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Can Deliberate Efforts to Realise Aspirations Increase Capabilities? A South African Case Study

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  • Ina Conradie

Abstract

This paper takes up Appadurai's suggestion that aspirations could be used as a key to unlock development for people who are economically marginalised, and that their capabilities could be increased by this approach. The notion of "aspirations" is theoretically and conceptually framed, and then Amartya Sen's use of the term capabilities as the space within which development should be assessed is explored. I subsequently describe a five-year programme in which economically marginalised women in Khayelitsha near Cape Town were assisted in voicing and attempting to realise their aspirations, while being assisted with access to some resources. Capability outcomes and constraints are described and analysed, and the question of adaptive preferences is addressed. I conclude that deliberate efforts to realise aspirations, accompanied by some facilitation, can increase capabilities, but that there are also structural constraints to capability expansion for these women that frustrate their aspiration of class mobility.

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  • Ina Conradie, 2013. "Can Deliberate Efforts to Realise Aspirations Increase Capabilities? A South African Case Study," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(2), pages 189-219, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:oxdevs:v:41:y:2013:i:2:p:189-219
    DOI: 10.1080/13600818.2013.790949
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    Cited by:

    1. DeJaeghere, Joan & Pellowski Wiger, Nancy & Le, Hue & Luong, Phuong & Ngo, Nga Thi Hang & Vu, Thanh Thi & Lee, Jongwook, 2022. "Why do aspirations matter for empowerment?: Discrepancies between the A-WEAI domains and aspirations of ethnic minority women in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    2. Ballet, Jérôme & Marchand, Lucile & Pelenc, Jérôme & Vos, Robin, 2018. "Capabilities, Identity, Aspirations and Ecosystem Services: An Integrated Framework," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 21-28.
    3. Elise Klein, 2014. "PsychologicaL Agency: Evidence from the Urban Fringe of Bamako," OPHI Working Papers 69, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    4. Masooda Bano, 2018. "Skills Development and International Development Agenda Setting: Lessons from an Intervention in Northern Nigeria," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 30(5), pages 789-808, December.

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