ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the major policy drivers which have encouraged organisations, including public libraries, to tackle social exclusion and how these connect with wider government policies and strategies. It focuses on key documents such as Equity and Excellence in the Public Library, Sources of Resentment, and Perceptions of Ethnic Minorities Among Poor White People in England. The aim of 'empowering communities and citizens and ensuring that power is more fairly distributed across the whole of our society' is a modern version of the traditional Labour aspiration to shift power and resources towards working people. Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power aims to pass power into the hands of local communities. People experience their social position through a number of lenses, and an important one is social class. According to Harriet Harman, former Minister for Women and Equality, in her foreword to A Fairer Future: The Equality Bill and Other Action to Make Equality a Reality.
