Dimensions of Social Exclusion focuses largely on social exclusion in the context of communities and social groups who have or have not been considered in discussing the benefits of mainstream inclusive society or development. Contemporary understanding of social exclusion has revived great interest among academics, researchers and policy makers in understanding problems from the perspectives of social exclusion. The decision to adopt the perspective of social exclusion has not been universal; rather the nature of this is very heterogeneous. In addition, the concept of social exclusion is not static; in reality, it is a process. The process is seen in the marginalization and discrimination of people in their everyday lives and interactions. The term 'exclusion' has become a part of the vocabulary in Europe and other developing societies like 'poverty' or 'unemployment'; it is one of those words which seem to have both an everyday meaning and an underlying sense. It emphasizes the social aspects of concerns such as housing, health, employment, education, participation in social activities and festivities, social interaction and social intercourse. It excludes certain communities and groups from interaction and access to social resources through social arrangements, normative value systems and customs. Exclusion based on caste is one example and patriarchy is another, which is a form of systemic or constitutive exclusion. Having social, cultural, political and economic ramifications, it is also a complex and multi-dimensional concept. These dimensions are interwoven and are addressed in the different papers of the volume. This book revolves around the societal interventions and institutions that exclude, discriminate, isolate and deprive some groups on the basis of group identities such as caste or ethnicity. It covers a wide spectrum of societies and communities living in various cultural environments. The multidisciplinary nature of the book will render it helpful to students and researchers of sociology, anthropology, historical and political studies, demography, social work and gender studies in particular and the humanities in general.
About the Author: K. M. Ziyauddin is Assistant Professor-cum-Assistant Director at the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Hyderabad, India. Previously, he had been a faculty member in both the Department of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia and the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hamdard University, New Delhi. He has published on health and illness, scavengers and Dalits, issues of Muslims and child labour. He has worked on several national and international research projects on HIV/AIDS, child labour and education, workers in the unorganized and construction sectors, displacement and development, rural development and other issues. He is a life member of several bodies/societies including the Indian Sociological Society, International Journal of Research and Social Sciences, IASSH, SAMAR Foundation and the Society for Applied Economic Research. He has received several scholarships during his studies, which also included an ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship in 2006. Eswarappa Kasi is a Guest Faculty Member in the Department of Anthropology, University of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. He is a life member of a number of professional bodies. His research interests include anthropology of livelihoods and natural resource management, tribal and marginal communities and their development. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals. His books include a monograph entitled Anthropology and Development in a Globalised India: An Ethnography of Sericulture from the South (Cambridge Scholars Publishing (CSP), forthcoming) and an edited volume, Ethnographic Discourse of the Other: Conceptual and Methodological Issues with Panchanan Mohanty and Ramesh C. Malik (CSP, 2008). He was guest-editor of a special issue of Man in India on 'Issues and Perspectives in Anthropology Today' with R. Siva Prasad. He is also co-editor of Theory and Practice of Ethnography: Readings from the Periphery (Rawat Publications, Jaipur, in press) with Ramesh C. Malik and editor of Rethinking Development Discourse in the 21st Century India (Serials Publications, New Delhi, 2009).