Social Exclusion as a Challange to Contemporary World

Abstract

The society in which today's man exists is not only difficult but also complicated. That is why many people cannot cope with personal and social problems. Many of them experience social exclusion defined as the effect of various social disabilities, due to which an individual or a group cannot fully participate in social, economical and political life of the society to which they belong. The subject of social exclusion is most of all an individual, who was excluded on his way to realize his own humanitas due to his own faults or because of improper policy of the country. The most important problems located within the area of exclusion include: disability, unemployment, homelessness, addictions, loneliness and destitution. The above mentioned areas of exclusion are characterized and the author attempts to indicate ways to help those who have become victims of exclusion. The basic institution which helps the excluded is social aid, whose first and foremost aim is improving social life. Within social aid, social workers play an important role, since as educated and competent they can have an influence on improving a person’s life. Unfortunately, the basic needs of an excluded person are not always adequately addressed. These shortcomings affect most of all the weakest groups and individuals. Due to deficiencies in social policy and its subject areas: population, family, education, housing, income sharing, social security, employment - there occurs erosion of the weakest links of the social system. Thus there is a need of opening the policy of the state towards various social problems which are not always the fault of an individual but of the system, to which he/she belongs.