本研究旨在探討社會排除（Social Exclusion）概念於臺灣社會脈絡下之意涵。研究者運用焦點團體研究方法，考量都市化及地區差異，在都市、鄉村、原住民族地區共舉辦十一場民眾焦點團體，透過社會大眾交互討論，藉以歸納出臺灣民眾認知之社會排除圖像。過去臺灣社會排除研究多受限於次級調查資料，或僅借用西方社會排除指標為基準，用以分析臺灣社會排除之相關現象時，易產生在文化上格格不入之疑慮。基此，欲使社會排除概念與臺灣社會產生連結，必須了解臺灣民眾日常生活的經驗當中，有哪些社會生活的面向構成「社會排除」。本研究發現，不同於傳統西方社會排除論述中重視「權利」的內涵，臺灣社會大眾對於社會排除之認知，首重「免於特定情狀」及「需求」的不滿足，其中特別重視「生活的便利性」及「個人責任」。另於原住民族焦點團體中發現，原住民族對於「社會排除」當中之「社會」指涉，與主流社會有著根本上之差異，致使傳統社會排除概念在原住民族社會的應用上產生侷限。

This study is to explore how the concept and indicators of social exclusion relate to Taiwanese people, using a focus group methodology. Since most empirical studies of social exclusion in Taiwan are either secondary analysis of selective data from existing national surveys, or studies adopting Western indicators of social exclusionstraightaway, these
indicators themselves have not been examined against the relevance to the Taiwanese society.To address the problem, the researcher holds a total of 11 public focus groups for data collection, taking regional differences between urban, rural and aboriginal areas into account.This research finds that Taiwanese public conceptualizes social exclusion as “not being free from unfavorable situations” or “demand not met”, rather than as a “deprivation of human rights”. The Taiwanese public emphasizes their personal responsibility for not escaping those situations, and pays attention to their demands for daily living amenities and convenience.
This research also finds that the aboriginal people in Taiwan conceptualize social exclusion fundamentally different from the mainstream society, especially on how the “society” means to them. This study suggests that in order to investigate aboriginal people’s experience of being excluded, another set of indicators must be constructed.