Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice The Capability Approach Re-Examined, 2017a
Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice The Capability Approach Re-Examined, 2017a
Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice The Capability Approach Re-Examined, 2017a
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180 <strong>Wellbeing</strong>, <strong>Freedom</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Social</strong> <strong>Justice</strong><br />
Ibrahim (2006, 2009) who has shown how self-help initiatives can play a<br />
crucial role in promoting the capabilities of the poor, by enhancing their<br />
ownership of development projects, <strong>and</strong> “overcoming their helplessness<br />
by changing their perceptions of their own capabilities” (Ibrahim 2009,<br />
236). Similar research has been conducted in more informal settings<br />
in Khayelitsha, a South African township, by Ina Conradie (2013).<br />
<strong>The</strong>se are just two studies that have been published in widely read<br />
scholarly journals — but there is a broad range of capability theories<br />
<strong>and</strong> capability applications that do not, or do not primarily, address<br />
the government. In conclusion, the first observation is that some of the<br />
capability literature does not address the government. But can we in<br />
addition also find reasons for not restricting the agents of change in the<br />
capability approach to the government?<br />
<strong>The</strong> first reason relates to the distinction between the capability<br />
approach <strong>and</strong> capability theories <strong>and</strong> applications, which was introduced<br />
in section 2.3. As far as we are looking at the capability approach, rather<br />
than particular capability theories or applications, an exclusive focus on<br />
the government is clearly unwarranted. <strong>The</strong>re is nothing in module A<br />
that forces us to see the government as the addressee of our capability<br />
theory, <strong>and</strong> module B1 (the purpose of the capability theory) gives us<br />
the choice between any addressee we would like to pick. One could also<br />
use the capability approach to analyse what neighbours, in a particular<br />
street or neighbourhood in a well-functioning democratic state, could<br />
do for each other <strong>and</strong> in their common interests, in order to improve<br />
the quality of life in their neighbourhood. <strong>The</strong> neighbours may prefer to<br />
keep the initiative for themselves, <strong>and</strong> not ask the government to solve<br />
their local problems.<br />
Another example of a capability application in which the government<br />
is not involved at all is the case of parents deciding to which school<br />
to send their child (assuming they have options to choose from, which<br />
globally is not the case for many parents). Suppose that parents have<br />
the choice between two schools. <strong>The</strong> first school focusses more on<br />
making pupils ready to excel in their future professional life, endorsing<br />
a human capital underst<strong>and</strong>ing of education. In the other school, there<br />
is more attention paid to creative expression, learning the virtues of<br />
cooperating, taking responsibility for oneself, for others <strong>and</strong> for the<br />
environment, <strong>and</strong> a concern with the flourishing of the child as he or