Sen's Capability Approach Research Articles

The Rewards of a Qualitative Approach to Life-Course Research. The Example of the Effects of Social Protection Policies on Career Paths

This article highlights the benefits of incorporating the qualitative perspective, and in particular the use of life stories, in studies based on the life-course perspective. These benefits will be illustrated using as an example a study of the effects of social protection measures on career paths based on the theoretical underpinnings of SEN's (1987, 1992, 1993) capability approach. The life-course perspective is a very good methodological option for evaluating the extent to which social protection systems are adapted to the present situation in labor markets, where many trajectories are non-linear and unstable. Studies adopting such a perspective use research designs in which secondary statistical data are central, whereas qualitative data are used little, if at all. This article will explain how these quantitative approaches can be improved by using semi-structured interviews and a formalized qualitative analysis to identify turning points, critical events, transitions and stages, in which social protection measures and resources play a significant role in redressing or channeling personal and career paths. Paying attention to the person and his or her agency—not only at a given time but in a broader perspective that embraces past episodes and projections into the future—is essential in order to consider how individuals use the resources at their disposal and to effectively evaluate the effects of social protection measures. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1103152

Capabilities and social cohesion

The paper connects the concepts of well-being and social cohesion. By using Sen's capability approach to well-being, and analysing the socio-psychological literature on cohesiveness in groups and communities, we explain when social cohesion has positive effects on the development of social capabilities and human well-being. Furthermore, we discuss cases and conditions in which stronger social cohesion may delay the achievement of the kind of goals Sen has in mind. Finally, we suggest a multidimensional idea of social cohesion, which is well-suited to the well-being perspective here endorsed. Copyright The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.

A Human Basis for Sustainable Development: How Psychosocial Change at the Individual Level Promotes Development

AbstractSociocultural and economic limitations often deprive individuals of the freedoms to make decisions regarding their lives, hindering development. This article presents the Framework for Enabling Empowerment (FrEE), a model that emphasizes the importance of psychosocial factors and the individual in accessing freedoms and promoting health, productivity, and sustainable human development. FrEE is theoretically based in Amartya Sen's Capability Approach. Explaining the synergy between the context, the person, and psychosocial factors, FrEE provides a strategy to achieve the expansion of individual choice and freedoms. The authors present FrEE and its relationship to Sen's theories and explain how FrEE makes the Capability Approach operative. Finally the authors draw on empirical program evaluations in Mexico to discuss FrEE's potential impact on the field of human development.

A solidaristic knowledge policy for sustainable human development

In this paper, the solidaristic knowledge policy is defined and presented as a core element of sustainable human development in the twenty-first century due to the central role of knowledge in our era. In this respect, concepts of sustainable human development are revisited. Specifically, Marx's materialist vision of and Amartya Sen's capability approach to sustainable human development are reviewed from the perspective of a solidaristic knowledge policy and the fundamental principles for the design of such policy are proposed.

The foundations of the ethical tradition of economics: Plato's Republic

PurposeEconomics was closely entwined with ethics up to the 1930s when this weakened subsequently. Amartya Sen first sketched this historical relationship in his book, On Ethics and Economics. This paper is in broad agreement with Sen. It aims to explore the ethical foundations of economics in ancient Greece, focussing on Plato's Republic.Design/methodology/approachKey aspects of Sen's ethical framework (ethical motivation, human well‐being, and social achievement) are used as a template to re‐investigate Plato's work. A close reading of Plato's Republic is undertaken in order to demonstrate the foundations of economics as an ethical enterprise.FindingsFirst, Plato argues that there is a range of motivations and behaviors along an ethical scale. For Plato, the goal is to try to establish what constitutes ethical behavior and then seek conditions suitable to bring it about. Second, in the Republic, one sees an outline of Plato's understanding of human well‐being. Human functioning (physical and mental flourishing, including friendship), and gender equality are key parts of his picture. Third, Plato is painting the picture of a utopian society in the Republic. In discussions of the ideal society, the economy, laws, and other policies must be set within an ethical framework. In several respects, Plato anticipates Sen's capabilities approach to economics.Originality/valueIn recent years, great efforts have been devoted to developing and extending Sen's Capability Framework. Part of that work has been devoted to tracing the origins of Sen's approach back to Aristotle. This paper represents the first attempt to trace that framework back further, to Plato's Republic.

