Experiences Of Social Exclusion Research Articles

Linguistic hostility, social exclusion, and the agency of African migrants in Hong Kong

Abstract Long an immigrant society, whether Hong Kong welcomes ethnic minorities remains debatable. Combining Wesselmann and colleagues’ (2016) social exclusion framework, raciolinguistics, and interview data, this study investigates the social exclusion experience of Hong Kong's African economic and student migrants. The findings show that African immigrants who lack linguistic capacity are ostracised in different areas of life. Impolite language usage stigmatises them as poor and ghost-like and stereotypes them as refugees. Taking a raciolinguistic perspective, however, this study finds that race, rather than language, is the root cause of social exclusion. Lastly, the study shows that African migrants manifest agency in ameliorating marginalisation through various activities, revealing the bidirectional nature of social exclusion. Overall, this study empirically enriches the current understanding of Africans’ social exclusion experiences in Hong Kong through the lens of language. It theoretically contributes to the current discussion on raciolinguistics by extending it to the Asian context. (Social exclusion, Hong Kong, African immigrants, verbal rejection, non-verbal rejection, racism, raciolinguistics)*

Does intergroup contact increase children’s desire to play with diverse peers and reduce experiences of social exclusion?

Does intergroup contact increase children’s desire to play with diverse peers and reduce experiences of social exclusion?

Intergenerational Social Exclusion, Silences, and the Transformation of Agency: An Oral History Approach

This oral history article, inspired by research conducted among minorities, explores the interrelations between intergenerational disadvantage, experience of social exclusion, and silence within family histories. During the fieldwork, 13 study participants shared their transgenerational family stories that shed light on intergenerational disadvantage, including substance abuse, trauma, violence, emotional coldness, neuropsychiatric characteristics, and mental health concerns. Study participants had experienced active and passive social exclusion, such as discrimination within service systems, exclusion from the job market, bullying, and discriminatory attitudes. They also believed that their previous generations had experienced social exclusion. This study shows that silence is often a result of the social exclusion experienced by people who deviate from the assumed norm and suffer from disadvantage. To protect themselves from social exclusion, people remain silent. Silence deepens social inequalities by keeping people in weak positions apart and preventing them from acting together to redress power dynamics. Today, however, there are more opportunities than in the past to work on silence and social exclusion, making it possible for these people to shift their positions from being others to being closer to the sources of power.

Sufficient access? Activity participation, perceived accessibility and transport-related social exclusion across spatial contexts

AbstractPromoting social inclusion through facilitating the participation in social and economic activities is a central goal of land-use and transport planning. This study examines the relationship between activity participation and experiences of transport-related social exclusion across different spatial accessibility levels in the Netherlands. Using perceived accessibility as an indicator of the benefits derived from spatial opportunities, this paper reveals a weak and non-linear connection between activity participation and satisfaction with accessibility, which becomes negligible at higher participation levels. Even when individuals have low engagement levels, they often report high perceived accessibility, indicating voluntary non-participation. In rural areas with limited local opportunities, constrained participation is more prominent, especially for those with limited mobility options. The weak correlations between participation and experienced benefits from accessibility across diverse spatial contexts emphasize the importance of considering perceived accessibility alongside spatial and activity data in normative debates on determining the sufficiency of accessibility.

Pandemic Stories From the Margins: Migrant Experiences of Social Exclusion During COVID-19

Pandemic Stories From the Margins: Migrant Experiences of Social Exclusion During COVID-19

Mark Shucksmith, Jayne Glass, Polly Chapman and Jane Atterton, Rural Poverty Today: Experiences of Social Exclusion in Rural Britain

