Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T15:13:31.019Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Capability Approach: Insights for a New Poverty Focus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2011

ROD HICK
ROD HICK*
Affiliation:
Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The concepts of poverty, social exclusion and deprivation are widely employed but often problematic. This paper discusses some problems with prominent interpretations of these concepts and how Amartya Sen's capability approach can provide a conceptual framework that can overcome these problems. It is argued that the capability approach can reflect the many ways that human lives are blighted and that it thus offers a promising framework for poverty analysis. Six insights for poverty analysis provided by the capability approach are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 291 - 308
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alkire, S. (2007), ‘The missing dimensions of poverty data: introduction to the special issue’, Oxford Development Studies, 35: 4, 347–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anand, P., Hunter, G., Carter, I., Dowding, K., Guala, F. and van Hees, M. (2009), ‘The development of capability indicators’, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 10: 1, 125–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, A. B., Cantillon, B., Marlier, E. and Nolan, B. (2002), Social Indicators: The EU and Social Inclusion, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barry, B. (2002), ‘Social exclusion, social isolation and the distribution of income’, in Hills, J., J. Grand, Le and Piachaud, D. (eds.), Understanding Social Exclusion, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Berthoud, R. and Bryan, M. (2011), ‘Income, deprivation and poverty: a longitudinal analysis’, Journal of Social Policy, 40: 1, 135–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonvin, J.-M. and Dif-Pradalier, M. (2010), ‘Implementing the capability approach in the field of education and welfare: conceptual insights and practical consequences’, Paper prepared for the WorkAble workshop ‘A theoretical framework for measuring capabilities’, University of Pavia 26–27 May 2010.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, J. and Finch, N. (2003), ‘Overlaps in dimensions of poverty’, Journal of Social Policy, 32: 4, 513–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandolini, A. and D'Alessio, G. (1998), ‘Measuring well-being in the functioning space’, Banco d'Italia Research Department, Rome.Google Scholar
Burchardt, T., Le Grand, J. and Piachaud, D. (2002), ‘Degrees of exclusion: developing a dynamic multi-dimensional measure’, in Hills, J., J. Grand, Le and Piachaud, D. (eds.), Understanding Social Exclusion, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Burchardt, T. and Vizard, P. (2011), ‘“Operationalising” the capability approach as a basis for equality and human rights monitoring in twenty-first century Britain’, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 12: 1, 91–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornia, G. A. and Stewart, F. (1993), ‘Two errors of targeting’, Journal of International Development, 5: 5, 459–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Haan, A. (1998), ‘“Social exclusion”: an alternative concept for the study of deprivation?’, IDS Bulletin, 29: 1, 10–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, H. (2009), ‘Critiquing capabilities: The distractions of a beguiling concept’, Critical Social Policy, 29: 2, 261–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deneulin, S. and McGregor, J. A. (2010), ‘The capability approach and the politics of a social conception of wellbeing’, European Journal of Social Theory, 13: 4, 501–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, M. (1998), ‘Behind the rhetoric: the institutional basis of social exclusion and poverty’, IDS Bulletin, 29: 1, 42–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, D. (2006), ‘The concept and measurement of poverty’, in Pantazis, C., Gordon, D. and Levitas, R. (eds.), Poverty and Social Exclusion in Britain: The Millenium Survey, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Gordon, D., Levitas, R., Pantazis, C., Patsios, D., Payne, S., Townsend, P., Adelman, L., Ashworth, K., Middleton, S., Bradshaw, J. and Williams, J. (2000), Poverty and Social Exclusion in Britain, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Gordon, D. and Pantazis, C. (eds.) (1997), Breadline Britain in the 1990s, Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Kuklys, W. (2005), Amartya Sen's Capability Approach: Theoretical Insights and Empirical Applications, Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Le Grand, J. (1991), Equity and Choice: An Essay in Economics and Applied Philosophy, London: Harper Collins Academic.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitas, R. (1998), ‘Social exclusion in the new Breadline Britain survey’, in Bradshaw, J., Gordon, D., Levitas, R., Middleton, S., Pantazis, C., Payne, S. and Townsend, P. (eds.), Perceptions of Poverty and Social Exclusion 1998: Report on Preparatory Work, Bristol: Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research.Google Scholar
