Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of the Capability Approach
- The Cambridge Handbook of the Capability Approach
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- General Introduction
- Part I Historical Antecedents and Philosophical Debates
- Part II Methods, Measurement and Empirical Evidence
- Introduction to Part II
- 13 Social Choice and the Capability Approach
- 14 On Capability and its Measurement
- 15 Analyzing Capabilities
- 16 Implementing the Capability Approach with Respect for Individual Valuations
- 17 Capability, Opportunity, Outcome and Equality
- 18 The Distribution of Capabilities
- 19 Inter-Group Disparities in the Distribution of Human Development
- 20 Multidimensional Inequality and Human Development
- 21 The Research Agenda on Multidimensional Poverty Measurement
- 22 Measuring Gender Inequality Using the Capability Approach
- 23 Econometric and Statistical Models for Operationalizing the Capability Approach
- 24 Expanding Capabilities through Participatory Action Research
- Part III Issues in Public Policy
- Index
- References
17 - Capability, Opportunity, Outcome and Equality
from Part II - Methods, Measurement and Empirical Evidence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2020
Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of the Capability Approach
- The Cambridge Handbook of the Capability Approach
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- General Introduction
- Part I Historical Antecedents and Philosophical Debates
- Part II Methods, Measurement and Empirical Evidence
- Introduction to Part II
- 13 Social Choice and the Capability Approach
- 14 On Capability and its Measurement
- 15 Analyzing Capabilities
- 16 Implementing the Capability Approach with Respect for Individual Valuations
- 17 Capability, Opportunity, Outcome and Equality
- 18 The Distribution of Capabilities
- 19 Inter-Group Disparities in the Distribution of Human Development
- 20 Multidimensional Inequality and Human Development
- 21 The Research Agenda on Multidimensional Poverty Measurement
- 22 Measuring Gender Inequality Using the Capability Approach
- 23 Econometric and Statistical Models for Operationalizing the Capability Approach
- 24 Expanding Capabilities through Participatory Action Research
- Part III Issues in Public Policy
- Index
- References
Summary
Two fundamental attributes of the capability approach are: (1) a broadening of the evaluation space from the instrumental means such as income to the intrinsic ends of beings and doings, or functionings; and (2) the further broadening of evaluation from achievement of ends to opportunity to achieve those ends — from functionings to capabilities. This chapter accepts the first broadening, but presents a critique of the opportunity perspective in capability theory, using as a platform a critique of recent work on inequality of opportunity. The chapter argues that similar critiques of concept and empirical application apply to capability analysis as an analysis and an evaluation of opportunity. Perhaps for this reason, much of the practical implementation of capability theory ends up by in fact focusing on outcomes in functionings space, with only a loose link to opportunity.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of the Capability Approach , pp. 333 - 346Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
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