| 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 1 Capabilities and Reciprocity – basic reflections on their compatibility Folie 1 Bernhard.

| 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 1

Capabilities and Reciprocity – basic reflections on their compatibility

Folie 1

Bernhard Babic

| Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 |

1. The Capability Approach (CA)

2. The CA‘s applicability and added value for social work

3. Potential compatibility with Reciprocity

| 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 2Folie 2

1. The Capability Approach (CA)


Bernhard Babic

originally developed by the economist, philosopher, and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen as an alternative to neo-liberal and utilitarian concepts

according to Clark (2005) „the most influential alternative to standard economic frameworks for thinking about poverty, inequality, and human development”

focus on what people are effectively able to do and to be; that is, on their capabilities

contrasts with other approaches that concentrate on people’s happiness or desire-fulfilment, or on income, expenditures, or consumption

suggests that evaluations and policies should focus on the enhancement of people‘s capabilities; we should ask if and to what extent do they really support people to lead a life “they have reason to choose and value” (Sen 2001)


resources/commodities

utility/assessment

x1

x2

u (x1, x2)(x1, x2)

budget

The ‚usual‘ economical assessment of the standard of living (Leßmann 2012)


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resources/commodities

utility/assessment

x1

x2

(x1, x2)

functionings/ life situation

personal technology

f (x1, x2)

personal, social and environmental factors

b1

b2

bi= f(x1, x2)

Qi = {bi|bi = f(x1, x2)}

vi = vi (bi/Qi)

budget

Assessment of the standard of living according to Sen‘s CA(Leßmann 2012)


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Achieved functionings

Capability set

Resources

Conversion factors

Choice

Resources: goods and services available with a certain budget/incomeConversion factors: individual, social and environmentalCapability set: amount of functionings, a person basically could realiseAchieved functionings: functionings a person realised


Central terms of the CA (Leßmann 2012)

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• Multidimensionality– Functionings = doings and beings as dimensions– Not (just) resources, utility/happiness/satisfaction– money is important but not everything– life situation is influenced by many different aspects

• Choice– represented as a set of opportunities/functionings– humans are actively shaping their lives– choice has an positive effect on human well-being


Key characteristics of the CA

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| 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 7Folie 7| Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 |

Constrains of the CA

How to identify valuable functionings/capabilities:Nussbaum (2000, 2006) defines a list of essential capabilities, while

Sen (1999, 2004) rejects such predefined lists. From his point of view the choice of valuable functionings/ capabilities has to be settled in a democratic process, involving not at least the directly affected people.

Lack of lack of a model of temporal interaction:The “description of functionings and capabilities (…) suggests their

development and education, but the formal model of Sen is (…) a comparative static model and Nussbaum’s ideas (…) remain sketchy” (Leßmann 2009).

As a consequence, the CA needs to be adapted very carefully to a specific field of work.

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2. The CA‘s applicability and added value for social work

• Example: „Approaching Capabilities with Children in Care“

Between October 2009 and March 2010 within two field studies in Nicaragua and Namibia 177 childern/young people in various forms of care (and 138 ‚relevant adults‘) were asked qualitatively for

the life they would like to lead later on how they asses their chances to realise their plans what kind of support they already receive what kind of support they need additionally to achieve

their goals

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It was possible to extract a culturally adequate notionof a flourishing life from the data, which provided SOS Children’s Villages with reliable criteria to assess and optimise their work and to support the development of new programmes and services (e.g. creating more opportunities for positive peer experiences).

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• What makes the CA attractive for social work? focus on the individual values/needs of a person without

ignoring the interdependence of social/environmental factors and individual well-being

(according to Sen) extensive participation of target groups concerning the problem definition and the identification of appropriate solutions

explicite openness towards and appreciation of socio-cultural diversity (huge inclusive potential)

many analogies with community social work/community development

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commits the state/society (and the agents acting on his/her authority) to enable the people to live a life they have reason to choose and value

incorporates economical standard concepts and goes beyond them

has already proven his ability to generate added value, e.g. in form of the HDI, that showed that a high living expectation is not necessarily correlated with a high GDP (gross domestic product) and caused therefore some significant shifts in the field of international development cooperation

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3. Potential compatibility with Reciprocity

• Relevant axioms of the CA: People and their values are ends in themselves and must

not be instrumentalised in any way (the economy/the state has to serve the people, not the other way round).

As well-being correlates with the ability to live according to one‘s values, limitations of the personal freedom (reflected in one‘s capability set) have to be reduced wherever possible.

Accordingly, the quality of societies, policies, services, developments etc. depends on the extent to which they contribute to people‘s well-being.

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• Consequences and assumptions concerning Reciprocity: Well-being is against this background actually the results of

a successful coproduction of an individual, that actively pursues his/her goals and has the necessary conversion factors at his/her disposal, and of an environment that offers according opportunities.

In case of a lack of agency or opportunity, well-being will hardly be reached, if the necessarily involved parties do not understand and treat each other respectfully as indispensable resources.

Therefore, adequate opportunities for participation (this is at least bringing in one‘s values) have to be seen as a precondition of individual well-being as well as for an appropriate accomplishment of tasks by the representatives of the society and her authorities (including social workers).

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And finally, if we accept the axiom of the CA, that the individual values should be the starting point of any activitiy that aims at the realisation of well-being, the CA might even be able to tell us, what should be the subject of the according reciprocal processes: it should be an exchange on values and how to meet them.

Bernhard Babic

Achieved functionings

Capability set

Resources

Conversion factors

Choice


Thank you very much for your attention!

Kiitos huomiostanne!

Contact:

Bernhard BabicGertraudenstr. 196050 BambergGermany

[email protected]://www.bernhard-babic.de

Bernhard Babic

| 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 1 Capabilities and Reciprocity – basic reflections on their compatibility Folie 1 Bernhard.

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