Functionings and capabilities department of economics. Ne xt, sen makes use of the capability perspective, seeing development as freedom, to evaluate the ordinary institutions we operate with. Amartya sen amartya sen is lamont university professor at harvard university, cambridge, ma, usa abstract the two concepts human rights and capabilities go well with each other, so long as we do not try to subsume either concept entirely within the territory of the other. The contributions of professor amartya sen in the field of. He argues that human development is about the expansion of citizens capabilities. An alternative focus of interest relates to the informational perspective of poverty and deprivation, and has been geared to getting a broader measure than. The concept has directly influenced the workings of both the. My father ashutosh sen taught chemistry at dhaka university. Amartya sen was born in a hindu family in bengal, british india.
The work of amartya sen and martha nussbaum in bringing together the human capabilities approach heavily informs the ragged university project as it aims to open up opportunities for people who do not have them. Steven pressman and especially erik schokkaert and amartya sen for helpful. Amartya sens capability approach and social justice in education. The capability approach also referred to as the capabilities approach is an economic theory conceived in the 1980s as an alternative approach to welfare economics. This article explores the key ideas in the capability approach of. My family is from dhaka now the capital of bangladesh. He lives in cambridge, massachusetts and cambridge, england. The topic is at the core of sens economic and philosophical work. It assesses the ways in which sens research agenda has deepened and expanded human rights discourse in the disciplines of ethics and economics, and examines how his work has promoted crossfertilisation and integration on this subject across traditional disciplinary divides. It can be used to evaluate a wide variety of aspects of peoples wellbeing, such as individual wellbeing, inequality and poverty. Fundamental freedoms and human rights sen has advocated new approaches to thinking about fundamental freedoms and human rights. Sens capability approach internet encyclopedia of philosophy. He is lamont university professor at harvard and formerly master of trinity college, cambridge. Capability reflects a persons freedom to choose between different ways of living.
Amartya sens capability approach and social justice in. Poverty as severe capability deprivation amartya sen and the evolution of the concept of poverty leland joseph r. Rabindranath tagore gave amartya sen his name bengali. Amartya sens capability approach and education eric. In this approach, amartya sen and martha nussbaum bring together a range of ideas that were previously excluded from or inadequately formulated in traditional approaches to the economics of welfare. However, his thesis squarely rests on western individualism and fails to provide critical analysis of major western institutions on peoples capabilities. Amartya sens theory has clearly a humane approach and has won widespread acclaim, even by the mainstream economists. For sen, freedom means increasing citizens access and opportunities to the things they have reason to value.
New york, dec 6, 2004 amartya sen was born in 1933 in santiniketan, india. Sens family was from wari and manikganj, dhaka, both in presentday bangladesh. This brought him the understanding that poor people are especially vulnerable to violence. Merging capabilities and livelihoods ecology and society. Amartya sen and his contributions to economics free essays. Cohen accuses sen of espousing an inappropriate, athletic image of the person cohen, 1993, pp. Amartya sen and capabilities share the writings of amartya sen, indian economist and philosopher, nobel laureate in economics in 1998, are now recognized for their major contribution to the analysis of inequality and philosophical theories of justice. Eyebrows were raised when amartya sen won the nobel prize in economics. Amartya sens capability theory of development and poverty. Amartya sens concept of development as freedom 1999 is highly acclaimed. Pdf development as freedom, in the words of amartya sen 1999.
Sen 1992 further argues that evaluation of wellbeing should be measured within the space of capabilities and not functionings, and that evaluation should thus focus on opportunities and not achievements. Development and capabilities association conferences at unesco in paris and in groningen. In a recent discussion of amartya sens concept of the capabilities of people for functioning in their society and the idea of targeting peoples functioning capabilities in evaluating the society g. Pdf in many areas amartya sen and martha nussbaum, the two main advocates of the. Amartya sen the paper highlights that development as freedom proceeds from the basic recognition that freedom is both i the primary objective and ii the principle means of development. A critique of the behavioral foundations of economic theory, philosophy and public affairs, summer, 1977.
This paper is concerned with discussing the nature and implications of that general. Thus, there is no easy way to combine and reconcile sens and. Crocker 5agency, functionings, and capabilities 252008 1 5 agency, functioning, and capability having examined sens and nussbaums assessment of alternative ethical approaches to development, we are in a position in the present chapter to analyze and evaluate the. External capabilities and the limits to social policy. Building on existing work on the capabilities approach within education, it is emphasised that the. His theory is also silent on the impact of global agreements. If the difference between sens and nussbaums conceptions of capability was.
