ABSTRACT
There are two ideologies of social exclusion in the United States and, perhaps less significantly, in Canada. Adherents of both ideologies subscribe to the view that they bear little if any responsibility to the poor. The first ideology, social minimalism, is dedicated to the hedonistic pursuit of wealth. The second, reactionary conservatism, is dedicated to the "responsible" pursuit of wealth. Both ideologies deny societal concern for and respect to the poor, whose behavioral deviation is assumed to have caused their privations. Social minimalists have adopted the belief that the self is necessarily the center of concern. In capitalist society social closure can result from both ascriptive prejudice and economic irresponsibility. There is a danger of social closure in combining the minimalist ethic of disregard for the community with the reactionary dislike of nonconforming social categories. As honored social groups are incorporated into the community, degraded groups are progressively excluded as undeserving of concern.
