Jonathan Wolff and Avner De-Shalit
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199278268
- eISBN:
- 9780191707902
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278268.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter deepens the discussion of the nature of disadvantage by asking: what categories of functionings exhaust those necessary to construct a full philosophical theory of disadvantage? ...
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This chapter deepens the discussion of the nature of disadvantage by asking: what categories of functionings exhaust those necessary to construct a full philosophical theory of disadvantage? Beginning with a list offered by Martha Nussbaum, and Sen's capability approach, the concepts of capability and functionings are further analysed, using the method of ‘dynamic public reflective equilibrium’. This involves a dialogue between the philosopher and the public, in this case a series of interviews with disadvantaged people and with professionals who take care of disadvantaged people in a variety of fields. The result is that while basically Nussbaum's list is shown to be intuitive, four additional categories are suggested. Thus, a new list of functionings is devised as part of the task of setting out a particular pluralist account of disadvantage.Less
This chapter deepens the discussion of the nature of disadvantage by asking: what categories of functionings exhaust those necessary to construct a full philosophical theory of disadvantage? Beginning with a list offered by Martha Nussbaum, and Sen's capability approach, the concepts of capability and functionings are further analysed, using the method of ‘dynamic public reflective equilibrium’. This involves a dialogue between the philosopher and the public, in this case a series of interviews with disadvantaged people and with professionals who take care of disadvantaged people in a variety of fields. The result is that while basically Nussbaum's list is shown to be intuitive, four additional categories are suggested. Thus, a new list of functionings is devised as part of the task of setting out a particular pluralist account of disadvantage.
Kaushik Basu and Ravi Kanbur (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199239115
- eISBN:
- 9780191716935
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239115.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The year 2008 marks Amartya Sen's 75th birthday. Amartya has made deep and lasting contributions to the academic disciplines of economics, philosophy, and more broadly the social sciences. He has ...
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The year 2008 marks Amartya Sen's 75th birthday. Amartya has made deep and lasting contributions to the academic disciplines of economics, philosophy, and more broadly the social sciences. He has engaged in policy dialogue and public debate, advancing the cause of a human development focused policy agenda, and a tolerant and democratic polity. This argumentative Indian has made the case for the poorest of the poor, and for plurality in cultural perspective. It is not surprising that he has won the highest awards, ranging from the Nobel Prize in Economics to the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor. This public recognition has gone hand in hand with the affection and admiration that Amartya's colleagues and students hold for him. This is the first book in a two-volume Festschrift for Amartya Sen. The chapters, from across a range of social science disciplines, are written by some of the world's leading thinkers. This first book covers the topics of ethics, normative economics, and welfare; agency, aggregation, and social choice; poverty, capabilities, and measurement; and identity, collective action, and public economics. It is a fitting tribute to Sen's own contributions to the discourse on ethics, welfare and measurement.Less
The year 2008 marks Amartya Sen's 75th birthday. Amartya has made deep and lasting contributions to the academic disciplines of economics, philosophy, and more broadly the social sciences. He has engaged in policy dialogue and public debate, advancing the cause of a human development focused policy agenda, and a tolerant and democratic polity. This argumentative Indian has made the case for the poorest of the poor, and for plurality in cultural perspective. It is not surprising that he has won the highest awards, ranging from the Nobel Prize in Economics to the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor. This public recognition has gone hand in hand with the affection and admiration that Amartya's colleagues and students hold for him. This is the first book in a two-volume Festschrift for Amartya Sen. The chapters, from across a range of social science disciplines, are written by some of the world's leading thinkers. This first book covers the topics of ethics, normative economics, and welfare; agency, aggregation, and social choice; poverty, capabilities, and measurement; and identity, collective action, and public economics. It is a fitting tribute to Sen's own contributions to the discourse on ethics, welfare and measurement.
Kaushik Basu and Ravi Kanbur
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199239115
- eISBN:
- 9780191716935
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239115.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The Introduction outlines the Amartya Sen's career starting in the UK at the London School of Economics and then at Oxford. It also briefly mentions his time at Harvard and Cambridge. The chapter ...
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The Introduction outlines the Amartya Sen's career starting in the UK at the London School of Economics and then at Oxford. It also briefly mentions his time at Harvard and Cambridge. The chapter discusses how he became interested in welfare economics during all this time. It then goes on to outline the content in this volume and the subsequent volume. Less
The Introduction outlines the Amartya Sen's career starting in the UK at the London School of Economics and then at Oxford. It also briefly mentions his time at Harvard and Cambridge. The chapter discusses how he became interested in welfare economics during all this time. It then goes on to outline the content in this volume and the subsequent volume.
