Soziale Teilhabe als Tatsache, Wert und Aufgabe

Abstract This paper aims to present the current debates in contemporary inclusion research in a structured manner and to highlight some systematic weaknesses. Although one cannot speak of a uniform research program in the strict sense, theoreticians of systems theory and inequality research in particular have taken up this young research subject. While within systems-theory approaches, inclusion is framed from the perspective of a functionalist social theory, inequality research has a rather socio-critical impetus which treats exclusion as a social problem. My thesis is that both approaches suffer from a lack of complexity regarding their concept of inclusion. While systems-theory approaches fail to include the ethical and political dimension of inclusion, inequality research is inadequate with regard to the descriptive dimension.