‘Do you feel excluded?’ The subjective experience of young state benefit recipients in Germany

Abstract

This article examines the connection between multiple deprivations and the subjective experience of social exclusion among young German state benefit recipients in 2005. Most studies equate deprivation with social exclusion. But current German concepts refer to an experienced constraint of inclusion and participation as well: multiply-deprived individuals are not excluded as long as they still feel as though they belong to society. The subjective experience of social exclusion is the response to a coping process that is mediated by family integration and social support. This article is based on the survey ‘Life Circumstances and Social Security 2005’ by the German Institute for Employment Research (IAB). A total of 1783 interviews with 18–24 year olds were conducted. Overall, a high proportion of the young state benefit recipients experience deprivation in several aspects of their living conditions but just a few of them feel socially excluded as well. The analyses show that the subjective experience of social exclusion increases when individuals experience multiple deprivations. But integration into family buffers the negative consequences. This study shows that the experience of integration does not solely depend on financial resources and employment but also on social contexts.

Keywords:

• exclusion
• risk
• young
• adulthood

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Juliane Achatz, Bridget Henderson, Wolfgang Ludwig-Mayerhofer, Markus Promberger and the two anonymous reviewers of this article for their helpful comments and suggestions.

Notes

1. When the survey was conducted, the benefit was €345 for a single-person household and equivalent rates for households with more than one person (Eichhorst et al. 2006).

2. Data were mainly collected by computer assisted telephone interviews. Computer assisted personal interviews took place when people could not be reached by telephone.

3. ‘Hauptschule’ is the lowest track in the German education system, and usually takes nine years in total to reach this school leaving certificate. It prepares students for occupations that require training. ‘Realschule’ finishes after 10 years. ‘Gymnasium’ takes 12 years and prepares students for university entrance.