The aim of our workshop is to discuss the historical moments in which mechanisms of religious, economic, social and political exclusion had a particular impact. With this research question, we are touching on the prominent research fields of otherness, race/racism, migration, national identities, etc. A lot of work has been done in all these fields of research in recent decades. Among other things, it has become clear that the variety of distinction mechanisms in the Middle Ages was very large (political, ethnic, social, religious and cultural). In all these fields, there was the potential for a process of "othering" to take place, and this could lead to exclusion, stigmatization and marginalization. However, our aim is to link the exclusion of individuals, groups and peoples with the concrete socio- economic contexts – in a more intensive way than has been done in the past. Thus, the intersections of ethnic/biological and social/economic discrimination will be examined in order to discuss the ways in which horizontal (ethnic) and vertical (social) categorizations interacted with, complemented, reinforced and contradicted each other, and how they reacted to socio-economic change. This is based on our conviction that it was, and still is, often socio-economic shifts that reinforce mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. In our informal workshop, we will discuss and compare some case studies from various centuries and regions in medieval Europe.