This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/

PATHWAYS TO OR WITHIN SOCIAL EXCLUSION? AN INTERSECTIONAL LIFE COURSE PERSPECTIVE ON OLDER ROMANIAN ROMA

Abstract Social exclusion is considered a dynamic process as people can move in and out of exclusion while also experiencing different types of exclusion over their life course. In this paper we set out to understand pathways to social exclusion of older Romanian Roma, a particular population that received little attention in the literature. We aim to understand the lived experiences of social exclusion of Roma with the use of life histories and events calendars and we employ an intersectional life course perspective by looking at the nexus of structural, individual, and relational factors that impacted the pathways of older Roma across their life course. The intersection between ethnicity, gender, education, work, residence/segregation and income is employed in order to understand how disadvantage unfolded across the life course and into late life. The data come from 15 biographical interviews with older Roma living in rural and urban Romania, collected in 2021. Results illustrate how specific structural processes like sedentarization of nomad communities, the fall of the communist regime in 1989 and the retrocession of gold unevenly affected Roma across the intersectional characteristics and transformed into turning points in their lives, while interposing to a little extent with their pathways to social exclusion. De-institutionalized life courses and fast transitions had an important bearing on the ways disadvantage unfolded for older Roma living in segregated communities. Finally, super-linked lives at family and community level, when deprived of outside support, contributed to deep exclusion in later life.

Neural correlates of social exclusion and overinclusion in patients with borderline personality disorder: an fMRI study

BackgroundInterpersonal difficulties of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are closely related to rejection sensitivity. The aim of the present study was to gain further insight into the experience and cerebral processing of social interactions in patients with BPD by using fMRI during experimentally induced experiences of social exclusion, inclusion, and overinclusion.MethodsThe study involved 30 participants diagnosed with BPD (29 female and 1 male; age: M = 24.22, SD = 5.22) and 30 healthy controls (29 female and 1 male; age: M = 24.66, SD = 5.28) with no current or lifetime psychiatric diagnoses. In the fMRI session, all participants were asked to complete a Cyberball task that consisted of an alternating sequence of inclusion, exclusion, and overinclusion conditions.ResultsCompared to healthy controls, participants with BPD reported higher levels of inner tension and more unpleasant emotions across all experimental conditions. At the neural level, the participants with BPD showed lower recruitment of the left hippocampus in response to social exclusion (relative to the inclusion condition) than the healthy controls did. Lower recruitment of the left hippocampus in this contrast was associated with childhood maltreatment in patients with BPD. However, this difference was no longer significant when we added the covariate of hippocampal volume to the analysis. During social overinclusion (relative to the inclusion condition), we observed no significant differences in a group comparison of neural activation.ConclusionsThe results of our study suggest that patients with BPD experience more discomfort than do healthy controls during social interactions. Compared to healthy participants, patients with BPD reported more inner tension and unpleasant emotions, irrespective of the extent to which others included them in social interactions. At a neural level, the participants with BPD showed a lower recruitment of the left hippocampus in response to social exclusion than the healthy controls did. The reduced activation of this neural structure could be related to a history of childhood maltreatment and smaller hippocampal volume in patients with BPD.

The Homeless World Cup through storytelling: The narratives of Street Soccer players from Scotland and the USA

ObjectivesThe purpose of this paper was to explore: (a) What stories do the Street Soccer players draw upon to construct meaning around their experiences of trauma, social exclusion, and homelessness? and (b) What stories are linked to the subjective sport programming experience and resulting future orientations? DesignA longitudinal narrative approach was adopted with semi-structured interviews conducted with players from Scotland and the United States (n = 16, 7 female, 9 male, M age = 27.5) across three time points. Interviews were also conducted with significant others (n = 13) at time point three. All data were analyzed using thematic narrative analysis and represented in creative non-fiction approaches through three composite narratives. ResultsThese narratives depicted visceral accounts of complex and developmental trauma, along with consequential experiences that unfolded before, during, and after the Homeless World Cup. While both preparing for and attending the event, players recalled concurrent feelings of anxiety and pride which manifested in various resilient and maladaptive coping behaviors. As the stories progressed, players battled a post event crash by engaging in support seeking and/or self-destructive behaviors before positive implications of the Homeless World Cup materialized. ConclusionsThrough creative narrative approaches, this study presents novel and engaging accounts of players’ experiences before, during, and after the event. We also identify potential safeguarding concerns that can be addressed through trauma-informed practices.

