SOCIAL EXCLUSION AS A STRUCTURAL PHENOMENON

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of social exclusion as a structural phenomenon that limits the representation of marginalized groups and their participation in social life. Contemporary theoretical approaches to understanding the problem and mechanisms for restoring the voice of excluded subjects are considered. It is shown that, despite a significant amount of research, the problem remains unresolved due to the gap between critical theoretical models of deconstruction of power hierarchies and the real capacity of social institutions for change. As a result, there are no stable mechanisms that would ensure the visibility and voice of the excluded and contribute to the formation of an inclusive society. Particular attention is paid to institutional and mental barriers that are reproduced through dominant discursive practices and mass consciousness, which, in turn, standardize the behavior of individuals and groups, limit their autonomy, and make the subject socially “invisible.” It has been established that the spread of the information society and network interaction destroys traditional hierarchies and territorial restrictions and reveals new opportunities for horizontal interaction, self-organization, and the formation of alternative communities that will give a voice to the excluded. At the same time, it has been found that these same processes create new forms of exclusion associated with algorithmic unification, the pressure of self-presentation standards, conformism, and the formation of information bubbles. In such conditions, the visibility of excluded subjects often turns out to be conditional and dependent on compliance with dominant norms and discourses, which in fact reproduces the logic of exclusion in new, technologically mediated forms. It is emphasized that overcoming social exclusion in modern conditions requires a permanent rethinking of the very logic of social interaction, as well as a critical analysis of institutional, symbolic, and digital mechanisms of power and mental and symbolic barriers that block the independent representation of excluded subjects and thus reproduce their social invisibility. Against this backdrop, it is argued that the formation of an inclusive society requires the creation of an open, horizontal environment in which otherness ceases to be a source of alienation, and the voice of each subject acquires real social significance and the ability to influence joint decision-making processes