Social Exclusion in the Frame of Communication for Development and for Social Change. A Study of the Treatment of Social Inclusion in Public Service Non Profit Campaigns

Abstract

This paper focuses on situate the concept of inclusive communication in the frame of the communication for development and for social change. References to social inclusion of the founding texts of these theories are collected and analyzed. We reflect on the implications of the concept of inclusive communication, contributing with examples in the particular area of the social advertising communication. The results of the analysis on presence and treatment of social inclusion/exclusion are presented, over a sample of 91 graphic advertisements. As main conclusions, we noted the little relevance of social inclusion in the thinking of the program documents of communication for development and for social change: the leadership of NGOs as issuers of these campaigns, and the north-western hegemony in the production of solidary speech. There is a “discursive exclusion” of the social exclusion topic, both in theory and in practice of communication for social change. So, the poor visual and verbal representation of people in social exclusion in the whole of campaigns with solidarity purposes, is evidenced. It stands out the approach based on the problem rather than the solution, and the use of moral discourse as a strategy to involve the audience.