The Construction of the Concept and Indicators of Social Exclusion in Taiwan

[[abstract]]This dissertation is to explore how the concept and indicators of social exclusion relate to Taiwanese people, using a focus group methodology. Since most empirical studies of social exclusion in Taiwan are either secondary analysis of selective data from existing national surveys, or studies adopting Western indicators of social exclusion straightaway, these indicators themselves have not been examined against the relevance to the Taiwanese society. To address the problem, the researcher holds a total of 13 focus groups for data collection, taking regional differences between urban, rural and aboriginal areas into account. This research finds that Taiwanese public conceptualizes social exclusion as “not being free from unfavorable situations” or “demand not met”, rather than as a “deprivation of human rights”. The Taiwanese public emphasizes their personal responsibility for not escaping those situations, and pays attention to their demands for daily living amenities and convenience. This research also finds that the aboriginal people in Taiwan conceptualize social exclusion fundamentally different from the mainstream society, especially on how the “society” means to them. This study suggests that in order to investigate aboriginal people’s experience of being multiply excluded, another set of indicators must be constructed