What Is Social Inclusion? Insights From Interventions With Youth Across Migration Systems

Abstract

Social inclusion is a goal of 21st-century education and social welfare, yet research with violently displaced youth leaves gaps in its meaning. Social inclusion, a societal aim, lacks the perspectives of youth at its center. Given the pressures and power relations involved in learning how young people think and feel about social injustices and the support they need, developmental researchers must find innovative ways to study youth experiences and intentions in relation to environments, especially environments that threaten young lives. Emerging research highlights how displaced youth, peers along their journeys, and adults guiding supportive interventions make audible the meaning of social inclusion. Policy paradigms would benefit from research on sense-making in interventions rather than from emphasizing behavioral assessments and assimilation to local norms, as implied by social inclusion.