Social exclusion is:

The correct answer is Option (4) → Structural

Option (1) Accidental — Incorrect. Social exclusion keeps individuals or groups from opportunities open to the majority, such as education, health, banking or even access to the police. It does not happen by chance: social exclusion is not accidental.

Option (2) Voluntary — Incorrect. Voluntary means done by one’s own choice. Social exclusion is involuntary: it is practised regardless of the wishes of those who are excluded. Even when an excluded group no longer wishes to be included, the exclusion is still being practised.

Option (3) Non-systematic — Incorrect. Social exclusion is systematic: the same groups are excluded again and again, as seen in long practices of caste, gender and religious discrimination.

Option (4) Structural — Correct. Social exclusion is the result of structural features of society. It is built into the way society is organised, which is why legislation alone cannot remove it.

Note: The line that social exclusion is involuntary, in the section on social exclusion of the chapter ‘Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion’, was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT. It has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter and its point that social exclusion is not accidental but systematic are still there.