From Functionings to Needs: Towards a Theoretical Methodology for Creating an Index Aimed at Evaluating Socio-Economic Development as Sustainable Fulfillment of Needs from an Intercultural Perspective

Abstract

Development is not a fixed concept but a field of study which is investigated by different scientific disciplines through theoretical and empirical approaches. The present statistical measurements represent different stages of the evolution of the concept of development whose definition is currently in progress. Report by the Commission’s Stiglitz, Sen, Fitoussi describes the state of art about the reflection on development in order to pose the central challenge to produce more relevant indicators of socio-economic progress. In order to face this challenge, our work does represent an attempt to implement Stiglitz, Sen, Fitoussi’s recommendations. Indeed, this study provides a operational definition of development centered on the fulfillment of human needs which represents an advance on the reflection on socio-economic development. What makes this advance possible is to show how the concept of functioning as defined by Sen (1999) is related to that of need. All this let us achieve the aim of our paper, that is the introduction of a theoretical methodology for measuring the sustainability of the fulfillment of human needs from an intercultural perspective.