Search Results (15)

This study presents an analysis of England’s 2023 national assessment of assistive technology (AT) access and use, with a particular focus on the qualitative impact of AT as described by users. It aims to address limitations in conventional AT impact assessments, which often prioritize clinical outcomes or user satisfaction, by offering a deeper account of how impact is experienced in everyday life. Drawing on data from a nationally representative survey of 7000 disabled adults and children, as well as six focus group discussions and 28 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders across the WHO 5Ps framework (People, Providers, Personnel, Policy, and Products), the study applies Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum’s Capability Approach to explore these experiences. Using inductive thematic analysis, we identify three main domains of user-reported impact: Functions and Activities (e.g., mobility, communication, vision, leisure, daily routines, and cognitive support), Outcomes (e.g., autonomy, quality of life, safety, social participation, wellbeing, and work and learning), and Lived Experience (e.g., access barriers, essentiality, identity and emotional connection, peace of mind, and sense of control and confidence). These findings offer a more user-centered understanding of AT impact and can inform the development of future measurement tools, research design, and government-led interventions to improve AT provision. Full article

The capability approach, shaped by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, offers an innovative normative framework for social work with disadvantaged children and adolescents. Unlike purely resource- or income-oriented approaches, it asks what real opportunities young people have to lead the lives that they value. At its core is the question of how these young individuals can develop their talents, build relationships, and participate in community and culture. The potential of the capability approach becomes particularly evident in social problem contexts often characterized by poverty, educational disadvantages, or discrimination. It emphasizes the importance of freedoms, self-determination, and agency, viewing children not merely as in need of assistance but as active agents in shaping their own lives. For social work practice, this opens up new possibilities for designing interventions in a participatory manner, ensuring that children’s needs and values are taken into account. Instead of standardized solutions, individualized and context-sensitive strategies are promoted. This approach also calls for a multilateral perspective: beyond individual casework, societal and institutional structures must be addressed. Only by removing barriers in areas such as education, health, and housing can real opportunities be created. At the same time, the concept aligns well with children’s rights work, trauma-sensitive approaches, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Although operationalizing the approach is complex, a capability-oriented perspective allows for a comprehensive assessment of children’s living conditions. In this way, social work can increasingly focus on strengthening agency and recognizing young people as subjects of their own becoming. Full article

This review paper focuses on the development and application of the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA), especially regarding its limitations, both in terms of its formulation and link to theory as well as practice. The SLA has proved to be a popular approach, not least because it is holistic and ‘people-centered’, and forces a requirement that livelihoods, along with their vulnerability and institutional contexts, are well understood before interventions are designed and implemented to help the community. However, its theoretical underpinning has been questioned, and some have pointed to the weak representation of important dimensions such as power, including its link to globalization, and culture, with the latter including faith. This paper explores the various ways that these issues have been addressed by using faith as a lens, and makes a case for a ‘Sustainable Living Approach’ (SLivA) to provide a stronger dovetailing with the capabilities/functionings approach of Amartya Sen. However, there is a trade-off between the complexity of frameworks and their practicability, and more work is needed in this area, especially in terms of the potential contribution of technologies such as very-high-resolution Earth Observation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Full article

This paper provides a critical reflection and exploration of African development with reference to enhancing human flourishing in Amartya Sen’s capability theory. However, we identify some core limitations to Sen’s theory of development due to its reliance on neoliberal principles. These principles can be discouraging for African self-directed emancipatory development projects. We argue that the notion of communitarianism in Africa can provide alternative perspectives that can counter the influence of neoliberalism. We first delve into the philosophical understanding of development and the unique elements associated with the African context for human flourishing. From this understanding of development, we look into the work of Amartya Sen, whose capability approach is widely regarded as the optimal development project for human flourishing. However, the enhancement of capabilities has had some significant critique. We discuss three critiques of Sen’s development project, namely, Martha Nussbaum’s critique, which focuses on the vagueness of basic capabilities; Patrica Northover’s critique, which argues that Western ideals of development compromise Sen’s development project; and Richard Sandbrook’s critique, which refers to Sen’s approach as a “pragmatic neoliberalism”. Finally, building on these three critiques, we propose elements that enhance the unique characteristics of the African context for human flourishing. Full article

