ABSTRACT
‘Social exclusion’ has a somewhat dramatic ring, particularly in ex-fascist countries. At times, the phrase is even used and instrumentalized precisely for its dramatic appeal. It suggests that people can be expelled and thrown out while remaining passive ‘subjects’. Political social exclusion is a feature of the nation state because of its capacity to define citizenship through nationality. Economic social exclusion is a constant feature of capitalist development because of its dependence on competition as its primary mechanism. Mostly, the institutions of compensatory intervention do not see themselves and do not operate as general resources to be used by people in their struggle to cope with potential or partial exclusion. The regime of social exclusion as an accepted social mechanism has also given rise to counter-tendencies. New forms of intervention have been developed even during the latest social and economic phase, when some forms of compensatory transfer of the welfare-state kind have been reduced and made less accessible.
