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Title

A critique of the concept of social exclusion and its utility for Australian social housing policy

Author(s)

Arthurson, Kathy;  Jacobs, Keith

Abstract

The paper reviews the usefulness of the concept of social exclusion for Australian social housing policy. We draw on recent theoretical and empirical research from Europe and the UK to develop a critique of the concept of social exclusion. It is argued that any assessment of social exclusion needs to distinguish between its utility as an academic explanatory concept and its political deployment to justify new forms of policy intervention. Policy targeting anti-social behaviour through increasingly more punitive means, for instance, is often justified on the basis that it ameliorates the problems of social exclusion experienced by tenants residing in public housing estates. We conclude that, in spite of the limitations of social exclusion as an analytical concept, for political and pragmatic reasons it is likely to become an important component of the emerging Australian housing policy agenda.

Publication type

Journal article

Source

Australian Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 39, no. 1 (Feb 2004), pp. 25-40

Publication year

2004

Keyword(s)

Australia;  City planning;  Feudalism;  Housing policy;  Housing subsidies;  Planned communities;  Social isolation;  Social marginality;  Social policy;  Strategy deployment

Publisher

Australian Council of Social Service

ISSN

0157-6321

Publisher URL

http://www.informit.com.au/products/productdetails.aspx?id=0157-6321

Copyright

Copyright © 2004 Australian Council of Social Service. Published version of this paper reproduced with the kind permission of the publisher.

Full text

Peer reviewed