Development of an aggregated social inclusion indicator. Disparities in the European Union on inclusion/exclusion social determined with social inclusion index
Abstract
When we mention social inclusion, most of us think of political participation, social rights, civil liberties, equal access to race, ethnicity and gender, access to social services and the labour market, basically to a broader concept than social development. Social inclusion is a concept that can actually be defined, which means it can probably be measured. On this basis, a continuous effort is being made to measure the social inclusion elements, so the results can be used to build new indicators that help measure the multiple dimensions of social inclusion: The Social Inclusion Index, the Human Opportunity Index. This paper presents the development, based on multivariate data analysis techniques and methods, of an aggregated indicator of social inclusion for the member countries of the European Union which, besides the traditional variables (GDP), also measures the factors related to civil and political rights, women’s rights or perception of the LGBT community.
First published online 06 October 2021
Keyword : social inclusion, Cluster Analysis, Factorial Analysis, Analysis of the Principal Components
How to Cite
Paraschiv, D.-M., Manea, D.-I., Țițan, E., & Mihai, M. (2021). Development of an aggregated social inclusion indicator. Disparities in the European Union on inclusion/exclusion social determined with social inclusion index. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 27(6), 1301-1324. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2021.15103
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Aasland, A., & Fløtten, T. (2001). Ethnicity and social exclusion in Estonia and Latvia. Europe-Asia Studies, 53(7), 1023–1049. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668130120085029
Atkinson, T., Cantillon, B., Marlier, E., & Nolan, B. (2002). Social indicators: The EU and social inclusion.
Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0199253498.001.0001
Americas Quarterly. (n.d.). AQ’s 2012 Social Inclusion Index: Data sources and methodology. Retrieved July 18, 2020, from https://www.americasquarterly.org/aqs-2012-social-inclusion-index-data-sources-and-methodology/
Benzécri, J.-P. (1992). Correspondence analysis handbook. Marcel Dekker.
https://doi.org/10.1201/9780585363035
Botha, I., Botezatu, M. A., & Coancă, M. (2020). Innovative calculation model for evaluating regional sustainable development. Economic Computation and Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research, 54(3), 5–24. https://doi.org/10.24818/18423264/54.3.20.01
Budsaratragoon, P., & Jitmaneeroj, B. (2020). A critique on the Corruption Perceptions Index: An interdisciplinary approach. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 70, 100768. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2019.100768
Burchardt, T., Le Grand, J., & Piachaud, D. (1999). Social exclusion in Britain 1991—1995. Social Policy & Administration, 33(3), 227–244. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9515.00148
Cameron, A. (2006). Geographies of welfare and exclusion: social inclusion and exception. Progress in Human Geography, 30(3), 396–404. https://doi.org/10.1191/0309132506ph614pr
Council of the European Union (Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs). (2004). Joint report by the Commission and the Council on social inclusion. https://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/soc-prot/soc-incl/final_joint_inclusion_report_2003_en.pdf
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297– 334. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02310555
Culic, I. (2004). Metode avansate în cercetarea socială: Analiza multivariată de interdependență [Advanced methods of statistical analysis: Multivariate analysis of interdependence]. Editura Polirom (in Romanian).
Cushing, P. J., & Roeher Institute. (2003). Policy approaches to framing social inclusion and social exclusion: An overview. Institut Roeher.
Dunteman, G. H. (1989). Principal components analysis. Sage Publications, Inc.
https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412985475
Eurostat. (2017a). Expenditure on social protection % of GDP. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tps00098/default/table?lang=en
Eurostat. (2017b). At-risk-of-poverty rate by poverty threshold, age and sex - EU-SILC and ECHP surveys.