Inserting Technology in the Relational Ontology of Sen's Capability Approach

In the July 2009 issue of this journal, Smith and Seward presented a critical realist ontology of human capabilities. Using insights from philosophy of technology/science and technology studies, it is argued that their ontology can and should be extended; not only individuals and social structures, but also technological artifacts should be recognized as important constituents of human capabilities.

“It makes more sense to educate a boy”: Girls ‘against the odds’ in Kajiado, Kenya

Within a conceptual framework of Sen's capability approach, the paper explores aspects of girls’ retention in Kajiado schools, Kenya. Drawing on a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with 24 girls in four schools, the paper discusses the ‘unfreedoms’ the girls experience in relation to environmental, infrastructural and economic constraints, as well as the personal unfreedoms they experience in relation to their gender. The study found that despite these constraints, girls’ retention was linked to their zeal for education and to the part played by key people, supporting and encouraging them and sometimes acting as catalysts for change.

Examining Tobacco Control Strategies and Aims Through a Social Justice Lens: An Application of Sen's Capability Approach

Although the effectiveness of some tobacco programs and policies has been clearly demonstrated in reducing the overall population smoking prevalence, the health benefits are not equally distributed across all socio-economic classes; a situation that clearly runs against the equalitarian ethos of most modern states. In this article, we evaluate the benefits of using Sen's Capability Approach as a theory of social justice to guide public health program and policy development in a way that would prevent the further increase of inequalities in health outcomes. Starting from four consensual goals of tobacco control practice (i.e. that individuals live a smoke-free life, that smokers quit smoking, that non-smokers are protected from exposure to second-hand smoke and that smoking cessation support is accessible) we found that besides the standard interventions (e.g. education on the harms of smoking, policies to reduce exposure to SHS) an iniquity-proof tobacco control program needs also to address the lack of options of underprivileged people in affordable smoke-free settings and in leisure activities. We conclude that an ethical tobacco prevention program needs to address the broader social determinants of health such as the socio-economic policies that put a strain on people's capacity to shun or quit smoking.

Review: Breaking the Poverty Cycle The Human Basis for Sustainable Development

BREAKING THE POVERTY CYCLE The Human Basis for Sustainable Development Susan Pick and Jenna Sirkin New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. 336pp. $49.95 cloth ISBN 978-0-19-538316-4Poverty is one of most loaded concepts in social sciences. Scholars have tried to define and measure it in many ways, most of which faU short of problem's multifaceted reality. Susan Pick and Jenna Sirkin's Breaking Poverty Cycle is a welcome addition to this debate. The book focuses on efforts of Mexican Institute of Family and Population Research, whose foundation in 1984 was inspired by Robert Hartman's theories on human values, Martin Fishbein's work on psychosocial development, and Amartya Sen's capability approach. In her preface, Pick offers a snapshot of problems that underlie persistent poverty in Mexico. In a series of interviews with women from one of Mexico City's poorest shantytowns, Pick discovered a lack of responsibility. The women thought that they did not and could not control circumstances of their lives, a syndrome that is widespread in Mexican society among both individuals and institutions.Drawing on Sen's capability approach to development, authors examine framework for enabling empowerment, which aims to promote inner responsibility by emphasizing personal and intrinsic empowerment. The framework challenges prevailing Mexican norms of fatalism, sexism, and paternalism by promoting an agency culture (44). It tries to encourage people to move beyond these social barriers to realize their fuU potential. Pick and Sirkin endeavour to show how enabling individuals to enhance their capabilities, and thus their potential, can have an effective and sustainable impact in combating poverty (xiii). Without this agentoriented view of development through expanding choice and freedoms, they argue, development is limited because individuals find it difficult to participate in societies in which they live (10).The framework laudably aims to reorient governmental and civU society programs toward encouraging personal and intrinsic empowerment, but this approach cannot work everywhere. It is unclear, for instance, how it might apply to authoritarian regimes or hyper-patriarchal societies. Pick and Sirkin argue that the ideal conditions for development occur when governments and institutions create opportunities rather than exercise their power only to establish constraints or facilitate assistance-based aid (168). But they pay less attention than they should to ways in which broader societal context can constrain opportunities for individuals to empower themselves. …

