You are in: Home › Statistics › Publications and Data › Occasional papers › Modelling Census Under-Enumeration › 1. Introduction › Social Exclusion and Deprivation ›
Deprivation is defined as the lack of money or material possessions (Townsend, 1979, p.31). Social exclusion on the other hand is difficult to define: the Prime Minister described social exclusion as “a shorthand label for what happens when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown” (Scottish Office, 1999).
What is apparent is that social exclusion and deprivation are inextricably linked and manifest themselves in a variety of ways. However, the vagueness of their definitions means that statisticians and social scientists concentrate on material deprivation. It has been relatively easy to measure material deprivation in relation to diet, housing, environment, household facilities and employment. Because of the fact that deprivation and social exclusion do not seem to separately exist - i.e. a person who is deprived can be said to be (socially) excluded and vice versa – the two are used interchangeably in literature. Hence, intuitively one would expect social exclusion (henceforth, deprivation) to be connected with under-enumeration.
The SIMD is therefore based on a concept that articulates multiple deprivation as an accumulation of single deprivations. Multiple deprivation is not a separate form of deprivation but a combination of more specific forms of deprivation which, in essence, are deemed more measurable.
Page last updated: 3 October 2006
If you have any comments about this website please use our contact form.
© Crown Copyright 2008