Words and concepts are conventions and their usefulness depends on their not introducing ambiguities and misunderstandings between those who use them. In this respect, it may be inferred from the previous chapter that poverty and exclusion are neither analogous nor synonymous, that they were born and have developed in different contexts, that they have taken on different and sometimes contradictory meanings, and that they have also enriched one another. Their complementarity cannot be denied if it is accepted that they have both acquired a structural, multidimensional and dynamic content in this new century.

But as the term social exclusion is the more recent, it may perhaps be appropriate to devote this second chapter to examining its principal manifestations, the manner in which it can be identified and the attempts made and difficulties involved in its analysis, measurement and conversion into an operational tool when endeavouring to design and implement measures for its eradication.

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