This article briefly discussed the concepts and measures of social capital and empirically analyzed the current status and profiles of social capital in Korea. Four forms of social capital ? generalized trust, institutional trust, network, and norms of reciprocity - were derived through prior research and empirical verification on the concepts and measures of social capital. Three different profiles of social capital were further identified based on empirical classification considering multiple forms of social capital simultaneously. A special attention has been paid to how the distributions of social capital across groups differ according to forms of social capital. Findings showed that social capital was unequally distributed across demographic and socioeconomic groups, and socioeconomically vulnerable groups tended to have low levels of social capital. Findings also confirmed that there were substantial differences in the distribution of social capital across forms of social capital. Several implications were further discussed to address social exclusion through strengthening social capital.

This article analyzed the status of income exclusion and social capital of the people who have experienced income exclusion. Income exclusion is examined in terms of current income, subjective class identification, and deprivation. The income exclusion experience rate was estimated to be 44% for the income-excluded groups 1 to 3 and 55.84% for the non-excluded group. The income-excluded group has a high rate of wanting to receive help from public institutions, 51% for Income-excluded Group 3 and 41% for Income-excluded Group 2. The percentage of those who felt they were a social minority was 38.85% for Income-excluded Group 3, which was more than three times higher than that the non-excluded group. In terms of experience of discrimination, belonging to a neglected group, and experience of receiving discriminatory remarks, the higher the experience of income exclusion, the higher the rate of experience of discrimination. The role of the public should be strengthened to minimize poverty and income-excluded groups, to overcome negative perceptions felt by excluded groups, and to promote happiness. In order to reduce the experience of discrimination by income-excluded groups, it is necessary to expand public human rights education and awareness-raising projects.

Health is one of the main indicators used to measure social exclusion. Health exclusion not only results from other categories of social exclusion, but also causes other social exclusions. This article divides the survey respondents into four groups (a non-excluded group and excluded groups 1-3) according to the degree of exclusion from multiple health domains concerning subjective health, depression, and access to medical services. In addition, this study analyzed each group’s demographic characteristics, social capital, ways of coping with the problematic situations, and perception of welfare. The analysis results are as follows. First, the proportions of low-educated, low-income groups were higher in the health-excluded group. Second, the level of social capital was lower in the health-excluded group than in the non-excluded groups. Third, the health-excluded group had weaker private and public networks to receive help when faced with health problems than the non-excluded groups. Fourth, the health-excluded group had high levels of agreement on the seriousness of income inequality and on the intention to participate in society to correct social problems. In the end, we emphasize the need for an approach that strengthens the public support system for the excluded and activates social participation of these groups in order to overcome social exclusion.

This paper examines the scale and characteristics of labor exclusion, which, as a key form of social exclusion, is defined broadly here as including unemployment and unstable/atypical labor. In addition, this paper presents the state of social capital amongincome-excluded groups. The characteristics and social capital of include-excluded groups were analyzed using the 2021 'Social Participation, Capital, and Perception Survey' conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. Almost half of the survey respondents were classified as labor-excluded, among whom unstable/ atypical labor was pervasive. The social capital of labor-excluded groups was insufficient compared to that of non-excludedd groups, and the level of social capital of the unemployed group was very low. Based on the findings, this paper suggests expanding employment services, eliminating gaps in the social safety net, and and building up legal support for improving the rights of labor-excluded groups.

In this article, we have looked into the political and social exclusion in Korean society; how serious it is, and in what direction to find a solution to the problem. Looking at the results of classifying the excluded and non-excluded groups from political and social participation, one in three members of our society is politically and socially excluded compared to the average group. Women are relatively more socio-politically excluded than men. Educational background also appears to be a factor that strongly influences socio-political exclusion. In terms of the number of household members, the degree of exclusion was higher in small families with three or less members. It was also confirmed that economic inequality is reflected in socio-political exclusion. Exclusion from socio-political participation had a significant impact on the ability and method to respond to personal and social problems. Socio-political exclusion is found to have a close correlation with the individual's social capital that can be mobilized to correct injustice in daily life. In addition, the functions of public and private institutions that can help when problems occur in daily life are more vulnerable to exclusion groups. There was also a difference in the responses to ‘there is no person or organization to seek help,’ and a vicious cycle is highly likely to appear in the future. This was similar to the case of correcting public injustice. Ways to solve this problem of exclusion from participation include expanding the political representation of the excluded groups, that is, securing diversity in representation. To this end, changes in the party system and the electoral system are necessary. However, before that, social consensus on why these changes are necessary and what kind of representation should be strengthened politically and socially must be preceded.

Studies or policies related to social exclusion have conventionally focused on the groups needing help or support. We approach the subject of social exclusion in alternative way, by identifying groups of people who don’t want to get help or support from others. We categorized survey respondents into four groups:the 'non-excluded group' who have someone to turn to and who are willing to seek help (Group I), the 'voluntarily excluded group' who have someone to whom they can turn but who are not willing to seek help (Group II), the 'involuntary excluded group' who do not have someone to whom to turn but who are willing to seek help (Group III) and the 'self-withdrawn group' (Group IV) who neither have someone to turn to for help nor are willing to seek help. The data from the 「Social Participation, Capital, Awareness」 survey showed that tthere was a higher percentage in Groups I and III (those who were willing to seek help) who agreed to the government’s role in reducing income inequality and expanding social welfare. In addition, the willingness to participate in society was higher in those willing to seek help (Groups I, and III) than in those not willing to seek help (Groups II and IV). This study has contributed to taking the first step toward a comprehensive understanding of social exclusion by capturing groups who are not willing to seek help. It is necessary to keep in mind that these groups are highly likely to remain in a blind spot even if the society and the state have a support system. Further and in-depth studies of these populations will be needed.

In this article, we analyzed changes in income urban and rural areas before and after the covid-19 outbreak using data from the Statistics Korea. When looked at by quarter, rural areas showed a consistent increase in gross income after 2019, whereas gross income for urban areas decreased year-on-year in the first and second quarters of 2021. However, rural residents were mostly in the bottom three income deciles, while only 20% of urban residents were in the same income deciles. The relative poverty rate in rural areas was about 20% or higher, and in urban areas it was around 10%. In rural areas, women and older adults were concentrated the lower income deciles. After the covid-19 breakout, the proportion of young and middle-aged people with an income less than 50% of the median income has increased in rural areas. Before the polarization in rural areas deepens, a plan must be prepared to reduce it.