CIT-capabilities-banner

The Capabilities Approach

In this session of the “Children in Theory” series, Graciela Tonon (Lomas de Zamora / U. Palermo) introduces the main tenets of the Capabilities Approach as a theoretical method. She later discusses with Nico Brando (University of Liverpool) the applications of the framework to the study of childhood and children’s rights.

What is the Capabilities Approach?

Tonon, G. (2023). What is the Capabilities Approach? In N. Brando, D. Lawson and H. Stalford (eds.) Children in Theory: Theoretical Methods and Approaches to the Study of Childhood. Online Masterclass Series. University of Liverpool.

In this session, Graciela Tonon introduces the capability approach as a theoretical method, introducing its core uses for research on social justice, its key commitments, and the role that agency plays in this research methodology.

The Capabilities Approach is primarily concerned with the evaluation and assessment of well-being, social arrangements, inequality, and development from the perspective of the freedoms and opportunities that individuals have in order to achieve what they have reason to value.

Through the work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum (among others), this introduction to this approach studies what are capabilities, how does studying social justice from this perspective differ from other approaches to well-being, inequality and human development, and the added value of using the Capabilities Approach to study social justice. Key issues addressed:

  • What is the Capabilities Approach?
  • The Core Commitments of the Capabilities Approach.
  • Ethical Individualism
  • Value Pluralism
  • Distinguishing Means and Ends of Justice
  • Agency in Human Development.

The Capabilities Approach and Childhood

Brando, N. and Tonon, G. (2023). The Capabilities Approach and Childhood. In N. Brando, D. Lawson and H. Stalford (eds.) Children in Theory: Theoretical Methods and Approaches to the Study of Childhood. Online Masterclass Series. University of Liverpool.

Standing on the introduction to the capabilities approach as a theoretical framework, Graciela Tonon and Nico Brando discuss how the Capabilities Approach changes our understanding of childhood, how this affects our research methods and practices, and our role as researchers. Moreover, the conversation looks at the tension between freedom and protection during childhood, the importance of valuing freedom, and various issues on social justice and vulnerability of children.  

Among the issues addressed are the following questions:

  • Children: From Objects to Subjects of Research
  • New Conceptions of Childhood, and their active role in research
  • The need for novel research practices and commitments to do justice to children as subjects of research.
  • Freedom and Protections during childhood.
  • Children’s voice, capabilities and functionings.
  • Social vulnerability and social justice of children in the global south.

Further References and Sources

Core (Open-Access) resources for a first look at the approach:

  • Ingrid Robeyns (2018), Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice: The Capability Approach Re-Examined, Open access.
  • Séverine Deneulin with Lila Shahani (eds) (2009), An Introduction to the Human Development and Capability Approach, available online here.

Some basic books on the Capabilities Approach:

  • Amartya Sen (1992), Inequality Re-examined, Oxford University Press
  • Amartya Sen (1999), Development as Freedom, Oxford University Press
  • Amartya Sen (2009), The Idea of Justice, London: Allen Lane
  • Frances Stewart, Gustav Ranis and Emma Samman (2018), Advancing Human Development: Theory and Practice, Oxford University Press.
  • Martha Nussbaum (2000), Women and Human Development, Cambridge University Press
  • Martha Nussbaum (2011), Creating Capabilities; The Human Development Approach. Harvard University Press.
  • Sabina Alkire (2002), Valuing Freedoms, Oxford University Press
  • Sakiko Fukuda-Parr and Shiv Kumar (eds) (2009), Handbook in Human Development, Delhi: Oxford University Press.

