Just within a few decades, the global dream of building a 'middle class society' has vanished almost everywhere, giving way to an emerging global nightmare: 'social exclusion'. France and Japan have been among the most successful societies, taken as examples by the rest of the world that it is indeed possible for a nation to include almost an entire population in the middle class. However, even these two countries have suffered increasing disillusion since the 1980s. The main concern of these countries is now social exclusion.

This book analyses and contrasts the French and Japanese experiences of social exclusion. Although social exclusion in France and Japan are, in many respects, quite similar, in important respects, they are also quite different. Using a wide array of methodologies, the book presents a diverse range of perspectives on the problem of social exclusion and suggests various ways the problem might be resolved.