ABSTRACT
Decisive situations consist of interactions between one person, maintaining interest in the access to inclusion in a certain dimension, and another person, controlling fulfilment of the pre-conditions linked with this access. Focussing inclusion / exclusion research on the dynamics of decisive situations provides links with research on status transitions. By referring to the centrality of the income dimension with respect to processes of exclusion and inclusion, the crucial importance of socio-political transfers becomes evident; it is ‘a central function of socio-political measures to interrupt the chain of causes spurring the dynamics of exclusion – be it after disease, divorce, ending a study without a degree or unemployment – and to support an autonomous life course. The classification of inclusion as an aim (‘good’) and – vice versa – exclusion as an evil (‘bad’) results from the perspective of state governance. The term ‘perspective of state governance’ implies accepting the social order backed by the state as a normative standard.
