201 ELEVEN The capability approach and a child standpoint Sharon Bessell Introduction Policy is focused on the identification of actual or anticipated problems and on responses to those problems. It refers to ‘the principles that govern action about means as well as ends and it, therefore, implies change: changing situations, systems, practices, behaviour’ (Titmuss, 1974, p 138). Social policy, which is the focus of this chapter, can be defined as ‘the actions taken within a society to develop and deliver services for people in order to meet their needs
43 THREE The capability approach, agency and sustainable development Elise Klein and Paola Ballon Introduction For the past 15 years, there has been a coordinated effort by the international community to track countries’ progress for addressing extreme poverty, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion while promoting gender equality, education and environmental sustainability, in a quantifiable manner or ‘target’ as framed by the Millennium Declaration Goals – MDGs. However millions of people have been left behind by such ‘progress’. Many live in
147 EIgHT From the capability approach to capability-based social policy Mara A. Yerkes, Jana Javornik, Erik Jansen and Anna Kurowska Introduction Social policy as a multi-layered research field spans numerous domains, each with their inherent complexities and approaches. Taking policy domains as an evaluative entry point, social policy research seeks to understand their development, processes, aims, implementation and impact from multiple perspectives and actors, including policymakers, professionals and practitioners and policy recipients. The capability
205 TEN Monitoring inequality: putting the capability approach to work Tania Burchardt introduction The capability approach offers an account of equality based on the distribution of substantive freedom. It has been developed by Amartya Sen and, in a somewhat different version, by Martha Nussbaum, over a period of several decades. The approach has been used extensively in international development, most notably in the United Nations Human Development Index, but until recently has rarely been applied to policy or analysis in the global North. Indeed, one of
45 A capability approach to individualised and tailor-made activation THREE A capability approach to individualised and tailor-made activation Jean-Michel Bonvin and Nicolas Farvaque For a couple of decades, employment and social integration policies have undergone significant transformations. In order to grasp the theoretical and practical meaning of these evolutions, new analytical tools and normative frameworks are needed. This is the very task that we pursue in this chapter. In the first section, the main evolutions are identified as well as their
237 THIRTEEN Early childhood educational curricula: implications of the capability approach Antoanneta Potsi Introduction This chapter endeavours to explore the potential of a capability- promoting policy in early childhood education (ECE). More specifically, reference to Martha Nussbaum’s list of basic human capabilities, developed as a relatively definite standard of minimal justice, and an adequate frame for capability-promoting policy in Early Childhood Education (ECE) and especially in the curriculum development will be considered (Richardson, 2015
The capability approach, an increasingly popular conceptual and theoretical framework focused on what individuals are able to do and be, offers a unique evaluative perspective to social policy analysis. This book explores the advantages of this approach and offers a way forward in addressing conceptual and empirical issues as they apply specifically to social policy research and practice. Short conceptual and empirical chapters provide clear examples of how policies shape the capabilities of different groups and individuals, critically assessing the efficacy of different social policies across multiple social policy fields, providing both academic and practitioner viewpoints.
contexts, including institutional structures. This chapter explores how the capability approach (see, for example, Sen, 2001 ; Nussbaum, 2011 ; Robeyns, 2017 ) herein referred to as the CA, can provide a context-rich, encompassing normative framework for social innovation in social work. It does so, first, by explaining the central notions of the CA; and second, by discussing a social work case in which we implement its key principles to enable social innovation in social work utilising a specifically developed dialogue tool: a set of cards representing several
183 TEN The capability approach: what can it offer child protection policy and practice in England? Brid Featherstone and Anna Gupta Introduction The capability approach (CA) has been used to assess individual wellbeing and the evaluation of social arrangements, and to develop policies and practices to effect social change. In recent years, the CA has gained attention and influence in a broad number of public policy areas and across academic disciplines. This chapter explores child protection policy and practice in England, an area of social policy that
23 Journal of Poverty and Social Justice • vol 27 • no 1 • 23–40 • © Policy Press 2019 Print ISSN 1759 8273 • Online ISSN 1759 8281 • https://doi.org/10.1332/175982718X15439312693042 Accepted for publication 31 October 2018 • First published online 15 January 2019 article Welfare regimes in the global South: does the capability approach provide an alternative perspective? Sophie Plagerson, splagerson@uj.ac.za Leila Patel, lpatel@uj.ac.za Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg, South Africa Standard definitions and
