John Hills is Director and Professor of Social Policy at the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE), London School of Economics.Julian Le Grand is the Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics. He is Chair of LSE Health and Social Care and a co-director of the Economic and Social Research Council's Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE).David Piachaud is Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics.

• 1. Introduction ; 2. Social exclusion, social isolation and the distribution of income ; 3. Degrees of exclusion: Developing a dynamic, multi-dimensional measure ; 4. The dynamics of poverty in Britain ; 5. Social exclusion and the generations ; 6. Disadvantage and Demography--chicken and egg? ; 7. Low paid work: Drip feeding the poor ; 8. Social exclusion and neighbourhoods ; 9. Child poverty ; 10. Response and prevention in the British welfare state ; 11. Preventing social exclusion: Education's contribution ; 12. Community, neighbourhood and social infrastructure ; 13. Does a focus on 'social exclusion' change the policy response?