On the Margins of Inclusion

This book starts from the premise that 'the nature of contemporary work and exclusion from secure paid employment is central to understanding the experience of social exclusion'. "On the Margins of Inclusion" offers a fascinating account of how different groups of economically marginal people have adapted to and negotiated the offerings of a 'post industrial' labour market and a welfare system geared towards reintegrating them into formal employment. Through close ethnographic study of people living on a South London housing estate, the book highlights collective strategies and responses to labour market and welfare changes, and considers how these responses can, in themselves, contribute to patterns of community-based exclusion. The ethnography is used to illuminate key issues in sociology and social policy, and to tackle debates and controversies that are central to current discussions on the appropriate role and function of state welfare. A thorough discussion of current policies to address social exclusion and area regeneration is woven into the fieldwork analysis. On the margins of inclusion is stimulating reading for researchers, academics and higher-level students in sociology and social policy, and will also be of interest to policy makers in the field.