Capabilities Approach
Pre-conditions for human flourishing (Sen)
"To be determined through democratic deliberation and scrutiny for any given context and purpose"
Advantages of capabilities approach
- Applied to policy initiatives - Takes on a more multi-dimensional, freedom-focused approach on individual flourishing
Limitations to poverty based on resources, according to Sen
- People have different needs and thus may require different levels and types of resources to achieve the same outcomes - Person's resources are just one determinant of what they can do and be; they may also face discrimination or other obstacles
Key principles of capability approach
- Argues that we should assess well-being, in terms of the valuable things that people are actually able to be and do - their "capabilities" (being healthy, well housed, engaged in productive activities) - Functioning is actually being capable of being and doing these things - Focus on ends not means (various ways of achieving these things - with health, you need health care, good diet, etc. and these are all means to achieve that end); must focus on outcomes rather than an analysis of the resources - Recognize institutional and structural constraints on capabilities - Value positive freedom to be and do, not (just) freedom from interference (freedom to have other possibilities)
Nussbaum and Aristotelian central human capabilities
- Based on Aristotelian analysis of human flourishing (eudamonia) - Life, bodily health, bodily integrity, senses, imagination and thought, emotions, practical reason, affiliation, other species, play, and control over one's environments
Disadvantages of capabilities approach
- Hard to operationalize the alternative functionings a person could have selected but did not - Neglects the ways in which people's capabilities are interdependent; groups have an instrumental impact on individuals
Limitations of social exclusion and benefits of capability approach
- Insecure theoretical foundations (first used as political term for convenience but then assimilated in academia) - Tends to focus on extreme problems and small subgroups of the population, when capability approach can be applied to much broader population - Who decides what constitutes "participation?" - Difficulty in distinguishing between voluntary and involuntary approach
Limitations to utilitarian perspective, according to Sen
- Too sensitive to objective deprivations, people's expectations and preferences are adaptive - Subjective states are not a good guide objective deprivations (not about whether they feel disadvantaged, but whether they are disadvantaged)
Capability approach according to Amartya Sen
Three principal alternatives: 1. Focus on people's resources (income and wealth) 2. Utility, or happiness 3. On what people are able to do or be, or capabilities
Applications for capability approach
UNDP Human Development Index - rejection of GDP growth as sole objective of international development - replaced with multidimensional index of human development - health (life expectancy at birth) - education (expected years of schooling) - gross national income per capita - country rankings - more recently : multidimensional poverty index Equality Measurement Framework - Inequality of substantive freedom (inequality in the central and valuable things in life that people can do and be) - 3 aspects: - outcomes - treatment (the extent to which you experience discrimination, dignity and respect) - autonomy ( empowerment, choice and control) 10 domains : - life - physically security - health - education - standard of living - productive and valued activities - participation, influence and voice - individual, family and social life - identity, expression and self respect - legal security
