ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to formulate a working definition of social exclusion for Great Britain to identify individuals who experienced long-term persistent disadvantage simultaneously on a number of domains. It examines the prevalence of such experiences and the socio-demographic characteristics of affected individuals. The chapter attempts to identify the working-age individuals that suffered from numerous and wide-ranging problems for an extensive period of time. It identifies the family circumstances and individual status associated with individuals most likely to have experienced social exclusion in Great Britain in the 1990s. Longitudinal, multi-dimensional disadvantage can be measured in a number of ways. Probably the most comprehensive means of combining both multidimensional and longitudinal information in an investigation of social exclusion is to identify individuals who were consistently disadvantaged on a particular combination of social exclusion indicators for a substantial duration of time. The longitudinal affect of disadvantage plays a major role in many theories of social exclusion.