Individual Working-time Adjustments between Full-time and Part-time Working in European Firms

We draw on Sen's capabilities approach to advance the debate about choice and constraint in relation to part-time work. We argue that it is important to go beyond a state-level comparison and focus on the policy implemented by employers at the organizational level. We use a European survey to identify which employers permit their employees to make individual-level adjustments between full-time and part-time working, and the firm-level characteristics associated with operating such a policy. The analysis reveals that employer policy varies markedly across countries and within countries and we argue that this is an important social conversion factor which shapes the capability which an individual employee has to adjust their hours between full time and part time at their place of work. State policy clearly matters, but firm-level characteristics and other situational features also impact on the social conversion factors which shape an individual's working-time capability. The sector, establishment size, presence of a trade union, gender and skill composition of the workforce all had a significant influence on whether employers permitted individual-level working-time adjustments. The firm's organizational working-time practices and culture toward safeguarding work-life balance had an additional and independent effect, as did broader aspects of working-time scheduling in place.

Social Policies Related to Parenthood and Capabilities of Slovenian Parents

We apply Sen's capability approach to evaluate the capabilities of Slovenian parents to reconcile paid work and family in the context of the transition to a market economy. We examine how different levels of capabilities together affect the work–life balance (WLB) of employed parents. We combine both quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches. The results of our quantitative and qualitative research show that increased precariousness of employment and intensification of work create gaps between the legal and normative possibilities for successful reconciliation strategies and actual use of such arrangements in Slovenia. The existing social policies and the acceptance of gender equality in the sphere of paid work enhance capabilities for reconciliation of paid work and parenthood, whereas the intensification of working lives, the dominance of paid work over other parts of life, and the acceptance of gender inequalities in parental and household responsibilities limit parents’ capabilities to achieve WLB.

Understanding benefits realisation of iREACH from a capability approach perspective

The research presented in this paper is the first wave of a longitudinal study of a Cambodian information and communication for development (ICT4D) project, iREACH, aimed at testing a framework for evaluating whether and how such initiatives can contribute to capabilities, empowerment and sustainability. The framework is informed by Amartya Sen's capability approach (CA), uses a participatory methodology, considers the micro-, meso-, and macro- levels in understanding the role ICT can play in the development process, and adopts a forward-looking longitudinal perspective. Key findings of this research are that the project had contributed to livelihoods and other aspects of well-being in diverse ways, primarily in education, health, and farming. Participants also valued the project because of its contribution to empowerment, particularly gender empowerment. Another way in which participants valued iREACH was of a more intrinsic nature, manifested in a general appreciation of just being part of the world and knowing about events in other parts of Cambodia and beyond. These findings are consistent with the CA's emphasis on development being about more than economic growth and support the importance of considering external factors, conceptualised here as the meso- and macro- levels, in the conversion of commodities in the form of services provided at iREACH, to capabilities.

