In recent years, a growing body of literature on social inclusion on an individual level has emerged. Yet, there is no common understanding of the concept itself and how to measure it. The objective of this study was to document the development of the Experiences of Social Inclusion Scale (ESIS), including the theoretical framework used for this purpose, which draws strongly on the capability approach. The ESIS is a brief closed survey instrument to assess self-reported experiences of social inclusion, and the aim was to evaluate its psychometric properties. The sample used for this consisted of 847 adults aged 18-87 years from all over Finland, most of them affected by or at immediate risk of social exclusion. The results indicated good internal reliability and consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.89). Furthermore, factor analyses suggested a one-dimensional factor structure for the ten items of the ESIS. The mean score on the ESIS was not statistically significantly different between male and female respondents, whereas a weak positive association with age and statistically significant differences for experiences of poverty were found. Analyses for convergent validity showed that the ESIS was statistically significantly associated with instruments measuring related concepts. All correlations were in the expected direction and rather substantial in magnitude but did not indicate that the same construct was being measured (r = .409 to r = .678). These promising results indicate a broad applicability of the ESIS in self-administered questionnaires, and its use in future research is encouraged.

By means of qualitative longitudinal material, this article explores meaningfulness during persistent monetary poverty through an integrative framework, which builds upon conceptualisations of meaning in life (coherence, significance, and purpose) and modes of being (labour, work, action). The material consists of 36 autobiographical accounts and their follow-up accounts from 2006 and 2012. The analysis reveals that in the developed welfare state of Finland, prolonged monetary poverty is connected with the propensity for incoherence and a feeling of insignificance, particularly if life is governed by a vicious cycle of scarcity. Prolonged poverty 1) turns aspirations from long-term to short-term goals and frames life as something characterised by negative anticipation and a circular sense of time. Life primarily takes place in private space. It also 2) weakens the sense of belonging and 3) reduces public participation. These are the domains where the meaning in life is constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed. In a developed welfare state, the comprehensive and manageable social security scheme maintains coherence, yet universal social policy actions that enable participation in public activities nourish a sense of significance.

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