https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=ilc_li02&lang=en
Eurostat. (2017c). Total population having neither a bath, nor a shower, nor indoor flushing toilet in their household - EU-SILC survey. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ilc_mdho05/default/table?lang=en
Eurostat. (2017d). Employment and activity by sex and age - annual data (15-64 years). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/LFSI_EMP_A__custom_780663/default/table?lang=en
Equaldex. (2018). Equaldex: the collaborative LGBT rights knowledge base. http://www.equaldex.com/
Felea, M. G., Covrig, M., Manea, D. I., & Titan, E. (2013). Perceptions of life burdens and of the positive side of life in a group of elderly patients with diabetes: a qualitative analysis through grounded theory. Revista de cercetare si interventie sociala, 40, 7–20. http://www.rcis.ro/images/documente/rcis40_01.pdf
Fonduri Europene Structurale si de Investiții. (2017). România și Suedia cooperează pentru incluziunea socială a grupurilor vulnerabile [Romania and Sweden cooperate for the social inclusion of vulnerable groups]. https://www.fonduri-ue.ro/arhiva-comunicate-de-presa/2188-romania-si-suediacoopereaza-pentru-incluziunea-sociala-a-grupurilor-vulnerabile (in Romanian).
Fraser, N. (2003). Redistribución, reconocimiento y exclusión social (Memorias Seminario Internacional: Inclusión social y nuevas ciudadanías, Condiciones para la convivencia y la seguridad democráticas). Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá y Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
Freedom House. (2017). Freedom in the world 2017. https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2017/scores
Freiler, C. (2002). The context for social inclusion. Laidlaw Foundation.
Grove, G. (2008). Mental capital and wellbeing: making the most of ourselves in the 21st century: state-ofscience review: factors influencing recovery from serious mental illness and enhancing participation in family, social and working life (Commissioned as part of the UK Government’s Foresight Project). Government Office for Science. https://doi.org/10.1037/e600482011-001
Hotelling, H. (1933). Analysis of a complex of statistical variables into principal components. Journal of Educational Psychology, 24(6), 417–441. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0071325
Jenson, J. (2007). The European Union’s citizenship regime. Creating norms and building practices. Comparative European Politics, 5(1), 53–69. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.cep.6110102
Labonte, R. (2004). Social inclusion/exclusion: dancing the dialectic. Health Promotion International, 19(1), 115–121. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dah112
Laeken Declaration. (2001, December 14–15). The Laeken Declaration on the Future of the European Union. In Annex 1 to the Presidency Conclusions of the European Council Meeting in Laeken (pp. 19–27). Brussels.
Mihai, M. (2017). Metode statistice aplicate în studiul fenomenelor sociale [Statistical methods applied in the study of social phenomena]. Editura ASE (in Romanian).
Mitchell, A., & Shillington, R. (2002). Poverty, inequality and social inclusion (Working Paper Series: Perspectives on Social Inclusion). The Laidlaw Foundation.
Nardo, M., Saisana, M., Saltelli, A., Tarantola, S., Hoffman, A., & Giovannini, E. (2005). Handbook on constructing composite indicators: Methodology and user guide (OECD Statistics Working Papers No. 2005/03). OECD Publishing.
Negrea, A., Ciobanu, G., Dobrea, C., & Burcea, S. (2019). Priority aspects in the evolution of the digital economy for building new development policies: Acces la success. Calitatea, 20, 416–421. https://search.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/priority-aspects-evolution-digital-economy/docview/2198414059/se-2?accountid=50247
Rawal, N. (2008). Social inclusion and exclusion: a review. Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 2, 161–180. https://doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v2i0.1362
Regeringskansliet. (2015, June 8). Sweden and Romania cooperate on social policy. https://www.government.se/articles/2015/06/sweden-and-romania-cooperate-on-social-policy/
Remeikienė, R., Belas, J., Kliestik, T., & Smrcka, L. (2020). Quantitative assessment of dynamics of economic development in the countries of the European Union. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 26(4), 933–946. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2020.12892
Reyment, R. A., & Jvreskog, K. G. (1996). Applied factor analysis in the natural sciences. Cambridge University Press.