‘Inanimate Objects’: Human consequences of Australia’s commodified approach to migrant workers during COVID-19

The Australian government has long treated migrant labour as a commodity, a ‘tap’ to be turned on and off in accordance with government or employer perceptions of the labour market. This article examines the Australian government’s policies concerning migrant workers during COVID-19, against the backdrop of its failure to take any meaningful steps to address systemic migrant exploitation over the past decade. It then considers the devastating human consequences of these policies during the first pandemic lockdowns, based on empirical data from over 6,100 temporary migrants collected in mid-2020. The data demonstrate migrant workers’ inability to pay for essential needs (including food and medical care); their lack of access to secure or emergency housing as well as emergency support in the form of cash or food; and their experiences of racism, discrimination, and social exclusion during the pandemic. We conclude that Australia’s commodified approach to migrant workers and acquiescence to exploitation reflected a deeper disavowal of migrants’ humanity and rights. This lens explains the apparent contradiction in which the government first denied or disregarded its legal and moral responsibilities towards them during the immediate crisis posed by the pandemic, while at the same time courting their labour in the context of skills shortages during and after the pandemic.

Words hurt: common and distinct neural substrates underlying nociceptive and semantic pain.

Recent studies have shown that processing semantic pain, such as words associated with physical pain, modulates pain perception and enhances activity in regions of the pain matrix. A direct comparison between activations due to noxious stimulation and processing of words conveying physical pain may clarify whether and to what extent the neural substrates of nociceptive pain are shared by semantic pain. Pain is triggered also by experiences of social exclusion, rejection or loss of significant others (the so-called social pain), therefore words expressing social pain may modulate pain perception similarly to what happens with words associated with physical pain. This event-related fMRI study aims to compare the brain activity related to perceiving nociceptive pain and that emerging from processing semantic pain, i.e., words related to either physical or social pain, in order to identify common and distinct neural substrates. Thirty-four healthy women underwent two fMRI sessions each. In the Semantic session, participants were presented with positive words, negative pain-unrelated words, physical pain-related words, and social pain-related words. In the Nociceptive session, participants received cutaneous mechanical stimulations that could be either painful or not. During both sessions, participants were asked to rate the unpleasantness of each stimulus. Linguistic stimuli were also rated in terms of valence, arousal, pain relatedness, and pain intensity, immediately after the Semantic session. In the Nociceptive session, the 'nociceptive stimuli' vs. 'non-nociceptive stimuli' contrast revealed extensive activations in SI, SII, insula, cingulate cortex, thalamus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In the Semantic session, words associated with social pain, compared to negative pain-unrelated words, showed increased activity in most of the same areas, whereas words associated with physical pain, compared to negative pain-unrelated words, only activated the left supramarginal gyrus and partly the postcentral gyrus. Our results confirm that semantic pain partly shares the neural substrates of nociceptive pain. Specifically, social pain-related words activate a wide network of regions, mostly overlapping with those pertaining to the affective-motivational aspects of nociception, whereas physical pain-related words overlap with a small cluster including regions related to the sensory-discriminative aspects of nociception. However, most regions of overlap are differentially activated in different conditions.

Effects of an open-label placebo intervention on reactions to social exclusion in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial

Social exclusion, that is being left out by others, can have adverse consequences for individuals’ psychological well-being. Even short-term experiences of social exclusion strongly threaten basic psychological needs and cause so-called social pain. Prior research suggests an overlap between the experience of social and physical pain that, amongst others, is reflected by the effectiveness of physical pain treatments in alleviating social pain. Drawing upon these prior findings, we here explore whether open-label placebos, which have previously been found to be effective in reducing physical pain, can alleviate social pain following social exclusion. Seventy-four healthy participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2 × 2 between-subjects design: First, they either received an open-label placebo intervention or no treatment. Second, they either experienced inclusion or exclusion by their co-players in the interactive ball-tossing game Cyberball. We find that excluded participants in the open-label placebo condition experienced significantly less hurt feelings compared to those in the control condition (Cohen’s d = 0.77). There was no effect of treatment for need threat. The findings suggest new possibilities to alleviate social pain, which is of particular interest in the context of preventing destructive and maladaptive behaviors in situations where functional coping strategies are unavailable.

Cooperation after social exclusion: To reconnect or to harm?

