IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v97y2017icp153-164.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Can the Capabilities Approach Learn from an Ubuntu Ethic? A Relational Approach to Development Theory

Author

Listed:
  • Hoffmann, Nimi
  • Metz, Thaddeus

Abstract

Over the last two decades, the capabilities’ approach has become an increasingly influential theory of development. It conceptualizes human wellbeing in terms of an individual’s ability to achieve functionings we have reason to value. In contrast, the ethic of ubuntu views human flourishing as the propensity to pursue relations of fellowship with others, such that relationships have fundamental value. These two theoretical perspectives seem to be in tension with each other. While the capabilities’ approach seems to focus on individuals as the locus of ethical value, an ubuntu ethic concentrates on the relations between individuals as the locus.

Suggested Citation

  • Hoffmann, Nimi & Metz, Thaddeus, 2017. "What Can the Capabilities Approach Learn from an Ubuntu Ethic? A Relational Approach to Development Theory," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 153-164.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:97:y:2017:i:c:p:153-164
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.04.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X17301274
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.04.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kim Samuel & Sabina Alkire & Diego Zavaleta & China Mills & John Hammock, 2018. "Social isolation and its relationship to multidimensional poverty," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 83-97, January.
    2. Sen, Amartya, 1983. "Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198284635.
    3. Raymond Suttner, 2006. "Talking to the ancestors: national heritage, the Freedom Charter and nation-building in South Africa in 2005," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 3-27.
    4. Ingrid Robeyns, 2005. "The Capability Approach: a theoretical survey," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 93-117.
    5. Gayatri Koolwal & Dominique van de Walle, 2013. "Access to Water, Women's Work, and Child Outcomes," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(2), pages 369-405.
    6. Ingrid Robeyns, 2003. "Sen'S Capability Approach And Gender Inequality: Selecting Relevant Capabilities," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2-3), pages 61-92.
    7. Sabina Alkire, James Foster, 2010. "Designing the Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (HDI)," OPHI Working Papers 37, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    8. Agénor, Pierre-Richard & Canuto, Otaviano & da Silva, Luiz Pereira, 2014. "On gender and growth: The role of intergenerational health externalities and women's occupational constraints," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 132-147.
    9. Sorenson, Susan B. & Morssink, Christiaan & Campos, Paola Abril, 2011. "Safe access to safe water in low income countries: Water fetching in current times," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(9), pages 1522-1526, May.
    10. Prasanta K. Pattanaik, 2006. "On Comparing Functioning Bundles and Capability Sets," Chapters, in: James K. Boyce & Stephen Cullenberg & Prasanta K. Pattanaik & Robert Pollin (ed.), Human Development in the Era of Globalization, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. James Foster, Christopher Handy, 2008. "External Capabilities," OPHI Working Papers 8, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    12. Martha Nussbaum, 2003. "Capabilities As Fundamental Entitlements: Sen And Social Justice," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2-3), pages 33-59.
    13. Stefan Dercon, 2002. "Income Risk, Coping Strategies, and Safety Nets," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 141-166, September.
    14. Sabina Alkire, 2007. "The Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data: An Introduction," OPHI Working Papers 0, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    15. Diego Zavaleta & Kim Samuel & China Mills, 2014. "Social Isolation: A conceptual and Measurement Proposal," OPHI Working Papers 67, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    16. Johannes Tsheola, 2012. "Rural Women's Survivalist Livelihoods and State Interventions in Ga-Ramogale Village, Limpopo Province," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 24(3), pages 221-232.
    17. Sudhir Anand and Amartya Sen, 1994. "Sustainable Human Development: Concepts and Priorities," Human Development Occasional Papers (1992-2007) HDOCPA-1994-03, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    18. Sabina Alkire, 2007. "The Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data: Introduction to the Special Issue," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 347-359.
    19. Crow, Ben & Sultana, Farhana, 2002. "Gender, Class, and Access to Water:Three Cases in a Poor and Crowded Delta," Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Working Paper Series qt8j29f3df, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UC Santa Cruz.
    20. Roy, Jessica & Crow, Ben, 2004. "Gender Relations and Access to Water: What We Want to Know About Social Relations and Women's Time Allocation," Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Working Paper Series qt0m5033gv, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UC Santa Cruz.
    21. Des Gasper & Irene van Staveren, 2003. "DEVELOPMENT AS FREEDOM v - v AND AS WHAT ELSE?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2-3), pages 137-161.
    22. Johannes Tsheola, 2012. "Rural Women's Survivalist Livelihoods and State Interventions in Ga-Ramogale Village, Limpopo Province," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 24(3), pages 221-232, September.
