ABSTRACT
This chapter thus looks into how different groups in welfare states are included or excluded, and to what degree, and what kind of possible mechanism might support or reduce this. This will be done by looking into different groups’ possible positions in relation to access to the labour market, welfare services and benefi ts, and the degree of economic and other types of inequality (see also Chapter 9 ). It can be questioned whether one can make this distinction in the analysis between different groups, or whether the analysis should be across the different issues, that is social exclusion/inclusion more generally. However, for the sake of presentation, and given that there are some differences, the analysis will be done by looking at these specifi c issues knowing that they are often linked together, and sometimes reinforce each other. There are therefore sections on gender, disability, age and ethnicity, followed by a presentation of possible mechanisms that infl uence position and links related to inclusion and exclusion in welfare states. These are seen as examples of how different issues can be infl uenced by different types of welfare state and further as typical groups with stronger or weaker positions in their society.