Amartya sens capability approach to human wellbeing. It originated in amartya sen s disquiet with orthodox welfare. Dec 31, 1985 commodities and capabilities presents a set of interrelated theses concerning the foundations of welfare economics, and in particular about the assessment of personal wellbeing and advantage. Development as freedom, by amartya sen, 1999 amartya sen, nobel prize winner in economics in 1998, is the most prolific top notch economic scholar i know. Lamont university professor and professor of economics and philosophy, harvard university senior fellow, harvard society of fellows formerly master, trinity college, cambridge, england, 19982003 birth. Capability approach pioneers amartya sen and martha nussbaum both recognize empowerment as an important aspect of human development in a number of ways. Another thing that must be evident is, as sen 1994 has stressed, that the capabilities approach suffers from the embarrassment of riches because in life the functionings that we mayor may not achieve are manifold. For supporting andor commenting on the overall project, the first author is particularly grateful to amartya sen, caterina laderchi and wulf gaertner the usual caveat applies. Since the introduction of the approach, numerous scholars from various fields have applied this approach in their studies. Capability approach pioneered by amartya sen has been a new milestone for analyzing poverty through gender perspective. Prof sen classifies diverse freedoms into five different categories, namely economic empowerment, political freedoms, social opportunities. Amartya sen and his contributions to economics born in 1933 in dhaka, bengal, amartya sen spent his childhood in a school run by a nobel prize winner, rabindranath tagore. Their combined citations are counted only for the first article.
The argument presented focuses on the capability to function, i. While the origins ofthis capabilities approach go back to the works of john stuart mill, adam smith, and, in spirit if not in form, to aristotle, it was the seminal contribution of amartya sen in the form of his 1979. External capabilities merge these internal conditions with external material and social ones that make valued functionings an available option. Amartya sens books include on economic inequality, development as freedom and the argumentative indian. Human rights and capabilities amartya sen amartya sen is lamont university professor at harvard university, cambridge, ma, usa abstract the two concepts human rights and capabilities go well with each other, so long as we do not try to subsume either concept entirely within the territory of the other. There are many human rights that can be seen as rights to particular capabilities. His early education was deeply influenced by his schools founder, rabindranath tagore. Amartya sen autobiography i was born in a university campus and seem to have lived all my life in one campus or another. He was further exposed to racial riots in british india in his childhood. My ancestral home in wari in old dhaka is not far from the university campus in ramna. Amartya sens economic and political theory including, centrally, his work on the idea of human capability as both a goal of and an indicator of development has had a major impact on both the theory and practice of international development and won him, among many honours, the. It reflects the various combinations of functionings doings and beings he or she can achieve.
Amartya sen s economic and political theory including, centrally, his work on the idea of human capability as both a goal of and an indicator of development has had a major impact on both the theory and practice of international development and won him, among many honours, the nobel prize for economics. Commodities and capabilities presents a set of interrelated theses concerning the foundations of welfare economics, and in particular about the assessment of personal wellbeing and advantage. The capability approach also referred to as the capabilities approach was initially conceived in the 1980s as an approach to welfare economics. In order to explain the need to focus on choice, sen 1992 illustrates the difference by using the example of a person who starves as. In many areas amartya sen and martha nussbaum, the two main advocates of the capability approach ca, argue along the same lines and eve use similar phrasing. The human capabilities approach developed by the economist amartya sen links development, quality of life and freedom. He utilizes this interconnectedness proven earlier to.
In 1985 amartya sen published a very short book entitled commodities and capabilities. What is more he writes as an economist who shows a genuine concern for the wellbeing of human beings everywhere in the world, and uses his economics in this book to show how the. One of the prominent scholars who has contributed and expanded the approach is martha nussbaum. Amartya sen on development discovering development. Apr 03, 20 amartya sens concept of development as freedom 1999 is highly acclaimed. They seem to disagree, however, about how empowerment should be represented within the capability approach ca. I am going to install an unsupported free windows software called xvid converter. Amartya sen had an extensive background in development economics, social choice theory for which he received the 1998 nobel prize in economics, and philosophy before developing the capability approach during the 1980s. This approach arises in the context of human development as a conceptual framework for analyzing peoples wellbeing and quality of life sen 1985. Sen challenges the mainstream concept of measuring development by economic growth evans 2002. Essays on amartya sens capability approach repub, erasmus.