationalize social exclusion:

• Current one-dimensional disadvantage, used to investigate disadvantage on each of a range of domains, including the traditional notion of income poverty, at a point in time.

• Current multi-dimensional disadvantage, used to investigate simultaneous disadvantage on a number of domains at a point in time.

• Longitudinal one-dimensional disadvantage, used to investigate disadvantage on each of a range of domains over a period of time.

• Longitudinal multi-dimensional disadvantage, used to investigate disadvantage on a number of domains over a period of time.

It is the development of these models that will be used to operationalize social exclusion and to identify individuals experiencing the most widespread and enduring forms of disadvantage in society.

The core of the book is an empirical investigation of social exclusion. This is dealt with over a number of chapters. The first objective of this investigation is to operationalize social exclusion using empirical models. This is performed on data for Great Britain using nine waves of the BHPS. The first stage of this analysis (Chapter 3) constructs indicators of social exclusion at a cross-sectional level, ensuring they can also be used for multi-dimensional and longitudinal analysis. The indicators cover seven dimensions of social exclusion: financial situation, ownership of durable goods, quality of housing, neighbourhood perception, personal social relationships, physical health and psychological well-being. The different dimensions of social exclusion are used to assess how, even at a relatively simplistic level, each measure can reveal a different ‘face’ of disadvantage.

The second objective is to examine the nature of social exclusion in Great Britain, in particular its multi-dimensional and longitudinal characteristics. Chapter 4 concentrates on the multi-dimensional nature of social exclusion (building on the work of, amongst others, Nolan and Whelan, 1996, Burchardt, 1999 and Layte et al, 2000). The chapter begins with a brief exploration of current one-dimensional disadvantage. The main body of the chapter investigates the relationships between the separate indicators at a cross-sectional level, using a range of analytical techniques and from this a model of current multi-dimensional disadvantage is constructed.

Much recent research into income poverty has identified the differences between the experience of poverty at one particular time and the experience over a period of time (Bane and Ellwood, 1986; Jarvis and Jenkins, 1996). Chapter 5 introduces a longitudinal aspect to the investigation of social exclusion in Great Britain. A panel sample of working-age adults present in all nine waves of the survey is selected to allow an investigation of the duration and stability of various dimensions of social exclusion using models of longitudinal one-dimensional disadvantage. This chapter includes an examination of longitudinal patterns of non-monetary indicators of social exclusion – investigations seldom touched upon in previous studies.

Chapter 6 constructs a model to operationalize social exclusion in Great Britain, using a model of longitudinal multi-dimensional disadvantage, drawing on the main findings of the previous two chapters. The model identifies the most widespread and enduring forms of disadvantage amongst the working-age population. The main part of the chapter is an identification of the prevalence of social exclusion amongst working-age adults in British society during the 1990s. Analysis also determines the socio-demographic characteristics of individuals associated with increased odds of social exclusion. This helps to identify particular risk groups at which related would be advised to focus on.

The final analysis chapter (Chapter 7) investigates social exclusion across the EU using the first three waves of ECHP survey. There are two main reasons for extending the investigation to a European level. The first reason is to...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• About the Author
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• 1 Towards An Empirical Operationalization of Social Exclusion
• 2 The Operationalization of Social Exclusion: Theoretical and Policy Approaches
• 3 Developing a Set of Quantitative Indicators of Social Exclusion for Great Britain
• 4 Investigating the Multi-Dimensional Nature of Social Exclusion in Great Britain
• 5 Investigating the Longitudinal Nature of Social Exclusion in Great Britain
• 6 Identifying Social Exclusion in Great Britain During the 1990s
• 7 Social Exclusion in Europe: Comparing the UK to Other European Union Member States
• 8 Operationalizing Social Exclusion: Implications for Research and Policy
• Bibliography
• Appendices
• Index