This book so far has focused on the importance of morality, prejudice, and group identity in the development of social exclusion and inclusion in childhood. We have shown how moral reasoning can promote inclusion early in childhood, but we have also shown that different forms of prejudice emerge in childhood. Children exclude as well as include others in their everyday interactions and friendships. Now, in this chapter, we will examine how inclusion can be promoted and children can learn about what makes exclusion wrong or legitimate in group contexts. Our focus will be on how social experience and cultural diversity can act to facilitate social inclusion and help children to differentiate exclusion that is wrong from a moral viewpoint and exclusion that is part of making groups function well.
Research on social inclusion and exclusion in childhood has many applications to the areas of policy, programs, and applied interventions aimed at promoting fairness and reducing prejudice. In this chapter, we describe these various interventions to demonstrate the applications of research for addressing issues of exclusion, prejudice, and morality. Effective programs, designed to reduce prejudice and increase mutual respect, are those that rely closely on developmental research findings, and are developmentally appropriate. One of the principles of developmental theory is that children and adolescents understand the world qualitatively differently from adults, and thus, programs designed to be Children and Social Exclusion: Morality, Prejudice, and Group Identity.