Social exclusion and ethnic groups: The challenge to economics

This article discusses the concept of social exclusion with an eye to assessing its utility in the study of ethnic and racial group inequality in the modern nation state. A brief review of the literature and some methodological discussion are offered. The article then examines race-based social exclusion in the United States, showing how race and ethnicity can inhibit the full participation of individuals in a society's economic life. The concept of social capital-the role of nonmarket relations in aiding or impeding investments in human skills-is stressed. The article concludes with a discussion of the legitimacy of race-based remedies for the problem of exclusion.