Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice The Capability Approach Re-Examined, 2017a

2. Core Ideas and the Framework
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Quantitative social scientists, especially economists, are mostly
interested in measurement. This quantitative work could serve
different purposes, e.g. the measurement of multidimensional
poverty analysis (Alkire and Foster 2011; Alkire et al. 2015), or the
measurement of the disadvantages faced by disabled people (Kuklys
2005; Zaidi and Burchardt 2005). Moreover, some quantitative social
scientists, mathematicians, and econometricians have been working
on investigating the methods that could be used for quantitative
capability analyses (Kuklys 2005; Di Tommaso 2007; Krishnakumar
2007; Krishnakumar and Ballon 2008; Krishnakumar and Nagar 2008).
Thick description or descriptive analysis is another mode of
capability analysis. For example, it can be used to describe the realities
of schoolgirls in countries that may have formal access to school for both
girls and boys, but where other hurdles (such as high risk of rape on the
way to school, or the lack of sanitary provisions at school) mean that this
formal right is not enough to guarantee these girls the corresponding
capability (Unterhalter 2003b).
Finally, the capability approach can be used for conceptual work
beyond the conceptualisation of values, as is done within normative
philosophy. Sometimes the capability approach lends itself well to
providing a better understanding of a certain phenomenon. For example,
we could understand education as a legal right or as an investment in
human capital, but we could also conceptualise it as the expansion of a
capability, or develop an account of education that draws on both the
capability approach and human rights theory. This would not only help
us to look differently at what education is; a different conceptualisation
would also have normative implications, for example related to the
curriculum design, or to answer the question of what is needed to
ensure that capability, or of how much education should be guaranteed
to children with low potential market-related human capital (McCowan
2011; Nussbaum 2012; Robeyns 2006c; Walker 2012a; Walker and
Unterhalter 2007; Wigley and Akkoyunlu-Wigley 2006).
Of course, texts and research projects often have multiple goals, and
therefore particular studies often mix these different goals and methods.
Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen’s (1996, 2002, 2013) comprehensive
analyses of India’s human development achievements are in part an
evaluative analysis based on various social indicators, but also in part