    23. Zwarteveen, Margreet Z., 1997. "Water: From basic need to commodity: A discussion on gender and water rights in the context of irrigation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 1335-1349, August.
    24. China Mills & Diego Zavaleta & Kim Samuel, 2014. "Shame, Humiliation and Social Isolation: Missing Dimensions of Poverty and Suffering Analysis," OPHI Working Papers 71, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mar Pérezts & Jo-Anna Russon & Mollie Painter, 2020. "This Time from Africa: Developing a Relational Approach to Values-Driven Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(4), pages 731-748, February.
    2. Giulia Ferrari, 2022. "What is wellbeing for rural South African women? Textual analysis of focus group discussion transcripts and implications for programme design and evaluation," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Molefi Motsoeneng, 2021. "The silent voices of the migrant domestic workers in the South African metropolitan: An exploratory study," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 25(1), pages 807-818, November.
    4. Yuka Fujimoto & Jasim Uddin, 2022. "Inclusive Leadership for Reduced Inequality: Economic–Social–Economic Cycle of Inclusion," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(3), pages 563-582, December.
    5. Matthys, Marie-Luise & Acharya, Sushant & Khatri, Sanjaya, 2021. "“Before cardamom, we used to face hardship”: Analyzing agricultural commercialization effects in Nepal through a local concept of the Good Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chiappero-Martinetti, Enrica & Moroni, Stefano, 2007. "An analytical framework for conceptualizing poverty and re-examining the capability approach," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 360-375, June.
    2. Gasper, D.R., 2006. "What is the capability approach?: its core, rationale, partners and dangers," ISS Working Papers - General Series 19187, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    3. Veronika V. Eberharter, 2018. "Capability Deprivation, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Social Disadvantages—Empirical Evidence from Selected Countries," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Kim Samuel & Sabina Alkire & Diego Zavaleta & China Mills & John Hammock, 2018. "Social isolation and its relationship to multidimensional poverty," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 83-97, January.
    5. Espinoza-Delgado, José & Klasen, Stephan, 2018. "Gender and multidimensional poverty in Nicaragua: An individual based approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 466-491.
    6. Nicolai Suppa, 2018. "Towards a multidimensional poverty index for Germany," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 655-683, November.
    7. Joanna Coast, 2019. "Assessing capability in economic evaluation: a life course approach?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(6), pages 779-784, August.
    8. Chiappero-Martinetti, Enrica & Sabadash, Anna, 2014. "Integrating Human Capital and Human Capabilities in Understanding the Value of Education," MPRA Paper 61800, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Trani, Jean-François & Cannings, Tim I., 2013. "Child Poverty in an Emergency and Conflict Context: A Multidimensional Profile and an Identification of the Poorest Children in Western Darfur," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 48-70.
    10. Nadjiarabeye Christian BEASSOUM & Koulké Blandine NAN-GUER & Olivier BEGUY & Tabo Symphorien Ndang & TOPEUR Béguerang, 2011. "Pauvrete Des Capacites Au Tchad: Une Exploration Des Dimensions Manquantes Des Donnees Dans La Capitale N'Djamena," Working Papers PMMA 2011-17, PEP-PMMA.
    11. Ballon, Paola, 2013. "The selection of functionings and capabilities: A survey of empirical studies," PEP Working Papers 160427, Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP).
    12. Yelda Yucel, 2022. "Capabilities Indicators for Human Rights Cities in Turkey: A Gender-Specific Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 495-522, January.
    13. Mohammad Abu-Zaineh & Maame Esi Woode, 2018. "Investigating the Dimensions of Youth Wellbeing: An Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling Approach Applied to Palestine," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(1), pages 57-78, February.
    14. Dagar, Preeti, 2023. "Rethinking skills development and entrepreneurship for refugees: The case of five refugee communities in India," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    15. Guarini, Giulio & Laureti, Tiziana & Garofalo, Giuseppe, 2018. "Territorial and individual educational inequality: A Capability Approach analysis for Italy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 247-262.
    16. Daniel Hojman & Alvaro Miranda, 2015. "Agency, Human Dignity and Subjective Well-Being," Working Papers wp398, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    17. Mohammad Azmoodeh & Farshidreza Haghighi & Hamid Motieyan, 2023. "Capability Index: Applying a Fuzzy-Based Decision-Making Method to Evaluate Social Inclusion in Urban Areas Using the Capability Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 77-105, January.
    18. Coast, Joanna & Flynn, Terry N. & Natarajan, Lucy & Sproston, Kerry & Lewis, Jane & Louviere, Jordan J. & Peters, Tim J., 2008. "Valuing the ICECAP capability index for older people," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 874-882, September.
    19. KASRI, RAHMATINA & Ahmed, Habib, 2015. "Assessing Socio-Economic Development based on Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah Principles: Normative Frameworks, Methods and Implementation in Indonesia," Islamic Economic Studies, The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), vol. 23, pages 73-100.
    20. Mabsout, Ramzi, 2015. "Mindful capability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 86-97.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:97:y:2017:i:c:p:153-164. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.