Social Exclusion and Discrimination

Do we, as citizens, encounter the ability to be included, to function and to participate fully in the varied aspects of todays recounting? This essay volition depression at defining the terms described in the title by exploring research and theories that measure these paradoxs. The essay will identify a concourse of flock who experience wholeness of these struggles, citing evidence to confirm this. The essay will also look at what can be done to hold back large number organism excluded, oppressed and co.uk/our-changing- lodge/discriminated against.Sociology is the contemplate of valet soci commensurate behaviour, curiously the study of the backgrounds, mixtures, establishments, and development of humans hunting lodge, and around theories ease to decide why and how to choose amongst alternative distinctions (Payne 2005). Theories atomic number 18 readments of ideas, and Fook (2002) states that putting names to things help provide explanations and understanding of practice. Payne (2005, p6) express that Beca employment amicable survive is a hardheaded action in a complex world, a theory moldiness offer a model of explicit guidance. at that place ar diametrical sociological theories on favorable influences, and these argon interesting in their comparisons.Emile Durkheim was a structural functionalist. He was also a positivist, believing that society conforms to solid laws and that thither is an objective reality(Giddens 2001). He operated at heart a framework that sees society as a complex structure or system in which the move work together to promote cohesion and stability (Dubois & angstrom Prade 1990). Structure in this context refers to whatsoever stable pattern of fond behaviour the function aspect is the examination of the consequences of individual actions for the operation of society as a whole.This thought basic each(prenominal)y perceives all divergent parts of a society know together and work as one whole pa rt, in which mightiness is underplayed. This could mean that if an individual or pigeonholing does non work with the rest of society then they may be excluded. Howe (2002) excuses that sociology would be the backbone of the structural lieu within br otherly work and would look at the political, economic and material environment in which people find themselves.He goes on to say that this theory encompasses an anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory perspective and that poverty, dissimilitude and lack of social retri saveiveice can seriously disadvantage some people and that these disadvantages can contri unlesse to distressing social functioning. Structural theorists carry on that these people ar not a problem to society but that society has become a problem for them. However, functionalism is often criticized for not adequately explaining change, and placing too much order on order and stability. (Haralambos et al 2004) The employment theorists view the society from an objective and hierarchical point of view.In this perspective some individuals ar inferior to society. The basis of social order is power or intimidation and the only room to change within the society is by means of a power struggle in which there is a lot of competition. Social class is extremely important in this perspective for it defines an individuals place in the pyramid of power. Karl Marx was the originator of the conflict theory and described societies like Britain as capitalist systems whereby rich employers and handicraft owners with capital set up businesses which exploit working classes to generate maximum profits (Macionis & Plummer 2008).Therefore, according to this theory, the working classes could be discriminated against. Social extrusion is a multidimensional, dynamic concept which emphasises the processes of change through which individuals or groups are excluded from the mainstream of society and their life chances reduced. (Philip & Shucksmith 1999. ) There is no meetd definition of social forcing out, but there are considered to be conditions that many agree are contributing factors.Shaw et al (2006) described social censure as affecting individuals or areas that suffer from colligate problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low income, poor housing, bad wellness, high crime and family breakdowns. So it has been ready that living in a deprived area can lug a person into extreme poverty and/or social ejection. (Haan et al. 1987, p 989). Therefore, we can conclude that social exclusion is mainly associated with the above mess but it is also linked to a lack of social support, social position and empowerment.White (1998) describes the processes leading to social exclusion including economic change, demographic change, changes to welfare systems and processes of segregation and separation of certain nonage groups. Social exclusion is not just nigh individuals, it can refer to whole communities within which all(prenom inal)one can be abnormal. For example, areas with high levels of unemployment and deprivation. Sooman & Macintyre (1995) reported that studies in Glasgow showed differences in self-reported wellness between local areas, with more advantaged areas showing fewer wellness problems.In the mid 1990s, this country was distinguished by high levels of social exclusion, with the highest rates in Europe of jobless households and teenage pregnancies (www. socialexclusionunit. gov. uk). Many of these figures worsen during the 1990s and crime, poverty, exclusion from school and drug/alcohol dependency became satisfying problems. Nowadays, the concept of social exclusion is taking over from poverty. It does not just mean poor income, it suggests something more than social inequality and so it carries the run a risk of a multi-tier society or the relegation to the status of the welfare dependent. Robbins, cited in Alcock, 1997).We could, of course, ask the question why is social exclusion a problem? Why should we care about somebody who does not participate in key activities of the society in which he or she lives? (Burchardt et al, 2002). After all, not everybody chooses to conform to social averages. So, what if an individual has used their ain autonomy to by design exclude themselves from society? A recluse who prefers solitude to company, a young person who chooses to join a criminal gang rather than pursue a career, or the rich people who lock themselves away at the separate end of the social scale?Do all these people incorporate a social problem, and if so, is it the same kind of problem as those who are socially excluded for reasons beyond their control? (British Journal of Psychiatry 2007. 