This authoritative study reports, for the first time, the most comprehensive survey of poverty and social exclusion ever to be undertaken in Britain: The Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey. It provides a clear conceptual understanding of poverty and social exclusion from both a national and international perspective. This essential course book for social policy and sociology students is part of the successful Studies in Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion series from the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol.