Globalisation is an issue that has been high on the research agenda for several years, spawning a vast and at times unwieldy literature. A concept often ill-defined, it has generated a plethora of unresolved and fiercely contested questions, the nature of which depends on which side of the...

The creation of the Social Exclusion Unit by the present government in 1997 is just one example of the increased desire by both academics and policy-makers to understand more about the factors that lead to individuals and communities becoming excluded from mainstream society. Of the many aspects...