Career Counselling: A Mechanism to Address the Accumulation of Disadvantage (Report‪)‬

Introduction Social inclusion has emerged in recent times as an important aspect of national and international political, social justice and development agendas. It must be remembered, however, that the very concept of social inclusion materialised as a response to the reality of social exclusion, which has afflicted perhaps every society and culture. Definitions of social exclusion are varied but in summary it refers to the estrangement of a group of people within a society from the resources for survival and development available to the rest of that society. The apportioning of resources available within a community is governed by a delicate and intricate psychosocial process that has much to do with employment and occupational role allocation. Paid work is an important source of income with which people avail themselves of goods and services. Work is also the source of people's identity, sense of self-worth and feelings of connectedness with their community. The wellbeing of both an individual and the community are severely affected when the dynamic tension between the garnering of personal gain and the services rendered to society at large is skewed.