Analysis of the risk of social exclusion in rural areas: the Z index as a «lowcost» solution to the lack of synthetic municipal indicators
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Abstract
After the 2008 crisis, the study of social exclusion merits even more attention in rural research. However, common approaches usually employ macro analysis perspective (such as AROPE rate), which may not be appropriate, as rural areas are heterogeneous. Heterogeneity should be acknowledged in order to accomplish the social inclusion of the individuals and / or families who are excluded. Therefore, research should point out territorial differences of social exclusion problems at a micro-level. To this end, we work with the delimitation of the rurality used in the PDR, and we take as cases of study the municipalities of the GAL-LEADER of the province of Valencia. To maintain a multidimensional approach to social exclusion and operate in an efficient way (using free access official statistics) we did develop a «Z-index» with available recent data (2016) from an economic, social and spatial point of view. Basic results do confirm what was expected: rural territories analysed show a plurality of exclusion situations and social inclusion at municipal level. Especially in the most negative cases, where spatial variable turns out to be a critical vulnerability that affects rural society, even more than unemployment.