Levitas, R. (2000), ‘What is social exclusion?’, in Gordon, D. and Townsend, P. (eds.), Breadline Europe: The Measurement of Poverty, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Lister, R. (2004), Poverty, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Mack, J. and Lansley, S. (1985), Poor Britain, London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Nolan, B. and Whelan, C. T. (1996), Resources, Deprivation and Poverty, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, M. C. (2000), Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piachaud, D. (1981), ‘Peter Townsend and the Holy Grail’, New Society, 10 September 1981, pp. 418–20.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. (1971), A Theory of Justice, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ringen, S. (1988), ‘Direct and indirect measures of poverty’, Journal of Social Policy, 17: 3, 351–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robeyns, I. (2005), ‘Selecting capabilities for quality of life measurement’, Social Indicators Research, 74: 191–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robeyns, I. and van der Veen, R. J. (2007), ‘Sustainable quality of life’, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, University of Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Room, G. (1995), ‘Poverty and social exclusion: the new European agenda for policy and research’, in Room, G. (ed.), Beyond the Threshold: The Measurement and Analysis of Social Exclusion, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Saunders, P. (2004), ‘Towards a credible poverty framework: from income poverty to deprivation’, Social Policy Research Centre Discussion Papers No. 131, Sydney: University of New South Wales.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1982), ‘Equality of what?’, in Sen, A. (ed.), Choice, Welfare and Measurement, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1983), ‘Poor, relatively speaking’, Oxford Economic Papers, 35: 2, 153–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. (1984), ‘The living standard’, Oxford Economic Papers, 36: 74–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. (1985), ‘A sociological approach to the measurement of poverty: a reply to Professor Peter Townsend’, Oxford Economic Papers, 37: 669–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. (1995), ‘The political economy of targeting’, in van de Walle, D. and Nead, K. (eds.), Public Spending and the Poor, Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1999), Development as Freedom, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (2000), ‘Social exclusion: concept, application and scrutiny’, Asian Development Bank, Manila.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (2009), The Idea of Justice, London: Allen Lane.Google Scholar
Silver, H. (1994), ‘Social exclusion and social solidarity: three paradigms’, International Labour Review, 133: 5–6, 531–78.Google Scholar
Stewart, F., Laderchi, R. and Saith, R. (2007), ‘Introduction: four approaches to defining and measuring poverty’, in F. Stewart, R. Saith and B. Hariss-White (eds.), Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Stiglitz, J., Sen, A. and Fitoussi, J.-P. (2009), ‘Commission on the measurement of economic and social progress’, http://www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/en/index.htmGoogle Scholar
Townsend, P. (1979), Poverty in the United Kingdom: A Survey of Household Resources and Standards of Living, Middlesex: Penguin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Townsend, P. (1985), ‘A sociological approach to the measurement of poverty: a rejoinder to Professor Amartya Sen’, Oxford Economic Papers, 37: 659–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Townsend, P. (1987), ‘Deprivation’, Journal of Social Policy, 16: 2, 125–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsakloglou, P. and Papadopoulos, F. (2002), ‘Aggregate level and determining factors of social exclusion in twelve European countries’, Journal of European Social Policy, 12: 3, 211–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UNDP (2010), The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development, Human Development Report 2010, UNDP, New York.Google Scholar
Veit-Wilson, J. H. (1987), ‘Consensual approaches to poverty lines and social security’, Journal of Social Policy, 16: 2, 183–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volkert, J. (2006), ‘European Union poverty assessment: a capability perspective’, Journal of Human Development, 7: 3, 359–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whelan, C. T., Lucchini, M., Pisati, M. and Maître, B. (2010), ‘Understanding the socio-economic distribution of multiple deprivation: an application of self-organising maps’, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 28: 3, 325–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar