Social Exclusion and the MDGs: The Challenge of ‘Durable Inequalities’ in the Asian Context

Author: Naila Kabeer


Posted on 07-02-2011	Translate this page

Naila Keeber discusses ‘durable inequalities’ in the Asian context, a barrier to reaching the millennium development goals (MDG) and improving circumstances in social inclusion. Keeber raises issues that economic growth does not improve the living conditions of the impoverished, discussing how social identity and cultural devaluation of people based on their origin are other factors that contribute to sustainable poverty despite the robust economic growth in Asia.

"Many dimensions of disadvantage can be captured by conventional headcount approaches to poverty that focus on economic constraints, drawing attention to the shortfalls in income and assets which give rise to shortfalls in the satisfaction of basic needs. Such approaches take the individual, or the individual household, as their unit of analysis and lend themselves to what has been described as a ‘vertical’ model of inequality (Stewart 2002). These rank individuals or households by their position in the income or asset distribution in order to assess the extent of economic inequality in a society: Gini coefficients and the ranking of households by income/asset/expenditure quintiles or deciles are measures of vertical inequality.

Investigations into the persistence of poverty, even in situations of economic growth, have highlighted the significance of forms of disadvantage that are not fully captured by economic measures and approaches (Kabeer 2000; 2005a). These revolve around social identity and reflect the cultural devaluation of people based on who they are (or rather who they are perceived to be). The identities in question may relate to groups of people who acknowledge their common membership, have shared beliefs and values and act in collective ways. Caste, ethnicity2 and religion are examples of such group identities. Alternatively, the identities may relate to categories of people defined on the basis of some shared characteristic rather than shared values and way of life. Members of these categories do not necessarily know each other and share very little in common, aside from the nature of the discrimination they face. Street children, people with leprosy or AIDS and undocumented migrants are examples of such socially excluded categories."

To read more, please download the file here.