Resilience is a desirable capability of people to deal with shocks without significant loss of livelihood, health, and nutrition. Resilience is impaired by exclusion and other forms of discrimination. Exclusion is part of a larger set of causal factors that determine marginality, which is a root cause of poverty and inequality. It is a global phenomenon, not just one of developing countries, and is fundamentally a human rights issue. Overcoming exclusion is a complex political agenda with legal, cultural, social, economic, technological, and governance dimensions. Social psychology and behavioral issues need to be considered as well. The purpose of this brief is to assess the relationships between exclusion and resilience, and to identify opportunities for overcoming exclusion and thereby strengthening the resilience of the poor. To address these complex issues in a brief note cannot do much more than raise key issues and suggest broad sets of policy actions. A few examples will illustrate symptoms, causes, and points of entry for action.

Young people who are homeless experience adversity, but many are able to overcome the challenges of street life and transition back into housing. This exploratory, qualitative research draws on the narratives from interviews and focus groups with 35 young people who have experienced homelessness, as well as interviews and focus groups with 30 service providers working in youth shelters and a youth drop-in centre. Exploring themes of victimization, criminal offending, police involvement, and interactions with community services, this research highlights the capacities of young people to navigate around obstacles and negotiate to meet their needs. Integrating symbolic interactionism and social constructivist perspectives, this research explores the importance of micro-level interactions and perceptions, as well as the contexts that frame the decision-making processes of young people passing through homelessness. The implications of these perspectives are discussed within the framework of resilience discourse.

Economic shocks including food price shocks, environmental shocks, social shocks, political shocks, health shocks, and many other types of shocks hit poor people and communities around the world, compromising their efforts to improve their well-being. As shocks evolve and become more frequent or intense, they further threaten people’s food and nutrition security and their livelihoods. How do we help people and communities to become more resilient, to not only bounce back from shocks but to also to get ahead of them and improve their well-being so that they are less vulnerable to the next shock? How do we get better at coping with—and even thriving—in the presence of shocks?

Essential reading for parents of grade schoolers through teens experiencing bullying, social exclusion, and teasing—with uplifting stories from young adults who have navigated those experiences and triumphed. The tween and teen years are rife with intense social challenges in school, friendships, sports, and other activities where instances of teasing, bullying, social exclusion and marginalization are unfortunately all too common. Social media has only made this behavior easier and more insidious. But when kids ages 9 and up can be coached by a parent to respond effectively, manage their emotions in social situations, and recognize their own self-worth, they can reclaim a sense of their own power and develop skills like resilience, social and emotional intelligence and compassion for life. Kim John Payne, a leading education consultant and parenting expert, and Luis Fernando Llosa, a writer and longtime sports coach, offer guidance and practical advice to parents, along with ten inspirational stories in the voice of young adults who have navigated bullying, teasing and social exclusion—and triumphed. The Emotionally Resilient Child gives tweens and teens the tools to address the problem themselves and develop mastery over the situation—rather than having parents step in and try to "fix" things. This book also gives parents vital proactive strategies to help build strong family relationships, trust and connection, so that kids can be better prepared for the inevitable social challenges life brings.

More than two decades after Michael Rutter (1987) published his summary of protective processes associated with resilience, researchers continue to report definitional ambiguity in how to define and operationalize positive development under adversity. The problem has been partially the result of a dominant view of resilience as something individuals have, rather than as a process that families, schools,communities and governments facilitate. Because resilience is related to the presence of social risk factors, there is a need for an ecological interpretation of the construct that acknowledges the importance of people’s interactions with their environments. The Social Ecology of Resilience provides evidence for this ecological understanding of resilience in ways that help to resolve both definition and measurement problems.

Following the turbulent events of the first few years of the 21st century, the growth of new security and disaster measures have led to significant changes to urban design and the management of urban space. This book blends the genealogical method of Foucault with the theory of rhythms by Lefebvre to examine these changes. The spatial history of urban disaster is linked to the rhythms of everyday urban experience to offer a revised understanding of the regulation of order and disorder in the city. In doing so, the book highlights issues of ‘hardening’ space, the drift from civil defence to civil protection to civil contingencies and resilience; this assessment realigns the potential impact of tightening security practices and resilient ways of thinking, doing and acting on societal security. This also links to growing concerns about quality of life over the use and potential abuse of security and disaster legislation for managing social unrest. Examples studied include the increased exclusion of minorities (such as young people) from democracy and public life; security oriented interventions in the ethnic minority communities, the use of automated technologies in policing civil and minor offences (e.g. digital plate recognition and speeding) and the interplay of diverse social groups in more commercially aligned and increasingly ‘securitised’ public spaces of the ‘entrepreneurial’ city. This book highlights many significant problems with the direction of British democracy and suggests there may be both positive and negative results from becoming more resilient. While providing a critical appraisal of the realignment of neoliberal democracy at large, it also links discussion on ‘gentrification’, ‘revanchism’ and ‘urban security’ to a forward looking agenda for further research.

The increased bombardment of information on the world's dangers, from imminent disasters to terror and wars reported in the media, make us particularly vulnerable to stress and feelings of helplessness. This volume is unique in describing how to promote resilience in different groups, under different circumstances, and dealing with different adversities. Resilience is the human capacity to deal with stress, adversities, and threats—and somehow emerge stronger. Today, the increased bombardment of information on the world's dangers, from imminent disasters to terror and wars reported in the media, make us particularly vulnerable to stress and feelings of helplessness. This volume is unique in describing how to promote resilience in different groups, under different circumstances, and dealing with different adversities. The contributors—psychologists, medical doctors, teachers and physical therapists among them—show how we can learn to draw on supports, build inner strength, and acquire interpersonal and problem-solving skills to deal with adversity. This volume will be useful for parents, service providers, researchers, policymakers, curriculum writers, and program developers. Research findings are applied to actions and policies so that the knowledge can be used in everyday life. Topics addressed include a basic understanding of resilience, resilience in families, the role of schools in resilience, and resilience for those needing health care. The text includes a discussion of the concern that too many children are protected from adversity, are unprepared to face future stressors, and become overly dependent upon others.