Introduction

How do we address the social injustices of deprivation and social polarisation? These are issues the New Labour government is currently addressing through the concept of ‘social exclusion’, and through social exclusion policies such as the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB). In this chapter, I want to assess how successful this concept and these policies may be. In particular, I am interested in whether or not New Labour's social exclusion policy successfully addresses cultural aspects of injustice and social exclusion.

Cultural injustice refers to a lack of respect and recognition of certain people and groups in society (Fraser, 1995). It can be distinguished from economic injustice, which, by contrast, involves the unfair distribution of economic resources (such as money) among people and groups. These are important concepts to define, because I assume in this chapter that addressing injustices of poverty and social polarisation, and thereby addressing social exclusion, involves dealing with both cultural and economic aspects of social justice. If ‘social inclusion’ is to be achieved, both economic and cultural aspects of injustice must be taken into account. In this chapter, then, I argue that while ‘social exclusion’ itself is a multidimensional concept, promising to encompass both economic and cultural aspects of injustice and exclusion, its use in current British social exclusion discourse and policy can in fact be seen to perpetuate and reproduce, rather than successfully address, cultural aspects of injustice.

First, the chapter examines the concept of social exclusion, and its political use in discourse by government in contemporary Britain. It also critically evaluates the British social exclusion discourse, and argues that it fails to take into account issues of cultural justice. The chapter then looks at how this translates to policies in place, through a case study of a social exclusion policy project in Blackbird Leys, Oxford. Through a detailed, qualitative study of the processes of a ‘community capacity building’ project there, funded through Round Five of the SRB, I find that cultural justice is, again, not sufficiently taken into account. Indeed, I find that harmful stereotypes about Blackbird Leys are even reproduced by this policy, and local people are disrespected within, and excluded from, the very processes of a policy that is aiming to achieve social inclusion.