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

46 Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice
There are several different types of conversion factors, and the
conversion factors discussed are often categorized into three groups
(Robeyns 2005b, 99; Crocker and Robeyns 2009, 68). All conversion
factors influence how a person can be or is free to convert the
characteristics of the resources into a functioning, yet the sources of
these factors may differ. Personal conversion factors are internal to the
person, such as metabolism, physical condition, sex, reading skills, or
intelligence. If a person is disabled, or if she is in a bad physical condition,
or has never learned to cycle, then the bike will be of limited help in
enabling the functioning of mobility. Social conversion factors are factors
stemming from the society in which one lives, such as public policies,
social norms, practices that unfairly discriminate, societal hierarchies,
or power relations related to class, gender, race, or caste. Environmental
conversion factors emerge from the physical or built environment in
which a person lives. Among aspects of one’s geographical location are
climate, pollution, the likelihood of earthquakes, and the presence or
absence of seas and oceans. Among aspects of the built environment
are the stability of buildings, roads, and bridges, and the means of
transportation and communication. Take again the example of the
bicycle. How much a bicycle contributes to a person’s mobility depends
on that person’s physical condition (a personal conversion factor), the
social mores including whether women are generally allowed to ride a
bicycle (a social conversion factor), and the availability of decent roads
or bike paths (an environmental conversion factor). Once we start to be
aware of the existence of conversion factors, it becomes clear that they
are a very pervasive phenomenon. For example, a pregnant or lactating
woman needs more of the same food than another woman in order to
be well-nourished. Or people living in delta regions need protection
from flooding if they want to enjoy the same capability of being safely
sheltered as people living in the mountains. There are an infinite number
of other examples illustrating the importance of conversion factors. The
three types of conversion factor all push us to acknowledge that it is
not sufficient to know the resources a person owns or can use in order
to be able to assess the wellbeing that he or she has achieved or could
achieve; rather, we need to know much more about the person and the
circumstances in which he or she is living. Differences in conversion
factors are one important source of human diversity, which is a central