The Scottish Government

Research Programme Research Findings No 73
1999

Experiences of Social Exclusion in Scotland

William O'Connor and Jane Lewis, National Centre for Social Research

Main Findings

• A wide variety of inter-related events and characteristics shape the extent to which individuals feel included or excluded from participating in society, and a multiplicity of physical, social, economic and attitudinal barriers impede the full involvement of individuals in society.
• The 'trap doors' through which individuals fall, or move deeper, into exclusion, may include conflict and abuse in early and adult life, relationship breakdown, unemployment, homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse and caring responsibilities.
• A wide range of potential support strategies, both informal and formal, may provide a 'step-up' out of exclusion. These include social networks, voluntary and statutory organisations, involvement in education or paid work. However, the potential of these support structures to promote inclusion may be curtailed by factors such as inappropriate delivery and focus of support.
• A wide range of factors may act as barriers to accessing support or services, including lack of information about services, attitudinal barriers to accessing support and an individual's lack of personal resources.
• Appropriate and timely service intervention can assist in promoting social inclusion. The development and delivery of services must be integrated and responsive to an individual's needs.
• The dissemination of good practice in service development and delivery between voluntary, community and statutory organisations should be encouraged.
• A long-term and holistic focus to policy development to tackle social exclusion is required. Policy development must be integrated and inclusive, with the impact of existing policies audited against the needs of individual populations or communities.

Introduction

There is a significant gap in our knowledge of how people considered to be socially excluded perceive their own position. The opinions and views of those who will ultimately form the target groups of policies aimed at tackling social exclusion are essential in tuning such policies to their needs and circumstances.

Social exclusion is perceived and experienced 'subjectively' and this qualitative research study was commissioned with precisely this aspect in its approach. Through in-depth interviews in Phase One of this study, personal experiences and perceptions of social exclusion were explored and patterns of exclusion emerged. Workshops in Phase Two with representatives of the organisations that work with the populations included in Phase One explored the way in which services and policies can promote inclusion.

The experience of social exclusion

Survey interviews revealed a prodigious variety of life events and characteristics which people felt had been instrumental in shaping the course of their lives, and were clearly relevant to understanding the extent to which they felt included in or excluded from society.

Throughout the interviews, respondents highlighted a range of physical, economic, social and attitudinal barriers that impeded their full involvement in society. Across the Phase One sample, two groups could be clearly identified. In the first, exclusion appeared to be due to discrimination based on difference and in the other it was characterised by social isolation arising from crisis

Discrimination based on difference

The discrimination highlighted in this study was experienced in relation to four distinct personal attributes: ethnic origin, impairment, religion or sexuality.

Numerous examples were given of how it felt to be discriminated against or excluded from the wider society because of who one was or what one believed. Broadly, this was experienced in terms of either discriminatory attitudes or by discriminatory economic, social and political structures or practices.

Economic, social and political structures and practices were highlighted which were felt to cause or perpetuate discrimination, either intentionally or unintentionally.

Being seen as or treated as different appeared to have significant implications for how people viewed themselves, in relation to the rest of society. Three sets of attitudes can be identified ranging from those who perceived their difference as positive and for whom it constituted an important part of their identity through to those who perceived their difference negatively.

Discrimination had a profound impact on the individuals who experienced it and was recurrently described as being detrimental to self-confidence and to self-esteem. Some respondents endeavoured to challenge discrimination in whatever form they encountered it, but others seemed less able to challenge it.

Social isolation

Respondents identified points in their lives when a particular event or set of circumstances seemed to set their life on a different route, often a disadvantageous one. Broadly, these 'trap doors' or 'junctures' appeared to be points at which individuals moved into, or further into, social isolation.

The factors which contribute to social isolation were: conflict and abuse early in life; an unstable or unsupportive upbringing; lack of educational opportunities; bullying; a difficult transition into adulthood; experience of abusive adult relationships; breakdown of relationship; unemployment; loss of children; or dependency on drugs or alcohol.

These factors appeared to affect an individual either directly, by leaving them physically or emotionally cut off from those around them, or indirectly, by making individuals vulnerable to situations in which they might experience isolation.

The experience of social isolation encompassed a lack of contact with other people, a feeling of being trapped, low self-esteem and self-confidence, and feelings of insecurity, hopelessness and depression.

Those who experienced a singular difficult period in their life sometimes seemed less isolated than those who faced consecutive or concurrent and inter-linked periods of difficulty. In this respect, those who experienced periods of intense difficulty appeared to be the most isolated and the most vulnerable to further isolation.

Support strategies

Respondents identified a wide range of sources of support but there were substantial differences between individual respondents in the extent to which they were able to access support, and in the quality of support they received. Respondents identified sources of informal support, such as support received from the parental family; from spouses, partners and children; and from friends and other social contacts.

Respondents also identified a range of sources of formal support that had helped them, both in dealing with the immediate aftermath of particular events or episodes and in providing more on-going support. Voluntary and statutory organisations feature strongly as providers of such support. In addition, the support provided by being in education or in paid work clearly emerged as an important factor.

There seemed to be considerable diversity in the extent to which respondents had access to support strategies. A range of factors that acted as barriers or facilitators to people accessing support strategies emerged.

These encompassed the way in which the service was delivered, the lack of appropriate services to meet the needs of the individual, respondents own attitudes to receiving help, as well as the personal resources required to access support.

Organisational views on strategies for social inclusion

A number of themes of good practice in service delivery emerged from the organisational workshops. The importance of being responsive to individual needs and of providing an 'individually-focused' service was emphasised. In addition, making services accessible to people was seen as a key challenge. There was particular emphasis on the importance of providing support that is empowering to the individual user.

The lack of an integrated approach to policy at national level was generally felt to be mirrored at local level and, consequently, tended to inhibit such co-ordinated approaches to service delivery by statutory and voluntary sectors.

Strategic and policy implications

Social exclusion needs to be tackled at a number of different levels:

• support needs to be provided at the stages or periods that can create exclusion, or vulnerability to exclusion, with mechanisms for identifying and supporting those in need of help;
• policies which tackle the manifestations or symptoms of social exclusion are required;
• aspects of policy delivery may need reviewing to establish whether they are in danger of creating or worsening social exclusion.
• A number of themes emerge as broader strategic requirements of policy-making:
• a need for policy formulation to recognise and address the multiplicity of individual needs and circumstances, and the diversity of experiences underpinning them
• a need for a long term focus in policy development;
• a need for policies to be 'audited' against the situation and needs of individual populations or communities;
• a need for integration and co-ordination across policy design.

The study also has implications for the ways in which policies and services are delivered. It identifies the wide range of potential or actual sources of support for people experiencing social exclusion and suggests that the challenge is not simply to provide access to potential sources of support but also to tackle variability in experiences and in the quality of professional practice. In addition, the study clearly raises a number of challenges for the way in which agencies and services need to operate if they are to meet the needs of socially excluded people.

About the Study

The study consisted of two elements:

• Phase 1 consisted of in-depth interviews with individuals from a range of different backgrounds, to explore their life histories and experiences, with a view to identifying and discussing experiences of inclusion and exclusion;
• Phase 2 consisted of six workshops with representatives of organisations which work with the populations included in Phase 1, to explore their perceptions of their users' experiences of exclusion and inclusion, and to identify services and policies which support inclusion.

The samples for both phases of the study were selected using purposive sampling, which aims to ensure maximum diversity of circumstances and experiences.

A total of 37 people took part in Phase 1 of the study. The six key populations on which this phase of the study initially focused were disabled people, ethnic minorities, long term unemployed, lone parents, homeless people and vulnerable young people.