ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how in the transition from solid to liquid modernity there has been a change in the understanding of the nature of social exclusion; a change in our understanding of the mechanisms of exclusion and in the processes of reward allocation. It shows how a policy of encouraging meritocracy in education is supported by a liquid modern popular culture that has generated forms of popular programming focused on self-improvement and the accumulation of cultural, symbolic and economic capital. The chapter provides an evaluation of Zygmunt Bauman’s understanding of social inclusion and examines critically Emanuel Levinas and Knud Ejler Logstrup’s contribution to ethics and how this provides the foundation for Bauman understands of an ethical social inclusion. Social exclusion within liquid modernity/neo-liberalism is rooted in a permanent condition of liminality embedded in what is assumed by policy makers and educational professionals to be personal choice and failure to achieve.