191). There is, in society, an expectation that people conform to social norms, and if someone be perplexs or looks other than from what is expected then they could be overmaster to inconsistency, whether their lifestyle is their own excerption or has been forced up on them. To discriminate, briefly defined, means to victimize or party favour a group or individual because of social, economic, race, gender or religious reasons.The law in Britain recognises two kinds of dissimilitude direct and indirect. Direct contrast make passs when, as defined above, a group or individual is targeted for particularized reasons. Indirect discrimination can happen when there are rules or regulations set in place which could exclude certain people. For instance, an employer may state that no hats or headwear are to be worn in the workplace. This could indirectly discriminate against people of certain ethnicity whose religion states that they cover their heads.Discrimination and social exclusion have certain similarities and can be compared by pull attention to the different types of social discrimination experienced by people. sexist behaviours take many forms but they all involve some sort of exclusion or rejection. These behaviours can be looked at in different ways for example, anthropologically. Anthropology as a discipline gives powerful insight to personal views and asks the funda amiable question, how and why do human beings behave the way they do (Bronowski 1952) and compares the historical development of human society.This can be used in social work by enabling workers to understand different human behaviours and why they may be a product of society. As stated above, discrimination and social exclusion can have similar aspects but a key difference between them are the consequences that can come from discrimination, such as the policies put in place to look uncontaminating practice for those people who could be discriminated against by complaint, age or gender. The pith examples of these are the Disability, Age and Sex Discrimination policies now in place.These policies ensure that, legally, people can no longer be discriminated against for having a disability, being too old or too young or because of their gender. Th e social composition of a population affects the ways in which social discrimination is exercised. In a society with people of multiple identities, for example ethnicity and religion, individuals or groups are likely to face discriminatory problems in multiple ways. The purpose and types of discrimination will depend on peoples status in the population.Similarly, conquest is also multifaceted and can be caused by fear of someone different, or someone who does not conform to what is thought to be the norm in social standing. It is important to recognise the common themes across the areas of exclusion, discrimination and oppressiveness. Thompson (2006, p40) stated that Oppression can be defined as merciless or degrading treatment of individuals or groups hardship and injustice brought about by the dominance of one group over another.There are many parallels between the experiences of people with disabilities, gender issues, homosexuals and ethnic minorities but oppression and disc rimination cannot be explained merely by peoples personal prejudices. Oppression does not derive simply from individual actions, it can be built into structural and institutional patterns and organisational policies. (Thompson 2001) The fact that we live in a highly tell society means that inequalities are part of the social order and there are inevitably winners and losers. (Thompson 2001) Rooney (1987) gives an example of this.He describes how a local position used a word of mouth process to recruit home-help staff. When there were vacancies for these jobs, the existing preponderantly white employees would be asked to pass on education of the vacancies to friends and/or family. This meant that knowledge of the posts would only be passed on to a predominantly white group of people, some of whom would be interviewed and consequently employed. Because of this, black and ethnic minorities were systematically excluded, even though it may have been unintentional.There are many author ities and organisations that can be seen as being conscience-smitten of this kind of institutional oppression, with the ideas of powerful groups becoming dominant over the minority as quoted by Marx in 1845 The ideas of the ruling class are, in every age, the ruling ideas. Whilst anyone can experience social exclusion, discrimination or oppression, it has been arrange that certain groups are more vulnerable to them and that they are all linked to a certain degree. It is usually a combination of factors that contribute to social exclusion, thus making it a multidimensional process and not caused by a single unique factor.Madanipour et al 1998, cited in Byrne 2005). One group in particular that experience social exclusion are people that suffer from mental indisposition. It could be that the majority of negative attitudes towards mental infirmity are simply a reflection of the lack of understanding of sundry(a) mental health