Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 3458: Indigenous Social Policy and Social Inclusion in Taiwan (Sustainability)

Social exclusion problems are inevitable in achieving social sustainability. Minorities or indigenous people encounter social exclusion from mainstream society in many countries. However, relatively little is known about the multiple disadvantages in different social welfare domains experienced by these indigenes. The objective of this study is to address indigenous social exclusion by focusing on their access to social welfare benefits. Data used in this study were drawn from the Social Change and Policy of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples Survey, which included 2040 respondents. Logistic regression results revealed that, compared with their counterparts, the likelihood of being excluded from social welfare payments is higher for those who are plains indigenes, live outside of designated indigenous areas and participate less in local organizations. Besides varying the effects of ordinary explanatory variables on social exclusion across different exclusion models, this study further provides empirical evidence of the multidimensional disadvantages of indigenous peoples in receiving needed social welfare benefits.