INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES
IS SEN'S CAPABILITY APPROACH
AN
ADEQUATE BASIS
FOR
CONSIDERING
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT?
Des Gasper
1
February 2002
Working Paper Series No. 360
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1
Institute
of
Socia! Studies, The Hague (gasper@iss.nl). I wish to express thanks for comments from Sabina
Alkire, Raymond Apthorpe, Mozaffar Qizilbash, Amartya Sen, Irene van Staveren, audiences at the
Universi!)'
of
Cambridge in March and June 2001, and anonymous referees.
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ISSN 0921-021 O
ABSTRACT:
Sen's capability approach (SCA) has suppo1ied valuable work on Human De-
velopment (HD), bringing attention
to
a much wider range
of
information on people's
freedoms and well-being than in most earlier economie planning, but has troubling
features and requires modification and enrichment. The paper first identifies the ap-
proach' s components, the contributions
of
the HD Reports, and the doubts whether
SCA has sufficient conception
of
human personhood to sustain work
on
HD beyond
finding indices superior to GDP.
It
then examines
SCA's
central concepts. The con-
cepts
of
capability and functioning lead us to consider both possibilities and outcomes,
but their definition and use has been confusing. Besides Sen's opportunity concept
of
'capability' we must distinguish skills and potentials; and distinguish levels and types
of
'functioning'. To understand both consumerism and what can motivate and drive
more humanly fulfilling development, we must elaborate different aspects and sources
of
'well-being' and the content and requirements
of
'agency', more than in
Sen's
cho-
sen strategy.
SCA's
priority category
of
opportunity-capability must be read as a meas-
ure
of
personal advantage relevant in many public policy situations, rather than as a
theory
of
well-being; and its concept
of
freedom must be partnered by concepts
of
rea-
son and need.
CONTENTS
1.
A puzzle and its possible resolution ................................................................. 1
2.
The
Capability Approach ................................................................................. 3
2.1 Real abilities, real humans, real development ? ......................................... 8
3. The
UNDP
'Human
Development' school - contents and criticisms .............. 9
3
.1
Emergence and ambitions
of
the UNDP
HD
work .................................... 9
3.2 Meanings and indices
of
'Human
development' ......................................
11
3.3 Are the
HDRs
really
'human'?
- or still too economistic? .......................
13
4. Functionings, capability and capabilities ........................................................ 14
5.
\Vell-being and personhood ........................................................................... 18
5.1
\\'ell
-being ............................................................................................... 18
5.2
Personhood-
concepts
of
agency and be-ing .......................................... 20
6.
Freedom
.......................................................................................................... 24
6.1
The
relative importance
of
'freedom'
and living: capability versus
functionings .............................................................................................. 25
6.2
What
does freedom mean? More than the range
of
(valued) choice ........ 26
7. Roles and Prospects for the Capability Approach .......................................... 28
References ..........................................................................................................
31