Kaushik Basu and Ravi Kanbur
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199239979
- eISBN:
- 9780191716874
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239979.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The Introduction outlines the Amartya Sen's career starting in the UK at the London School of Economics and then at Oxford. It also briefly mentions his time at Harvard and Cambridge. The chapter ...
More
The Introduction outlines the Amartya Sen's career starting in the UK at the London School of Economics and then at Oxford. It also briefly mentions his time at Harvard and Cambridge. The chapter discusses how he became interested in poverty and basic needs during all this time. It then goes on to outline the content in the first volume and this second volume.Less
The Introduction outlines the Amartya Sen's career starting in the UK at the London School of Economics and then at Oxford. It also briefly mentions his time at Harvard and Cambridge. The chapter discusses how he became interested in poverty and basic needs during all this time. It then goes on to outline the content in the first volume and this second volume.
Sabina Alkire
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199245796
- eISBN:
- 9780191600838
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199245797.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The author examines how Amartya Sen's capability approach can be coherently—and practically—put to work in participatory poverty reduction activities so that the voices and values of the poor matter. ...
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The author examines how Amartya Sen's capability approach can be coherently—and practically—put to work in participatory poverty reduction activities so that the voices and values of the poor matter. Sen argues that economic development should expand ‘valuable’ capabilities; the author probes how what is valuable can be identified. Sen deliberately left the capability approach ‘incomplete’ in order to ensure its relevance to persons and cultures with different understandings of the good. The book has an introductory chapter, followed by 2 parts, and a brief appendix that looks at some of Sen's formalized relationships and proposes various amendments to these. Part I (4 chapters) proposes a framework for identifying valuable capabilities that retains this ‘fundamental’ incompleteness and space for individual and cultural diversity. It draws Sen's work into discussion with a number of authors and critics, especially John Finnis, in order to suggest a possible way in which the value issues may be addressed coherently, and the methodological implications worked out in a participatory manner. The author addresses foundational issues regarding the identification and pursuit of valuable dimensions of human development based in practical reason, then observes that much of the criticism of development arises from negative impacts on social or cultural/religious dimensions that are also deeply valued by the poor. Part I closes with a four‐part ‘operational definition’ of basic capability that bridges ‘basic needs’, participation, and informed consent. Part II (2 chapters) critically discusses one narrow set of methodologies (those of micro‐project evaluation) and suggests a tool for improving the evaluation of participatory projects that are consistent with the tenets of reason advanced in Part I—an alternative participatory method for systematically identifying valued changes in participants’ capability sets. Three case studies of women's income generation activities in Pakistan—goat‐rearing, adult literacy, and rose cultivation—contrast economic cost‐benefit analysis of each activity with capability analysis.Less
The author examines how Amartya Sen's capability approach can be coherently—and practically—put to work in participatory poverty reduction activities so that the voices and values of the poor matter. Sen argues that economic development should expand ‘valuable’ capabilities; the author probes how what is valuable can be identified. Sen deliberately left the capability approach ‘incomplete’ in order to ensure its relevance to persons and cultures with different understandings of the good. The book has an introductory chapter, followed by 2 parts, and a brief appendix that looks at some of Sen's formalized relationships and proposes various amendments to these. Part I (4 chapters) proposes a framework for identifying valuable capabilities that retains this ‘fundamental’ incompleteness and space for individual and cultural diversity. It draws Sen's work into discussion with a number of authors and critics, especially John Finnis, in order to suggest a possible way in which the value issues may be addressed coherently, and the methodological implications worked out in a participatory manner. The author addresses foundational issues regarding the identification and pursuit of valuable dimensions of human development based in practical reason, then observes that much of the criticism of development arises from negative impacts on social or cultural/religious dimensions that are also deeply valued by the poor. Part I closes with a four‐part ‘operational definition’ of basic capability that bridges ‘basic needs’, participation, and informed consent. Part II (2 chapters) critically discusses one narrow set of methodologies (those of micro‐project evaluation) and suggests a tool for improving the evaluation of participatory projects that are consistent with the tenets of reason advanced in Part I—an alternative participatory method for systematically identifying valued changes in participants’ capability sets. Three case studies of women's income generation activities in Pakistan—goat‐rearing, adult literacy, and rose cultivation—contrast economic cost‐benefit analysis of each activity with capability analysis.
Ian Carter
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294535
- eISBN:
- 9780191598951
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294530.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Most of those political philosophers who have tried to make sense of claims about degrees of freedom have proposed that the individual options available to the agent be weighted in terms of their ...
