ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the processes of marginalisation as an effect of social division. 'Marginalisation' is a term used to describe aspects of life experiences through which inequality is structured. The actual experiences of life on the margins are the continuing source of much anger and anxiety on the part of those young people so marginalised. Young men tend to stay at home longer than young women. Young people experience these processes of exclusion and marginalisation in very immediate and personal ways. Studies of the perspectives of young people provide an insight into the way in which young people actively 'marginalise' themselves. The majority of the world's refugees are women, children and young people. The special difficulties faced by refugee young people needs to be highlighted. In contrast, for many young people from low-income backgrounds poverty is neither 'character-building' nor simply a stage—it is both background and a permanent condition.
