Financial, labor and housing exclusion have in common the fact that they are grounded in the material dimensions of social life. However, it is argued that they may involve symbolic processes that can be more easily addressed on the basis of a type of organized social situation, such as provided by focus groups. The paper will focus on four topics: a few relevant debates around the concept of exclusion; issues related to the formation of the groups; considerations on data analysis and coding procedures; commonality and diversity of the experience of exclusion. Drawing on the results of three studies, drawing on each of the types of exclusion mentioned above, this paper explores the potential of focus groups as a suitable methodology for studying the symbolic dimensions involved in processes of social exclusion. The aim is to use conceptual abstraction operations to determine the type of social relations that may be involved in the dynamics of exclusion, distinguishing between what is internal and necessary in defining their relational characteristics, and what is external and contingent. To this end, data from collective interviews will be used: six groups potentially vulnerable to processes of financial exclusion - unemployed; women at risk of poverty (WRP); residents in self-built neighborhoods (RSBN); sex workers (SW); small farmers (SF); two groups focused on the experience of unemployment; two groups of homeless people. Finally, some reflections are made, highlighting the limits and potential of this type of interview for accessing the symbolic dimensions associated with the experience of exclusion among weak actors, whose social position makes it more difficult to produce, express and exchange opinions about their experience.

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focus group,exclusion,conceptual abstraction