5. Poverty / social exclusion

desired outcome

at least 20 million fewer people in or at risk of poverty and social exclusion

"It is not acceptable in the modern age that nearly 80 million people in Europe live under the poverty line."- Barrosso

Poverty needs to be defined. Since Charles Dickens living conditions of people in urban centres has changed. There need to be taken into account contradictory developments which affect now urban societies with hot spots being places for both protest and higher number of migrants. At overall level many affluent persons have moved out of cities while farmers have gained in income. Therefore, it is difficult to ascertain level of income in rural areas especially in a country like Greece.

There is also another kind of poverty in need to be taken into consideration: the poverty of experience.

Social theory of poverty and social exclusion

As a matter of fact it should be examined whether or not societies are deliberately driven towards one third segmentations with one third under poverty line, one third in rich conditions and one third serving the other two thirds as waitress, taxi driver, nurse, social worker while this social reality is no where reflected in social analysis, not even in the assessment by Ulrich Beck of the "Risk Society". There prevail still the old notions of class society with many efforts being undertaken to get rid of this perception of society as advocated on the basis of Marx's analysis of Capitalism by those who are either on the Left or on the Right of the political spectrum our of preference to polarize society as if this would making the political choices any easier. The worker as a subject has disappeared with the loss of the industrial society as key complex which dictates the framework of negotiations and social relationships, and even the EU programme on industrial relations shows this lagging behind social developments.

Naturally the three groups can easily be outplayed against each other. That means politics in the one third society uses the symmetry of power based on economy, education and social capital (trust of other people in what one is doing a key component) to outplay these three groups in a way that they will only enter if at all asymmetrical relationships. This is expressed best by governments making compromises with the strongest components in society while being uncompromising with the weakest of all in society (Thanos Contargyris). It means that the unemployed or the youth are at ever greater risk to driven down the path of not merely asocial behavior, but can be criminalized and therefore be persecuted and thrown into jail. Heisig's book in Germany shows that the end of patience has been reached vis a vis a youth which sees no more any positive future in that society using old methods of punishment while unable to communicate social and other skills in need of if to adapt to an ongoing change of the present to a still unknown future.

It means in many areas of society there does not exist a cultural consensus about the 'rule of law'. This consensus has been derided by sociologists like N. Luhmann known for his interest in a totalitarian state. He left out the all important productivity of culture which can and does ensure that a consensus between people exists. The consensus shall be missed badly when seeking new solutions in an ever harsher climate as social protest will be declassified into social unrest and dealt with accordingly, namely without dialogue in a repressive manner.

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5. Poverty / social exclusion