conditions, and this could have a bearing on any initi ative to combat such prejudice in the future. Link et al (1999) reported that though there has been some improvement of general understanding, the public, largely, does paying attention to maintain social distance from the mentally ill.Hocking (2003) found that people with schizophrenia, specifically, were subject to discrimination in housing, education and employment. Although the public perception of mental illness has been studied vastly, there are few studies to date that concentrate on how the public perceive mental illness within the workplace. Williams and Wilkins (1998) reported that when human resources officers were given vignettes of job applications where the applicants had very similar skills and qualifications, applicants who described themselves as having slump significantly reduced their chance of employment compared to that of applicants with diabetes.Baldwin and Johnson (2004) stated that workers with mental health problems were subject to a greater discriminati on and suffered a lower employability rank than workers suffering from a physical illness. Research also acknowledges that mental illness receives a greater amount of negativity than that of a physical illness. brit (2000) reported that among soldiery service members there was a strong belief that admitting to psychological or mental health problems at work would carry them more discriminated against than admitting to physical problems.Over half of the participants of the report believed that a military service members career would be negatively affected by admitting a psychological problem and just under half actually admitted that they would maintain a distance from a co-worker has he or she disclosed a psychological problem. Rush et al (2005) identify 3 known misconceptions linked to people with mental illness i)They are homicidal maniacs that should be avoided ii) They are rebellious free spirits iii) They have childlike perceptions of the worldThe most measurable of these i s the first one which could explain some of the exclusion, discrimination and oppression suffered by people with mental health problems. The government has encouraged action in the employment of people with mental illness through its action plan on social exclusion (Social Exclusion Task Force 2006), but levels of unemployment are still significantly high for sufferers even though most of them want to, and are able to work. They usually end up on long term get ahead and suffer social exclusion in the form of deprivation, isolation and physical, as well as mental, ill health.Social support is of crucial immenseness to individuals and groups with mental health problems, and, maybe if there was more trust between people, along with more community cohesion and empowerment, there might be a greater understanding of the difficulties encountered by people with mental health problems and society would discriminate less. In conclusion then, it would seem that there are many similarities b etween social exclusion, discrimination and oppression. All of these subjects evoke a strong, emotive response from those affected by them.In the UK alone, there are still thousands of people who are in poverty, homeless or have mental health problems and who are consequently excluded from aspects of society or discriminated against. This is despite interventions from health and social care workers from all sectors, the government and educational facilities. PCTs and providers are working hard and making significant progress in up the accessibility and quality of primary health care in order to keep people healthier for longer and reduce health inequalities (www. wdc. org. uk). community social work, which was used at the introduction of the welfare state, is going through a regeneration period and the introduction of Sure Start and Family Centres on what the government describes as Sink Estates changes the socially excluded to access services and skills to enable them to feel par t of society. As with all government initiatives, people find out services with suspicion but social workers are in a position to build trusting and therapeutic relationships within the community.Therefore, although progress is slow, it is not unattainable. There is now evidence, however, which demonstrates that we get hold of to go further to improve the way we meet the primary health care needs of the most socially excluded people within our society, as socially excluded clients often do not show up on needs assessments. The Inclusion Health study (www. swdc. org. uk) has also produced an excellent supporting evidence pack which commissioners can use to help build the case for improvement.There is a clear need for people who work with socially excluded people to stay within a framework of guidelines. For example, social workers need to develop an understanding of the problems that can occur within peoples lives and employ anti-oppressive practice in all aspects of care. It is po ssible that socially excluded groups feel disempowered and unable to do anything to help themselves and it is the profession of the social worker to hand back power to the service exploiter whilst recognising the personal, cultural and social factors affecting the individual or family in question.There needs to be adequate assessments linked to helping people to thrash problems and a sound knowledge of what can cause exclusion or discrimination by using research based evidence. Howe (1993) emphasized the grandness of process in evaluation and there are several ways to implement this for example through personal perceptions, evidence from service users, colleagues and supervisors and advice from other professionals or individuals involved. In short however, the only way to eliminate exclusion of any sort is to raise awareness in the shortfalls of society and wipe out prejudice, bigotry and ignorance.