This paper aims to emphasize the need for enhancing inclusivity and accessibility within smart-city societies. It represents the first attempt to apply Amartya Sen’s capability approach by exploring the implications of digital divides for promoting inclusive and climate-friendly cities that prioritize well-being, equity, and societal participation. Sen’s framework recognizes individual variations in converting resources into valuable ‘functionings’, and herein emphasizes the importance of aligning personal, social, and environmental conversion factors for individuals to fully navigate, participate in, and enjoy the benefits provided by smart cities. Adopting the capability approach and employing a cross-disciplinary analysis of the scientific literature, the primary objective is to broaden understanding of how to improve inclusivity and accessibility within smart-city societies, with a specific focus on marginalized community members facing first- and second-level digital divides. This paper underscores the importance of adopting a systemic perspective on climate-smart city navigation and stresses the importance of establishing a unified governing body responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and enhancing smart-city functionality. The paper concludes by summarizing some policy recommendations to boost social inclusion and address climate change in smart cities, such as creating capability-enhancing institutions, safeguarding redundancy in public-choice options, empowering citizens, and leveraging academic knowledge in smart-city policy formulation. Full article

Poverty is a critical social problem in numerous countries. It is a result of many aspects and has been addressed worldwide for a long time. In this study, we construct the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) for migrant workers in China based on Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach. Using the Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data during 2014–2020 and the Alkire–Foster methodology, our study examines the multidimensional poverty of migrant workers using static to dynamic analyses. The results show the following: (1) The multidimensional poverty of migrant workers shows a general decreasing trend over time. (2) Over one third of migrant workers are in severe multidimensional poverty. (3) The in-work poverty of migrant workers is serious, which is reflected in the indicators of employment security, housing provident fund, labor contract, and labor union. (4) Approximately 30% of migrant workers’ multidimensional poverty is persistent. It is difficult for them to rid themselves of persistent poverty by their own effort. This study suggests that the government should pay more attention to poverty reduction and capability improvement for migrant workers. Full article

The global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us the importance of reflecting on the essential resources and capabilities that enable companies to react to disruptions. In this regard, studies have shown that social sustainability is a crucial resource for the operational performance of supply chains in emerging contexts. Although the literature has responded to the call for research on the social dimension of sustainability in emerging economies, most research has focused on emerging Asia, leaving a void in Latin America. Two socially focused frameworks are used to address the ontological challenge of defining sustainable human well-being around the firm. Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach and the theoretical extension of the Social-Resource-Based View (SRBV) are appropriate to address social sustainability under two essential aspects: (1) the firm as a generator of social performance and (2) social sustainability as a generator of firm performance. This paper aims to analyze the predictive capacity of Social Sustainability Orientation on social performance and supply chain operational performance in the context of emerging Latin America, with representative cases from Mexico, Colombia, and Chile. The methodology was empirical–statistical and based on a structured questionnaire applied to 217 purchasing managers of large multisector companies (Mx n = 64, Co n = 100, and Cl n = 53). Hypotheses were tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show the intrasample and extrasample predictive ability of Social Sustainability Orientation on social and Supply Chain Performance. It is concluded that socially sustainable culture and investment orientation is a valuable resource that provides the capability for Latin supply chain welfare and operational performance. A call is made to procurement and public policy managers to disseminate and care for the social aspects of sustainability as a resource that enhances business competitiveness and social justice in the Latin American region. Full article

The value of Assistive Technology in enabling active and equal participation in political, social, economic, and cultural life of people with disabilities, people ageing, and people with chronic conditions is broadly accepted. However, most of the global population who need assistive technology (AT) lack access to it, hence the call for international efforts to improve access to AT. Drawing from the capability approach (CA) developed by Amartya Sen and Martha C. Nussbaum, we explore factors that may hinder or facilitate access to AT. We examine the idea of an AT Passport as an innovative user-centered approach for improving access to AT. We used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore service users’ lived experiences of access to AT and their understanding of the AT Passport concept. We identified the core values of human diversity, equity, access to opportunity, and individual freedom to choose a life of significance to them. Access to AT is central to expanding these capabilities subject to conducive personal and social-contextual issues. The AT Passport could be developed as a capability-enhancing resource by facilitating access to AT, harnessing the diversity of people’s personal, social, and environmental factors to enrich peoples’ capability sets. Further research is required to identify core AT Passport functionalities, usability, and acceptability features. Full article

Amartya Sen’s seminal Tanner lecture: Equality of What? began a contestation on social justice and human wellbeing that saw a new human development paradigm emerge—the capability approach (CA)—which has been influential ever since. Following interviews with leading global assistive technology (AT) stakeholders, and users, this paper takes inspiration from Sen’s core question and posits, AT for what? arguing that AT should be understood as a mechanism to achieve the things that AT users’ value. Significantly, our research found no commonly agreed operational global framework for (disability) justice within which leading AT stakeholders were operating. Instead, actors were loosely aligned through funding priorities and the CRPD. We suggest that this raises the possibility for (welcome and needed) incoming actors to diverge from efficiently designed collective action, due to perverse incentives enabled by unanchored interventions. The Global Report on Assistive Technology (GReAT) helps, greatly! However, we find there are still vital gaps in coordination; as technology advances, and AT proliferates, no longer can the device-plus-service approach suffice. Rather, those of us interested in human flourishing might explore locating AT access within an operational global framework for disability justice, which recognizes AT as a mechanism to achieve broader aims, linked to people’s capabilities to choose what they can do and be. Full article

