Social exclusion of minority groups is an intractable problem in many diverse nations. For some minority groups this means going to segregated schools, for others not having access to gainful employment or quality healthcare. But why does social exclusion persist, and what can one do to stop it? This book proposes a theory of how individual behavior contributes to social exclusion, a novel method for measuring that behavior, and solutions to ending it. Based on original fieldwork among Central and Eastern European Roma, the largest ethnic minority in Europe (yet still very understudied), and non-Roma, Ana Bracic develops a theory she calls the exclusion cycle, through which anti-minority culture gives rise to discrimination by members of the majority, and minority members develop survival strategies. Members of the majority resent these strategies, assuming that they are endemic to the minority group rather than an outcome of their own discriminatory behavior.
About the speaker: Ana Bracic is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and a member of the Minority Politics Initiative at Michigan State University. She is also co-organizer of the Minority Politics Online Seminar Series (MPOSS). Her research focuses on questions of human rights, discrimination, the persistence of social exclusion, and group-level effectiveness of human rights institutions, such as NGOs, often focusing on the Roma of Central Europe. Some of Ana’s notable publications include: “Reaching the Individual: EU Accession, NGOs, and Human Rights” (American Political Science Review, 2016) and “Ethnicity and Social Exclusion” (Nationalities Papers, 2022).
