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Capabilities, Culture and Social Structure

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  • William Jackson

Abstract

Sen's capability approach has a culturally specific side, with capabilities influenced by social structures and institutions. Although Sen acknowledges this, he expresses his theory in individualistic terms and makes little allowance for culture or social structure. The present paper draws from recent social theory to discuss how the capability approach could be developed to give an explicit treatment of cultural and structural matters. Capabilities depend not only on entitlements but on institutional roles and personal relations: these can be represented openly if capabilities are disaggregated into individual, social and structural capacities. The three layers interact, and a full analysis of capabilities should consider them all. A stratified method implies that raising entitlements will not on its own be enough to enhance capabilities and that cultural and structural changes will be needed.

Suggested Citation

  • William Jackson, 2005. "Capabilities, Culture and Social Structure," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(1), pages 101-124.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rsocec:v:63:y:2005:i:1:p:101-124
    DOI: 10.1080/00346760500048048
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Shankaran Nambiar, 2021. "Capabilities and Communities: A Perspective from Institutional Economics," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(6), pages 1973-1996, December.
    2. Wang, Qiong & Mukhopadhaya, Pundarik & Ye, Jingyi, 2020. "An evaluation of the changes in wellbeing in China – 2005 to 2015: An exploratory study," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    3. Mabsout, Ramzi, 2015. "Mindful capability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 86-97.
    4. Su-Jung Nam, 2020. "Multidimensional Poverty among Female Householders in Korea: Application of a Latent Class Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-11, January.
    5. Antonio Andreoni & Ha-Joon Chang & Isabel Estevez, 2021. "The Missing Dimensions of the Human Capabilities Approach: Collective and Productive," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(2), pages 179-205, April.
    6. William A. Jackson, 2015. "Distributive Justice With and Without Culture," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(6), pages 673-688, December.
    7. Wilfred Dolfsma & Deborah Figart & Robert McMaster & Martha Starr, 2012. "Promoting Research on Intersections of Economics, Ethics, and Social Values: Editorial," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 70(2), pages 155-163, June.
    8. Dolfsma, W.A. & Verburg, R.M., 2005. "Bridging Structure and Agency: Processes of Institutional Change," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2005-064-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    9. Joan DeJaeghere & Aryn Baxter, 2014. "Entrepreneurship education for youth in sub-Saharan Africa: A capabilities approach as an alternative framework to neoliberalism’s individualizing risks," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 14(1), pages 61-76, January.
    10. Phuc Phan & Martin O’Brien, 2019. "Multidimensional Wellbeing Inequality in a Developing Country: A Case Study of Vietnam," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 157-183, August.
    11. Jackson, William A., 2014. "External Capabilities and the Limits to Social Policy," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 125-142.
    12. Lakshmi Narayanan Venkataraman, 2016. "Social Sciences in India: Premises and Promises of Capability Approach," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 10(1), pages 111-121, April.
    13. Tamara Mackean & Madison Shakespeare & Matthew Fisher, 2022. "Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Theories of Wellbeing and Their Suitability for Wellbeing Policy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-16, September.
    14. Hyesun Hwang & Su-Jung Nam, 2020. "Differences in Multidimensional Poverty According to Householders’ Gender and Age in South Korea," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 147-165, March.

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