Rogge, N., & Konttinen, E. (2018). Social inclusion in the EU since the enlargement: Progress or regress? Social Indicators Research, 135(2), 563–584. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1504-1
Rogge, N., & Self, R. (2019). Measuring regional social inclusion performances in the EU: Looking for unity in diversity. Journal of European Social Policy, 29(3), 325–344. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928718792135
Rotariu, T. I., Culic, I., & Bădescu, G. (2006). Metode statistice aplicate în ştiinţele sociale [Statistical methods applied in the social sciences]. Polirom (in Romanian).
Schrecker, T., Chapman, A. R., Labonté, R., & De Vogli, R. (2010). Advancing health equity in the global marketplace: How human rights can help. Social Science & Medicine, 71(8), 1520–1526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.06.042
Shookner, M. (2002). An Inclusion Lens: Workbook for looking at social and economic exclusion and inclusion. Population and Public Health Branch, Atlantic Region, Health Canada. https://www.allianceon.org/sites/default/files/documents/Workbook%20for%20looking%20at%20Social_and_Economic_Inclusion_Lens%202002.pdf
Spandler, H. (2007). From social exclusion to inclusion? A critique of the inclusion imperative in mental health. Medical Sociology Online, 2(2), 3–16. https://britsoc.co.uk/files/MSo-Volume-2-Issue-2.pdf#page=7
Suciu, M. C., Noja, G. G., & Cristea, M. (2020). Diversity, social inclusion and human capital development as fundamentals of financial performance and risk mitigation. Amfiteatru Economic, 22(55), 742–757. https://doi.org/10.24818/EA/2020/55/742
Transparency International. (2016). Corruption Perceptions Index 2016. "https://www.transparency.org/en/news/corruption-perceptions-index-2016
UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2018). World Development Indicators. School enrollment, secondary (% gross) (SE.SEC.ENRR). http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=2&country=& series=SE.SEC.ENRR&period=
Vasile, V., Ştefan, D., Comes, C. A., Bunduchi, E., & Ştefan, A. B. (2020). FDI or remittances for sustainable external financial inflows. theoretical delimitations and practical evidence using granger causality. Romanian Journal of Economic Forecasting, 23(4), 131–153. https://ipe.ro/rjef/rjef4_20/rjef4_2020p131-153.pdf
Women, Business and the Law. (2017). Women, business and the law. Data visualization. World Bank. https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data
The World Bank | Data. (2017). GDP growth (annual %). World Bank national accounts data, and OECD National Accounts data files. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ny.gdp.mktp.kd.zg
The World Bank. (2018). Home | Global Findex. http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/globalfindex
World Economic Forum. (2018a). The Inclusive Development Index 2018 summary and data highlights. World Economic Forum.
World Economic Forum. (2018b, January 9). Davos 2018. https://www.weforum.org/focus/davos-2018
Atkinson, T., Cantillon, B., Marlier, E., & Nolan, B. (2002). Social indicators: The EU and social inclusion.
Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0199253498.001.0001
Americas Quarterly. (n.d.). AQ’s 2012 Social Inclusion Index: Data sources and methodology. Retrieved July 18, 2020, from https://www.americasquarterly.org/aqs-2012-social-inclusion-index-data-sources-and-methodology/
Benzécri, J.-P. (1992). Correspondence analysis handbook. Marcel Dekker.
https://doi.org/10.1201/9780585363035
Botha, I., Botezatu, M. A., & Coancă, M. (2020). Innovative calculation model for evaluating regional sustainable development. Economic Computation and Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research, 54(3), 5–24. https://doi.org/10.24818/18423264/54.3.20.01
Budsaratragoon, P., & Jitmaneeroj, B. (2020). A critique on the Corruption Perceptions Index: An interdisciplinary approach. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 70, 100768. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2019.100768
Burchardt, T., Le Grand, J., & Piachaud, D. (1999). Social exclusion in Britain 1991—1995. Social Policy & Administration, 33(3), 227–244. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9515.00148
Cameron, A. (2006). Geographies of welfare and exclusion: social inclusion and exception. Progress in Human Geography, 30(3), 396–404. https://doi.org/10.1191/0309132506ph614pr
Council of the European Union (Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs). (2004). Joint report by the Commission and the Council on social inclusion. https://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/soc-prot/soc-incl/final_joint_inclusion_report_2003_en.pdf
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297– 334. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02310555
Culic, I. (2004). Metode avansate în cercetarea socială: Analiza multivariată de interdependență [Advanced methods of statistical analysis: Multivariate analysis of interdependence]. Editura Polirom (in Romanian).