Theory and Policy in International Development: Human Development and Capability Approach and the Millennium Development Goals

Theory has influenced policy in international development but the interaction has been a two-way process. While theories legitimated new policy, appraisal of policy and experience have given rise to theoretical insights. But of the many competing ideas and theories, which ones influence policy? This article analyzes the influence of Sen's capability and human development approach on the recent evolution of policy agendas in international development, notably the consensus on MDGs and on poverty as the priority concern. It argues that the capability approach played an important role in the contestations over structural adjustment and Washington Consensus policies that led to the new consensus over the MDGs, and help legitimate them, the neoliberal policy approaches of the Washington Consensus remain intact. This illustrates an important distinction between normative and causative ideas. The new consensus has adopted the normative ideas of the capability approach but not the causative ideas. These normative ideas were used to provide a new narrative for international development, not a new policy framework.

Sugden's Critique of the Capability Approach

In comparing Sen's work with Mill's, Sugden criticizes Sen's capability approach because it may be applied in such a way that society or theorists judge what is best for people and potentially restrict liberty on that basis. Sugden cites Nussbaum's work as evidence in making his case. Sugden's critique of Sen's approach succeeds on a narrow reading of it. On that reading Sen is also critical of it because it does not leave enough room for liberty. On a broad reading, the critique has less force. Nussbaum's approach follows Mill in allowing people freedom to act on whatever desires they have if this does not harm others. This neutralizes the central element of Sugden's critique as it applies to her approach to some degree. Both Sen and Nussbaum nonetheless recognize the danger of illiberal restrictions in application which motivates Sugden's critique.

Technology, capabilities and critical perspectives: what can critical theory contribute to Sen’s capability approach?

This paper explores what insights can be drawn from critical theory to enrich and strengthen Sen's capability approach in relation to technology and human development. The two theories share some important commonalities: both are concerned with the pursuit of "a good life"; both are normative theories rooted in ethics and meant to make a difference, and both are interested in democracy. The paper provides a brief overview of both schools of thought and their applications to technology and human development. Three areas are identified where critical theory can make a contribution to the capability approach: conceptually, by providing a critical account of individual agency and enriching the concept of technology beyond the simplistic notion of commodities; methodologically, by sensitising towards reification and hegemony of scientific tools, and, finally, by emphasising reflexivity of researchers.

The Individual and the Social: A Comparative Study of Quality of Life, Social Quality and Human Development Approaches

The overall aim of this paper is to compare the human development (HD) and social quality (SQ) approaches in the context of quality of life in general and in relation to development in particular. It commences with a broad overview of several perspectives including: prudential values; Sen's capability approach; Berger-Schmitt and Noll's overarching quality of life construct; Phillips' quality of life construct; and Doyal and Gough's theory of Human Needs. en HD and SQ are introduced. HD emphasises well-being, enlarging people's choices, living a long and healthy life, being educated and enjoying a decent standard of living. All this is predicated on the UNDP's insistence that it is people who comprise the real wealth of nations: HD emphasises the well-being of individuals. Two sets of tensions are then discussed: first between the ability to exercise individual freedom and the constraints upon freedom imposed by the provision of compulsory education of children which facilitates that freedom (an institutional threshold to 'the social'); and secondly, the relationship between personhood, social relationships and collective capabilities (an interactive threshold to the social). This is followed by an exploration of whether HD's individualistic orientation is a weakness or whether its explicit incompleteness is a strength. The paper concludes with a discussion of possible ways forward in developing the HD construct, either by incorporating the notion of 'the social' within its framework or else via strategies of using it in partnership with the social quality theory that can both extend it and provide it with a richer theoretical justification.

Intensity of Time and Income Interdependent Multidimensional Poverty: Well-Being and Minimum 2DGAP – German Evidence