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Most of those political philosophers who have tried to make sense of claims about degrees of freedom have proposed that the individual options available to the agent be weighted in terms of their values (whether the subjective values of the agent, objective values or the values of the agent’s society). Most prominent among these authors are Charles Taylor, Amartya Sen, Richard Arneson and Richard Norman. This value-based approach to measuring freedom can be shown to conflict with the view that we are interested in measuring freedom only because freedom has non-specific value. It therefore renders degree-of-freedom statements normatively superfluous. Moreover, even if interpreted as a way of making purely rhetorical sense of such statements, the approach has counterintuitive implications.Less
Most of those political philosophers who have tried to make sense of claims about degrees of freedom have proposed that the individual options available to the agent be weighted in terms of their values (whether the subjective values of the agent, objective values or the values of the agent’s society). Most prominent among these authors are Charles Taylor, Amartya Sen, Richard Arneson and Richard Norman. This value-based approach to measuring freedom can be shown to conflict with the view that we are interested in measuring freedom only because freedom has non-specific value. It therefore renders degree-of-freedom statements normatively superfluous. Moreover, even if interpreted as a way of making purely rhetorical sense of such statements, the approach has counterintuitive implications.
Judy Fudge
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197264911
- eISBN:
- 9780191754098
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264911.003.0004
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter considers the relationship between women's equality, care work, and sustainable development, and develops a conceptual framework that can be used to understand this complex relationship. ...
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This chapter considers the relationship between women's equality, care work, and sustainable development, and develops a conceptual framework that can be used to understand this complex relationship. The chapter is organized as follows. The second section briefly reviews the relationship between sustainable development, which includes the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) ‘Decent Work’ Agenda, and women's equality. It answers the question on what basis or dimension women's equality should be measured. Instead of assessing a range of potential answers, it focuses on Amartya Sen's notion of substantive freedom and his capabilities approach. The third section argues that women's equality, and especially the relationship between women's equality and responsibility for care work, illustrates both the promise of, and the limitations to, Sen's capabilities approach. The fourth section sketches some of the salient differences between paid and unpaid care work in the North and the South, which also considers the capacity of the ILO 2009 report, ‘Decent Work for Domestic Workers’, to respond to these differences. Drawing upon feminist scholars, the fifth section argues that, supplemented by a theory of choice, deliberative mechanisms, and a social theory of power, the capabilities approach can be a useful tool for conceptualising women's equality and for recognising the significance of socially necessary care work. The chapter concludes by suggesting that a robust capabilities approach designed to address gender inequality and to incorporate care work illuminates the limitations in the current approaches of antidiscrimination law for addressing women's inequality.Less
This chapter considers the relationship between women's equality, care work, and sustainable development, and develops a conceptual framework that can be used to understand this complex relationship. The chapter is organized as follows. The second section briefly reviews the relationship between sustainable development, which includes the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) ‘Decent Work’ Agenda, and women's equality. It answers the question on what basis or dimension women's equality should be measured. Instead of assessing a range of potential answers, it focuses on Amartya Sen's notion of substantive freedom and his capabilities approach. The third section argues that women's equality, and especially the relationship between women's equality and responsibility for care work, illustrates both the promise of, and the limitations to, Sen's capabilities approach. The fourth section sketches some of the salient differences between paid and unpaid care work in the North and the South, which also considers the capacity of the ILO 2009 report, ‘Decent Work for Domestic Workers’, to respond to these differences. Drawing upon feminist scholars, the fifth section argues that, supplemented by a theory of choice, deliberative mechanisms, and a social theory of power, the capabilities approach can be a useful tool for conceptualising women's equality and for recognising the significance of socially necessary care work. The chapter concludes by suggesting that a robust capabilities approach designed to address gender inequality and to incorporate care work illuminates the limitations in the current approaches of antidiscrimination law for addressing women's inequality.
Sabina Alkire
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199245796
- eISBN:
- 9780191600838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199245797.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Each of the four chapters of Part I of the book synthesizes one aspect that must be specified in the operationalization of the capability approach, then proposes a framework for doing so. This third ...
