Home > 2025 > Street Vendors’ Social Exclusion in India: Caste and Globalisation | Prabhu (...)Social exclusion, defined as the systematic barring of individuals and groups from one or more dimensions of society as structures of power, privilege, opportunities, and resources, has been a persistent feature of human civilisations. However, in India, social exclusion cannot be fully understood through this Eurocentric lens. This write-up explores the social exclusion of street vendors in India, a particularly vulnerable group within the informal urban economy, and examines how globalisation exacerbates their marginalisation. Conceptualising Social Exclusion in Street Vending:Social exclusion is multidimensional, encompassing economic, political, cultural, and spatial dimensions (Sen, 2000). For street vendors, exclusion manifests in several ways: restricted access to public spaces, absence of legal recognition, stigmatisation as “encroachers,” and systematic harassment by authorities.