Extending the traditional income poverty concept by multidimensional poverty has been of growing interest within the last years. This paper contributes with an analysis of interdepend-ent multidimensional (IMD) poverty intensity of time and income, which in particular restricts social participation. The interdependency of the multiple poverty dimensions under a strong (union approach) and weak focus axiom (compensation approach) are regarded in particular when measuring the intensity of multidimensional poverty. In addition to various poverty gap measures including the multidimensional well-being gap, for the first time we propose a minimum multidimensional poverty gap (2DGAP).. - To respect Sen's capability approach with its social participation aspects we define the time dimension as genuine personal leisure time. Based on a CES well-being function and a multi-dimensional poverty line evaluated by the German population (estimated with the German Socio-Economic Panel) the individual poverty intensity of the active population is analysed for various regimes of multiple poverty. For this purpose the German Time Use Surveys 1991/92 and 2001/02 and its time use diary data are used. Analysing the active population this paper contributes too to the poverty situation of the working poor. . - All the empirical results, including the microeconometric Heckman type estimation of the IMD poverty intensity (2DGAP) and the IMD poverty risk, indicate the overall importance of the time dimension with its social participation aspect incorporated within an interdependent multidimensional time and income poverty approach. An important dimension would be ne-glected in the poverty analysis and in targeted poverty policies if time additional to income would is not respected.

Perceptions of the role of ICT on quality of life in rural communities in Uganda

The role of information and communication technology (ICT) in enabling various development goals including the millennium development goals and ultimately human development is no longer disputed. Emphasis is now being placed on optimizing ICT benefits on the quality of life (QoL) of people, especially in developing countries. To address this need, this paper reports a study that applied Sen's capability approach to explore how individuals in rural communities in Uganda perceived the importance of ICT toward their QoL and how this perception influenced ICT adoption. It was established that while perception was inclined to social benefits, ICT uptake and use toward improved QoL is still limited. One reasonable conclusion is therefore that state and policymakers should adopt a pluralistic approach to ICT provision: one that does not only focus on availability and affordability, but also considers expanding people's awareness and agency for development benefit. ICT investments otherwise have a high risk of being severely underutilized.

The capability approach and the ‘medium of choice’: steps towards conceptualising information and communication technologies for development

Amartya Sen's capability approach has become increasingly popular in development studies. This paper identifies controllability and operationalisability as two key stumbling blocks which prevent the capability approach from being used even more widely in development practice. It discusses the origins and application of the Choice Framework, a conceptual tool designed to help operationalise the approach. The framework can be used to deconstruct embedded ideologies and analyse the appropriateness of development goals, to map development as a systemic process, and to plan interventions which can result in increased freedom of choice for people. Three examples of the application of the Choice Framework in the field of information and communication for development (ICT4D) are given. The three technologies which are examined, telecentres (Infocentros), Chilecompra and Fair Tracing, can be placed at different places of a determinism continuum, some reducing the spectrum of choices a user has. The paper argues that while frameworks such as the Choice Framework can be developed further to increase the operationalisability of the capability approach, it is up to development funders to accept the fact that people's choices are never fully predictable and thus Sen's `development as freedom' will inevitably be a dynamic and open-ended process.

Sustaining the equality of employee voice: a dynamic capability

PurposeThe paper seeks to addresses the ethically and strategically important question: “How can managers sustain the equality of employee voice in a dynamic environment?”.Design/methodology/approachTo address the above question, this paper conceptually integrates two theoretical streams that are prominent in their respective traditions: Amartya Sen's capabilities approach (SCA) in the economics and ethics literature and the dynamic capabilities approach (DCA) in strategic management.FindingsAdapting SCA, this paper conceptualizes “voice” as employees' “capability” or “freedom” to achieve what they morally “value” in an organization, and “justice” as the equality of employee voice. Following DCA, it outlines a framework for “dynamic capability” (“voice management capability”) building by managers. It describes the processes by which executives leverage their knowledge to find new ways of creating equality in employee voice and continually remedy inequities in a changing environment. The creation of paths during the discovery of such processes and the subsequent path dependence can influence the persistence of employee voice equality.Originality/valueThe paper is unique in that it extends Sen's notion of “equality of individual capabilities” to employee voice. Although SCA overcomes several flaws in the competing ethics theories, it remains seriously underexplored in organizational analysis. DCA is valuable in explaining how the equality in employee voice can be sustained over time. The equality of employee voice is important not only because of its moral implications but also because of its potential desirable consequences (e.g. employee trust, commitment, and loyalty).