Predicting a person's reaction after experiencing exclusion is an important question, which is accompanied by paradoxical answers. An excluded person may tend to harm others (antisocial reaction hypothesis), treat them with increased ingratiation (prosocial reaction hypothesis), or withdraw from further social contacts. The aim of this study was to test the hypotheses about the prosocial and antisocial responses in the social dilemma context, specifically, to examine whether social exclusion will result in reduced or increased cooperation in the Trust Game. The sample included 175 participants (females = 142), first- and second-year psychology students. There was a between-subject design 3 exclusion (exclusion vs. inclusion vs. neutral) × 2 history (known vs. unknown partner), with Social value orientation being treated as a covariate. Social exclusion was manipulated using the get-acquainted paradigm, and the Trust Game was used to measure the willingness to cooperate. The level of social value orientation was measured using the Social Value Orientations (SVO) Slider Measure. Despite the successful manipulation of social exclusion, the results do not support studies showing that exclusion influences cooperation in a mixed-motive situation. Only the main effects of the history were observed (p = .012, η2  = .04.), and social value orientation was a significant predictor of the level of cooperation (p ≤ .001, η2  = .08.). The conclusion is that the experience of social exclusion made participants no less able to analyze social cues and willing to cooperate in the Trust Game.

The exclusive countryside post‐pandemic

AbstractThe processes through which the British countryside has become increasingly socially exclusive have been a theme of rural scholars' research since the 1970s, and these social changes are reflected in experiences of the pandemic. This paper begins by observing the central importance of power relations, and then discusses the pivotal role of housing as a motor of rural social change and exclusivity. Notwithstanding these processes, and indeed largely because of these asymmetric power relations, rural poverty remains. This paper summarises experiences of social exclusion in rural areas during the pandemic and reflects on the social redistribution of risk and the need to rebuild social protection in a continuing ‘permacrisis’. The emergence of the concept of the permacrisis indicates a recognition that the Covid‐19 pandemic is only one of a series of continuing or recurring challenges or potential ‘shocks’ that we face, and this paper concludes by suggesting a research agenda for rural scholars as well as a potential rural policy agenda.

Investigation of Ostracism (Social Exclusion) and Forgiveness Levels of Adolescents with Positive and Negative Life Experiences

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between positive and negative childhood experiences, forgiveness and social exclusion experiences of individuals in adolescence. The research was carried out using the relational survey technique, one of the quantitative research methods. The participants of the study consisted of middle school and high school students (n=669), 354 girls and 315 boys, aged between 11 and 17, in the fall semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. The data collection tools employed within the study are: Personal Information Form, Adolescent Ostracism (Social exclusion) Scale to measure the social exclusion levels of the participants, Childhood Happiness/Peace Memories Scale to measure their positive experience levels, Childhood Experiences Scale to measure their negative experience levels, and Forgiveness Scale for Adolescents to measure their tendency to forgive. For the analysis of the data, SPSS 26.00 package program was utilized and descriptive analysis, correlation, and multiple regression analysis were conducted. As a result of the data analysis, it was observed that exclusion dimension within the social exclusion scale has a higher mean score than the disregarding dimension, exclusion dimension features higher significance, the social exclusion experiences of the adolescents differ significantly in favor of the female adolescents in the neglected dimension.

Social Exclusion and Drug Rehabilitation Relapse: Mediating Role of Negative Coping Styles

 
 Objective: To investigate the relationship between social exclusion and relapse tendency of drug addicts, and the mediating role of negative coping style between them. Methods: 130 SG drug addicts were investigated with Social Exclusion Experience Scale, Simple Coping Style Scale (SCSQ) and Relapse Tendency Scale (RTQ). Results: (1) Social exclusion and negative coping styles had significant positive correlation with relapse tendency; (2) Social exclusion and negative coping styles had direct positive correlation with relapse tendency; (3) Social exclusion could not only directly predict relapse tendency, but also indirectly predict relapse tendency through the mediating effect of negative coping styles. Conclusion: Negative coping styles mediate the relationship between social exclusion and relapse.