Cushing, P. J., & Roeher Institute. (2003). Policy approaches to framing social inclusion and social exclusion: An overview. Institut Roeher.
Dunteman, G. H. (1989). Principal components analysis. Sage Publications, Inc.
https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412985475
Eurostat. (2017a). Expenditure on social protection % of GDP. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tps00098/default/table?lang=en
Eurostat. (2017b). At-risk-of-poverty rate by poverty threshold, age and sex - EU-SILC and ECHP surveys.
https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=ilc_li02&lang=en
Eurostat. (2017c). Total population having neither a bath, nor a shower, nor indoor flushing toilet in their household - EU-SILC survey. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ilc_mdho05/default/table?lang=en
Eurostat. (2017d). Employment and activity by sex and age - annual data (15-64 years). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/LFSI_EMP_A__custom_780663/default/table?lang=en
Equaldex. (2018). Equaldex: the collaborative LGBT rights knowledge base. http://www.equaldex.com/
Felea, M. G., Covrig, M., Manea, D. I., & Titan, E. (2013). Perceptions of life burdens and of the positive side of life in a group of elderly patients with diabetes: a qualitative analysis through grounded theory. Revista de cercetare si interventie sociala, 40, 7–20. http://www.rcis.ro/images/documente/rcis40_01.pdf
Fonduri Europene Structurale si de Investiții. (2017). România și Suedia cooperează pentru incluziunea socială a grupurilor vulnerabile [Romania and Sweden cooperate for the social inclusion of vulnerable groups]. https://www.fonduri-ue.ro/arhiva-comunicate-de-presa/2188-romania-si-suediacoopereaza-pentru-incluziunea-sociala-a-grupurilor-vulnerabile (in Romanian).
Fraser, N. (2003). Redistribución, reconocimiento y exclusión social (Memorias Seminario Internacional: Inclusión social y nuevas ciudadanías, Condiciones para la convivencia y la seguridad democráticas). Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá y Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
Freedom House. (2017). Freedom in the world 2017. https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2017/scores
Freiler, C. (2002). The context for social inclusion. Laidlaw Foundation.
Grove, G. (2008). Mental capital and wellbeing: making the most of ourselves in the 21st century: state-ofscience review: factors influencing recovery from serious mental illness and enhancing participation in family, social and working life (Commissioned as part of the UK Government’s Foresight Project). Government Office for Science. https://doi.org/10.1037/e600482011-001
Hotelling, H. (1933). Analysis of a complex of statistical variables into principal components. Journal of Educational Psychology, 24(6), 417–441. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0071325
Jenson, J. (2007). The European Union’s citizenship regime. Creating norms and building practices. Comparative European Politics, 5(1), 53–69. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.cep.6110102
Labonte, R. (2004). Social inclusion/exclusion: dancing the dialectic. Health Promotion International, 19(1), 115–121. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dah112
Laeken Declaration. (2001, December 14–15). The Laeken Declaration on the Future of the European Union. In Annex 1 to the Presidency Conclusions of the European Council Meeting in Laeken (pp. 19–27). Brussels.
Mihai, M. (2017). Metode statistice aplicate în studiul fenomenelor sociale [Statistical methods applied in the study of social phenomena]. Editura ASE (in Romanian).
Mitchell, A., & Shillington, R. (2002). Poverty, inequality and social inclusion (Working Paper Series: Perspectives on Social Inclusion). The Laidlaw Foundation.