These are some useful introductory articles on different elements and conceptual groundwork for the approach:

  • Amartya Sen (1988), "The Concept of Development", in Behram and Strinivasan (eds.) Handbooks of Development Economics. Vol. 1. Elsevier: North-Holland, pp. 3–23.
  • Amartya Sen (1989), "Development as Capability Expansion", Journal of Development Planning 19: 41–58, reprinted in: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr and A.K. Shiva Kumar (eds.) (2003), Readings in Human Development, Oxford University Press, pp. 3–16
  • Amartya Sen (1993)," Capability and Well-Being", in M. Nussbaum and A. Sen (eds.) The Quality of Life, Oxford Clarendon Press, pp. 30–53.
  • Ingrid Robeyns (2005), "The Capability Approach: A Theoretical Survey", Journal of Human Development 6(1): 93–114.
  • Martha Nussbaum (1993), "Non-Relative Virtues: An Aristotelian Approach", in M. Nussbaum and A. Sen (eds) The Quality of Life, Oxford Clarendon Press, pp. 242–69.
  • Martha Nussbaum (2003) "Capabilities as Fundamental Entitlements: Sen and Social Justice", Feminist Economics 9 (2–3): 33–59.
  • Sabina Alkire (2002), "Dimensions of Human Development", World Development 30 (2), 181–205.
  • Sabina Alkire (2005), "Why the Capability Approach", Journal of Human Development 6(1): 115–33.

Some applications of the approach to the case of childhood and children’s rights:

  • Biggeri, J. Ballet, & F. Comim (2011) (Eds.), Children and the capability approach. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Biggeri, M., & Santi, M. (2012). The missing dimensions of children’s well‐being and well becoming in education systems: Capabilities and philosophy for children. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 13, 373–395.
  • Biggeri, M., Arciprete, C. (2022). Children as Capable Agents and Citizen: Empowering Children and Youth. In: Tonon, G.H. (eds) Social Justice for Children in the South. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5045-2_9
  • Brando, N. (2020) Children’s Abilities, Freedom, and the Process of Capability-Formation, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 21(3): 249-262/ DOI: 10.1080/19452829.2020.1767547
  • Hart, C. S. (2009). Quo vadis? The capability space and new directions for the philosophy of educational research. Studies in Philosophy & Education, 28, 391–402.
  • Hart, C. S. (2016). How do aspirations matter? Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 17, 324–341.
  • Hart, C. S., and N. Brando. 2018. “A Capability Approach to Children’s Well-being, Agency and Participatory Rights in Education.” European Journal of Education 53 (3): 293–309.
  • Hart, C. S., Biggeri, M., & Babic, B. (Eds.) (2014). Agency and participation in childhood and youth: International applications of the capability approach in schools and beyond. London: Bloomsbury.
  • Lessmann, O. 2009. “Capability and Learning to Choose.” Studies in Philosophy and Education 28: 449–460.
  • Lessmann, O., Otto, H.‐, & Ziegler, H. (Eds.) (2011). Closing the capabilities gap: Renegotiating social justice for the young. Leverkusen: Barbara Budrich Publishers.
  • Peleg, N. 2013. “Reconceptualising the Child’s Right to Development: Children and the Capability Approach.” International Journal of Children’s Rights 21: 523–542.
  • Saito, M. 2003. “Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach to Education: A Critical Exploration.” Journal of Philosophy of Education 37 (1): 17–33.
  • Schweiger, G., and G. Graf. 2015. A Philosophical Examination of Social Justice and Child Poverty. Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Stoecklin, D. & J.‐M. Bonvin (Eds.), Children’s rights and the capability approach. Dordrecht: Springer.
  • Tonon, G. (2022)Children’s Participation in South America: A Proposal Based on the Capability Approach. In Tonon, G. (Ed.) Re-defining Children`s Participation in the Countries of the South.  Metzler-Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-64167-5
  • Tonon, G. (2022). Children’s Social Vulnerability and Social Justice in the South. In: Tonon, G.H. (eds) Social Justice for Children in the South. Evidence-Based Approaches to Peace and Conflict Studies, vol 9. Springer, Singapore. Pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5045-2_1

Additional links:

This project has been developed by members of the European Children’s Rights Unit with the support of the British Academy’s Newton International Fellowship award No. NIFBA19\190492KU. For more information on the series, please contact Nico Brando.

Back to: Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences