Can social enterprise address social exclusion? Evidence from an inner city community

Abstract

This paper examines the potential impact of social enterprise on exclusion. The case study research involved participant observation over a two year period. Selection of cases was based on a preliminary typology for social enterprise. Exclusion was conceptualised as multi-dimensional and relative to the standards of the society in which a person lives. The research literature suggests that the aggregate impact of social enterprise on economic dimensions of exclusion is marginal. This is a consequence of a mismatch between policy expectations and what is happening in the field. This study found that different forms of social enterprise impacted on exclusion in different ways. People could become included within a group, but remain excluded by the standards of the society they lived in. This paper outlines these different impacts in order to open up a more balanced perspective on the potential and limitation of social enterprise in combating area based exclusion.

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