Nardo, M., Saisana, M., Saltelli, A., Tarantola, S., Hoffman, A., & Giovannini, E. (2005). Handbook on constructing composite indicators: Methodology and user guide (OECD Statistics Working Papers No. 2005/03). OECD Publishing.
Negrea, A., Ciobanu, G., Dobrea, C., & Burcea, S. (2019). Priority aspects in the evolution of the digital economy for building new development policies: Acces la success. Calitatea, 20, 416–421. https://search.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/priority-aspects-evolution-digital-economy/docview/2198414059/se-2?accountid=50247
Rawal, N. (2008). Social inclusion and exclusion: a review. Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 2, 161–180. https://doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v2i0.1362
Regeringskansliet. (2015, June 8). Sweden and Romania cooperate on social policy. https://www.government.se/articles/2015/06/sweden-and-romania-cooperate-on-social-policy/
Remeikienė, R., Belas, J., Kliestik, T., & Smrcka, L. (2020). Quantitative assessment of dynamics of economic development in the countries of the European Union. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 26(4), 933–946. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2020.12892
Reyment, R. A., & Jvreskog, K. G. (1996). Applied factor analysis in the natural sciences. Cambridge University Press.
Rogge, N., & Konttinen, E. (2018). Social inclusion in the EU since the enlargement: Progress or regress? Social Indicators Research, 135(2), 563–584. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1504-1
Rogge, N., & Self, R. (2019). Measuring regional social inclusion performances in the EU: Looking for unity in diversity. Journal of European Social Policy, 29(3), 325–344. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928718792135
Rotariu, T. I., Culic, I., & Bădescu, G. (2006). Metode statistice aplicate în ştiinţele sociale [Statistical methods applied in the social sciences]. Polirom (in Romanian).
Schrecker, T., Chapman, A. R., Labonté, R., & De Vogli, R. (2010). Advancing health equity in the global marketplace: How human rights can help. Social Science & Medicine, 71(8), 1520–1526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.06.042
Shookner, M. (2002). An Inclusion Lens: Workbook for looking at social and economic exclusion and inclusion. Population and Public Health Branch, Atlantic Region, Health Canada. https://www.allianceon.org/sites/default/files/documents/Workbook%20for%20looking%20at%20Social_and_Economic_Inclusion_Lens%202002.pdf
Spandler, H. (2007). From social exclusion to inclusion? A critique of the inclusion imperative in mental health. Medical Sociology Online, 2(2), 3–16. https://britsoc.co.uk/files/MSo-Volume-2-Issue-2.pdf#page=7
Suciu, M. C., Noja, G. G., & Cristea, M. (2020). Diversity, social inclusion and human capital development as fundamentals of financial performance and risk mitigation. Amfiteatru Economic, 22(55), 742–757. https://doi.org/10.24818/EA/2020/55/742
Transparency International. (2016). Corruption Perceptions Index 2016. "https://www.transparency.org/en/news/corruption-perceptions-index-2016
UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2018). World Development Indicators. School enrollment, secondary (% gross) (SE.SEC.ENRR). http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=2&country=& series=SE.SEC.ENRR&period=
Vasile, V., Ştefan, D., Comes, C. A., Bunduchi, E., & Ştefan, A. B. (2020). FDI or remittances for sustainable external financial inflows. theoretical delimitations and practical evidence using granger causality. Romanian Journal of Economic Forecasting, 23(4), 131–153. https://ipe.ro/rjef/rjef4_20/rjef4_2020p131-153.pdf
Women, Business and the Law. (2017). Women, business and the law. Data visualization. World Bank. https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data
The World Bank | Data. (2017). GDP growth (annual %). World Bank national accounts data, and OECD National Accounts data files. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ny.gdp.mktp.kd.zg
The World Bank. (2018). Home | Global Findex. http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/globalfindex
World Economic Forum. (2018a). The Inclusive Development Index 2018 summary and data highlights. World Economic Forum.
World Economic Forum. (2018b, January 9). Davos 2018. https://www.weforum.org/focus/davos-2018