After 2020, poverty alleviation in China will shift from eliminating absolute poverty to alleviating unbalanced and insufficient relative poverty. Based on Amartya Sen’s capability approach, this article aimed to realize the freedom of “capability” of children and ensure the well-being and development of Chinese adolescents, who are often ignored in child poverty research. The study sought to estimate the 10–15-year-olds in a multidimensional capabilities poverty group. Our analysis was based on the adolescent capability methodology framework, using data from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to investigate the types and influencing factors of adolescent capability poverty in China. The result of latent class analysis showed that there are four types of capability poverty among the Chinese adolescents, namely, Extreme Capability Poverty Class, Goal Capability Poverty Class, Opportunity Capability Poverty Class, and Capability Non-Poverty Class. Multinomial logistic regression showed that the personal factors of gender, ethnic minority, hukou, and pocket money; the family factors of parents’ marital status, parents’ education level, and region of residence; and the family economic factor of per capita family income had a significant impact on the types of China’s adolescent capability poverty. The article provides empirical and quantitative evidence for the adolescent (ages 10–15) class of capability poverty. The findings provide a reference for policy makers to target poverty-alleviation efforts according to different types of poverty and to interrupt the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Full article

Eco-Capabilities is an AHRC funded project situated at the intersection of three issues: a concern with children’s wellbeing; their disconnect with the environment; and a lack of engagement with arts in school curricula. It builds on Amartya Sen’s work on human capabilities as a proxy for wellbeing, developing the term eco-capabilities to describe how children define what they feel they need to live a fully good human life through environmental sustainability, social justice and future economic wellbeing. A total of 101 children aged 7–10 from schools in highly deprived areas participated in eight full days of arts in nature practice. The study drew on arts based research methods, participatory observations, interviews and focus groups with artists, teachers and children. Findings suggest that arts in nature practice contributed towards eight (eco-)capabilities: autonomy; bodily integrity and safety; individuality; mental and emotional wellbeing; relationality: human/nonhuman relations; senses and imagination; and spirituality. This was facilitated through four pedagogical elements: extended and repeated arts in nature sessions; embodiment and engaging children affectively through the senses; ‘slowliness’, which envelops children with time and space to (re)connect; and thoughtful practice, which facilitates emotional expression. We suggest that, through these elements, arts in nature practice supports children’s wellbeing, and guides them towards a more entangled relationship with nature and a clearer understanding of themselves as part of it, thereby motivating them to take better care of it. Full article

Through a systematic literature review, this article aims to evaluate the impacts of various concepts of pro-poor innovations (PPI) on the five instrumental freedoms in Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach. For this, 165 articles were analysed to summarize the main influences of the pro-poor innovation on each type of instrumental freedom: political freedoms, economic facilities, transparency guarantees, social opportunities, and protective security. In general, the results indicate a positive influence of the innovation concepts for distinct types of freedom, with emphasis on the expansion of social opportunities and economic facilities. Full article

In Europe, growing concerns about social segregation and social stability have pushed calls to make cities ‘inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’ higher on policy agendas. However, how to approach such generic policy objectives and operationalise them for planning practices is still largely unclear. This article makes a conceptual contribution to the operational understanding of social sustainability in urban planning practices. The article argues that, between theoretical concept and operational forms, different evaluative approaches towards social sustainability may be taken. Evaluating three dimensions of policy operationalisations in The Netherlands, we argue that Amartya Sen’s capability approach provides a promising conceptual framework for operationalising social sustainability in cities in Europe and beyond. We compare capabilities with a more commonly applied resource-based conception to show that the former is more accurate and potentially more effective, because it shifts the evaluative space of social sustainability from means (i.e., urban resources) to ends: the eventual well-being of urban citizens. Full article

Proponents of capital punishment in the United States frequently cite the evolution from electrocution and hanging to lethal injection as an indication that the evolving standards of decency exhibited by such a transition demonstrate a respect for human dignity. This essay examines that claim by evaluating two standards for assessing whether an act comports with accepted definitions of human dignity: a personal-achievement model, based on work by economist Amartya Sen of Harvard University, and a universal and intrinsic approach to human dignity articulated by criminologist Robert Johnson of the American University. We evaluate Sen’s capabilities model through the lens of a condemned prisoner’s ability to achieve self-defined goals. We then assess Johnson’s claim that preserving human dignity requires an elimination of the death penalty, irrespective of any prisoner’s ability to lead a restricted, albeit goal-directed, existence. Full article