Author: Carlos Sojo

Publisher:

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13:

This publication brings together the papers presented in the workshop, "Social Exclusion and Poverty Reduction workshop in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region", and the discussion process that took place afterwards. This publication is the result of a long process of collaboration and dialogue between the authors and the World Bank team. This book contributes to the definition of a conceptual and methodological framework for understanding social exclusion and the processes that cause poverty as well as to the discussion of policy instruments to tackle exclusion. The seven chapters that follow the introduction explore from different disciplines (economy, anthropology, sociology, political science, juridical science), the notion of social exclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean. All the studies stem from a common question regarding the validity of the social exclusion approach for understanding the poverty, inequality, and marginalization prevailing in the region. Starting from this basic question, each chapter contributes to the development of a common conceptual and methodological framework and discusses, either in terms of societal models or specific case studies the analytical and policy implications of applying a social exclusion perspective. Although all authors conclude by emphasizing the relevance and necessity of adopting the social exclusion approach as an analytical-policy-making tool, they also highlight the need for further developing the conceptual and methodological framework in order to be able to map with greater precision the relationships between the different dimensions of social exclusion, their interactions, and the specific weight that each one of them has in the generation of exclusionary processes. The authors emphasize that only in this way will it be possible to fully utilize the social exclusion framework as a valuable operational policy-oriented tool