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Each of the four chapters of Part I of the book synthesizes one aspect that must be specified in the operationalization of the capability approach, then proposes a framework for doing so. This third chapter considers the kind of ethical rationality that accompanies the capability approach, in which free choice between plural ends is given central place, and the information required to complete rational comparisons of diverse human development initiatives. The chapter proposes ingredients for making substantive and value judgements in dialogue with Amartya Sen's writings and concerns on related subjects. It is argued that the wider conception of rationality identified by Sen and John Finnis offer systematic ways of approaching substantive and value judgements that retain the fundamental incompleteness of the capability approach and do not impose a comprehensive doctrine of good. The different sections of the chapter are: Multidimensionality and Evaluation; Ethical Rationality in Poverty Reduction; Sen's Informational Pluralism; Sen's Principle Pluralism; Finnis's Principle Pluralism; Ethical Rationality Reconsidered; and Operational Considerations.Less
Each of the four chapters of Part I of the book synthesizes one aspect that must be specified in the operationalization of the capability approach, then proposes a framework for doing so. This third chapter considers the kind of ethical rationality that accompanies the capability approach, in which free choice between plural ends is given central place, and the information required to complete rational comparisons of diverse human development initiatives. The chapter proposes ingredients for making substantive and value judgements in dialogue with Amartya Sen's writings and concerns on related subjects. It is argued that the wider conception of rationality identified by Sen and John Finnis offer systematic ways of approaching substantive and value judgements that retain the fundamental incompleteness of the capability approach and do not impose a comprehensive doctrine of good. The different sections of the chapter are: Multidimensionality and Evaluation; Ethical Rationality in Poverty Reduction; Sen's Informational Pluralism; Sen's Principle Pluralism; Finnis's Principle Pluralism; Ethical Rationality Reconsidered; and Operational Considerations.
Sabina Alkire
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199245796
- eISBN:
- 9780191600838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199245797.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Each of the four chapters of Part I of the book synthesizes one aspect that must be specified in the operationalization of the capability approach, then proposes a framework for doing so. This fifth ...
More
Each of the four chapters of Part I of the book synthesizes one aspect that must be specified in the operationalization of the capability approach, then proposes a framework for doing so. This fifth chapter returns to the issues of whether basic capabilities pertaining to absolute poverty may be identified from without, and whether in poverty reduction activities it is necessary to focus on ‘achieving functionings’ rather than ‘expanding capabilities’. It applies the account of values and decision‐making processes built up in the previous three chapters to the issue of poverty with which economic development is concerned, and asks what, in practice, it means to address absolute poverty within the capability approach—whether and if ‘basic capabilities’ can be specified. It discusses the relativity of these basic capabilities, and the operational implications of focusing on capability rather than functionings, and finally proposes a schematic four‐part operational definition for pursuing capabilities. The focus is on Amartya Sen's work.Less
Each of the four chapters of Part I of the book synthesizes one aspect that must be specified in the operationalization of the capability approach, then proposes a framework for doing so. This fifth chapter returns to the issues of whether basic capabilities pertaining to absolute poverty may be identified from without, and whether in poverty reduction activities it is necessary to focus on ‘achieving functionings’ rather than ‘expanding capabilities’. It applies the account of values and decision‐making processes built up in the previous three chapters to the issue of poverty with which economic development is concerned, and asks what, in practice, it means to address absolute poverty within the capability approach—whether and if ‘basic capabilities’ can be specified. It discusses the relativity of these basic capabilities, and the operational implications of focusing on capability rather than functionings, and finally proposes a schematic four‐part operational definition for pursuing capabilities. The focus is on Amartya Sen's work.
Jonathan Wolff and Avner De-Shalit
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199278268
- eISBN:
- 9780191707902
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278268.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter discusses the nature of disadvantage. It opens with an analysis of the pluralism of disadvantage, and rejects the ‘monist’ view. If instead of building a theory of equality on imaginary ...
More
This chapter discusses the nature of disadvantage. It opens with an analysis of the pluralism of disadvantage, and rejects the ‘monist’ view. If instead of building a theory of equality on imaginary examples, theorists start by examining real life cases, it will become clear that not all disadvantages are reducible to each other, and therefore disadvantage is plural in its nature. But this pluralism implies that there will be a problem of indexing: deciding which disadvantages are more important or urgent. The capability approach, developed by Amartya Sen and others, serves as the starting point for the theory advanced here. According to this theory, in order to understand how well or badly someone's life is going, we need to attend to what they can ‘do and be’; their ‘capability to function’.Less
This chapter discusses the nature of disadvantage. It opens with an analysis of the pluralism of disadvantage, and rejects the ‘monist’ view. If instead of building a theory of equality on imaginary examples, theorists start by examining real life cases, it will become clear that not all disadvantages are reducible to each other, and therefore disadvantage is plural in its nature. But this pluralism implies that there will be a problem of indexing: deciding which disadvantages are more important or urgent. The capability approach, developed by Amartya Sen and others, serves as the starting point for the theory advanced here. According to this theory, in order to understand how well or badly someone's life is going, we need to attend to what they can ‘do and be’; their ‘capability to function’.
