Social Vulnerability: A Multidimensional Analysis

Abstract

Social vulnerability can be defined as a life-situation characterized by a multi-dimensional combination of factors of disadvantage and advantage, of inclusion and exclusion. Its distinctive feature is that weak and unstable integration in the main mechanisms of resource distribution in contemporary society places people in a situation of uncertainty and high exposure to the risk of poverty and, eventually, of social exclusion. Castel (1995, 2003) describes vulnerability as a dynamic condition marked by the transition from inclusion to exclusion and vice versa. It differs from permanent poverty and social exclusion in that these are static situations characterized by chronicity. Precisely because of its often temporary nature, vulnerability is difficult to capture: it is only apparent when it no longer exists and it has turned into a more severe situation, although most of the time it has been absorbed back into ‘normality’.