How do communities seek to exclude those who are different?

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How do communities seek to exclude those who are different?

Looking over this question it seems easy enough but when thinking into it deeper it became a lot harder. Firstly the definition of a community, - being a place where a group of people may live close by in one district or a group with shared origins in interest. and secondly how do we define those who are different? A person who is different to me may be seen as normal to you. But then, what is normal? I’ve identified groups as best as possible which may be classed as different in my eyes and who may have difficulty fitting into an average community. People are excluded when they are not part of the networks which support most people in ordinary life - networks of family, friends, community and employment. Others groups include poor people, ex-prisoners, people with AIDS, people with learning disabilities or psychiatric patients, homeless people, different religious groups, immigrants or refugees and even the elderly might all be said to be at risk of exclusion.

All may have difficulty fitting in as the ‘not in my back yard’ view applies where nobody wants to live next door to these ‘different people’. People believe these groups will make the area they live in less attractive to others, and devalue their houses which may have a knock on effect on businesses and services in the area.

 

Social Exclusion is a major problem in the UK.  One, which is being addressed by Tony Blair and the Labour Government. Tony Blair has said "The last government let poverty re-gain its hold in Britain, to an extent unseen since before the last War. ... The Prime minister set up the Social Exclusion Unit or SEU in 1997 to help improve Government action to reduce social exclusion by producing -  'joined-up solutions to joined-up problems'.  The SEU is staffed by a mixture of civil servants from a wide range of Government departments whose work forms part of the Government's strategic approach to tackling social exclusion.  They look for solutions based on three main areas

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  • Preventing Social Exclusion 
  • Making sure that mainstream services are being delivered to everyone
  • Reintegrating people who have fallen through the net.

If it all works this will become the first British government ever to eliminate poverty.

In practice, the idea of exclusion is mainly used in three contexts. The first is financial:

exclusion is identified with poverty, and its effect on a person's ability to participate in normal activities. This can involve many of the groups ive listed. The second is exclusion from the labour market:

exclusion is strongly identified with ...

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