‘Had I been a girl it would have been a big problem’: An intersectional approach to the social exclusion of refugee adolescents with disabilities in Jordan

Adolescents with disabilities in Jordan, and particularly girls, are marginalized within their household, often isolated from their peers and communities, at greater risk of violence, and have limited access to opportunities for education, work, and agency. This paper focuses on intersectionality-informed participatory and qualitative research. Through two case studies we explore the ways that gender, disability, and refugee status intersect to produce particular experiences of social exclusion, which in turn highlight entrenched and complex structural inequalities.

EFFECTS OF SOCIAL INCLUSIONARY STATUS ON SELF-EVALUATION DEPENDS ON SOCIAL ANXIETY

Social inclusionary status might have diverse effects on self-perception. We conducted an online experiment (N=170) to examine the effects of social inclusionary status and social anxiety on self-evaluation. Our hypothesis was that the social exclusion experience will negatively affect self-evaluations in the competence dimension and social anxiety is expected to moderate this relationship. Participants filled out the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and wrote a short autobiographical essay about an experience from their lives when they felt excluded/rejected (exclusion condition) or included (inclusion condition). Self-evaluation was approached with the two dimensions -warmth and competence- as proposed in the Stereotype Content Model. Results had shown that participants’ warmth judgments about themselves were not affected by neither inclusionary status nor social anxiety. On the other hand, inclusionary status had an effect on self-competence evaluations as a function of participants’ social anxiety levels. Accordingly, remembering an inclusive experience (from their past) was related with higher self-competence only among low social anxiety participants. The positive effect of remembering social inclusion experience was not observed among high social anxiety individuals. In conclusion, the effect of social inclusionary status on self-competence assessments was moderated by social anxiety.

Troll story: The dark tetrad and online trolling revisited with a glance at humor.

Internet trolling is considered a negative form of online interaction that can have detrimental effects on people's well-being. This pre-registered, experimental study had three aims: first, to replicate the association between internet users' online trolling behavior and the Dark Tetrad of personality (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism) established in prior research; second, to investigate the effect of experiencing social exclusion on people's motivation to engage in trolling behavior; and third, to explore the link between humor styles and trolling behavior. In this online study, participants were initially assessed on their personality, humor styles, and global trolling behavior. Next, respondents were randomly assigned to a social inclusion or exclusion condition. Thereafter, we measured participants' immediate trolling motivation. Results drawn from 1,026 German-speaking participants indicate a clear correlation between global trolling and all facets of the Dark Tetrad as well as with aggressive and self-defeating humor styles. However, no significant relationship between experiencing exclusion/inclusion and trolling motivation emerged. Our quantile regression findings suggest that psychopathy and sadism scores have a significant positive effect on immediate trolling motivation after the experimental manipulation, whereas Machiavellianism and narcissism did not explain variation in trolling motivation. Moreover, being socially excluded had generally no effect on immediate trolling motivation, apart from participants with higher immediate trolling motivation, for whom the experience of social exclusion actually reduced trolling motivation. We show that not all facets of the Dark Tetrad are of equal importance for predicting immediate trolling motivation and that research should perhaps focus more on psychopathy and sadism. Moreover, our results emphasize the relevance of quantile regression in personality research and suggest that even psychopathy and sadism may not be suitable predictors for low levels of trolling behavior.

Social capital and women’s narratives of homelessness and multiple exclusion in northern England

Women experiencing three or more co-occurring issues (homelessness, substance misuse, mental health) are a highly vulnerable population associated with multimorbidity. Taking women’s life stories of trajectories into social exclusion in the north of England as its focus, this paper aims to explore the complexity of social contexts in which women navigate extreme health inequalities. Of the few studies that have examined women’s experiences of homelessness through the lens of social capital, most have focused on network size, rather than the quality and influence of the relationships which precipitate or contextualise experiences of social exclusion. We utilise case studies to offer a theoretically-grounded analysis which illustrates the relationship between social capital and homelessness within this population. Our results illustrate how structural contexts, and specifically social capital accrual and social bonding processes particularly pertinent to women can act to both ameliorate and perpetuate social exclusion. We conclude by arguing that health inequalities cannot be tackled as single-issue processes but instead are multi-layered and complex.