IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/rsocec/v63y2005i1p101-124.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Capabilities, Culture and Social Structure

Author

Listed:
  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00346760500048048
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00346760500048048?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. Gasper, D.R., 1993. "Entitlements analysis : relating concepts and contexts," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18849, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    2. Lindon Robison & A. Allan Schmid & Marcelo Siles, 2002. "Is Social Capital Really Capital?," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(1), pages 1-21.
    3. Des Gasper, 1993. "Entitlements Analysis: Relating Concepts and Contexts," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 24(4), pages 679-718, October.
    4. Freeman, Chris & Louca, Francisco, 2002. "As Time Goes By: From the Industrial Revolutions to the Information Revolution," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199251056.
    5. Wilfred Dolfsma, 2001. "Metaphors of Knowledge in Economics," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(1), pages 71-91.
    6. William A. Jackson, 2003. "Social Structure in Economic Theory," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 727-746, September.
    7. Steven Pressman & Gale Summerfield, 2000. "The Economic Contributions of Amartya Sen," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 89-113.
    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. 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.
    2. Jackson, William A., 2015. "Distributive Justice With and Without Culture," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 8(6), pages 673-688.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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).
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Mabsout, Ramzi, 2015. "Mindful capability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 86-97.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    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.

    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. Gasper, D.R., 2020. "Amartya Sen, social theorizing and contemporary India," ISS Working Papers - General Series 126789, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    2. Gasper, D.R., 2007. "Problem- and policy-analysis for human development," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18743, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    3. Des Gasper, 1997. "Sen's capability approach and Nussbaum's cpabilities ethic," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(2), pages 281-302.
    4. Elizabeth Oughton & Jane Wheelock, 2003. "A capabilities approach to austainable household livelihoods1With thanks to the Economic and Social Research Council for funding 'Enterprising livelihoods in rural households: new and old ways of work," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 61(1), pages 1-22.
    5. Des Gasper, 2000. "Development as freedom: taking economics beyond commodities-the cautious boldness of Amartya Sen," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(7), pages 989-1001.
    6. Leach, Melissa & Mearns, Robin & Scoones, Ian, 1999. "Environmental Entitlements: Dynamics and Institutions in Community-Based Natural Resource Management," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 225-247, February.
    7. Agnihotri, Satish & Palmer-Jones, Richard & Parikh, Ashok, 2002. "Missing women in Indian districts: a quantitative analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 285-314, September.
    8. Jacqueline S. Solway, 1994. "Drought as a Revelatory Crisis: An Exploration of Shifting Entitlements and Hierarchies in the Kalahari, Botswana," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 25(3), pages 471-495, July.
    9. Paul Shaffer, 2008. "New Thinking on Poverty: Implications for Globalisation and Poverty Reduction Strategies," Working Papers 65, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    10. Deepak K. Mishra & Vandana Upadhyay, 2012. "The Difficult Transition," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 19(1), pages 93-126, February.
    11. Wilfred Dolfsma, 2001. "Economists as subjects: Toward a psychology of economists," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 77-88, March.
    12. Ziad Rotaba & Catherine Beaudry, 2012. "How Do High, Medium, And Low Tech Firms Innovate? A System Of Innovation (Si) Approach," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(05), pages 1-23.
    13. Mina Baliamoune-Lutz, 2004. "On the Measurement of Human Well-being: Fuzzy Set Theory and Sen's Capability Approach," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-16, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Marco Gallegati, 2019. "A system for dating long wave phases in economic development," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 803-822, July.
    15. Grande, Rafael & Muñoz de Bustillo, Rafael & Fernández Macías, Enrique & Antón, José Ignacio, 2020. "Innovation and job quality. A firm-level exploration," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 130-142.
    16. Martin Henning & Hans Westlund & Kerstin Enflo, 2023. "Urban–rural population changes and spatial inequalities in Sweden," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(4), pages 878-892, May.
    17. Vianna Franco, Marco P. & Ribeiro, Leonardo Costa & Albuquerque, Eduardo da Motta e, 2022. "Beyond Random Causes: Harmonic Analysis Of Business Cycles At The Moscow Conjuncture Institute," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 456-476, September.
    18. Mark Knell & Simone Vannuccini, 2022. "Tools and concepts for understanding disruptive technological change after Schumpeter," Jena Economics Research Papers 2022-005, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    19. António Madureira & Nico Baken & Harry Bouwman, 2011. "Value of digital information networks: a holonic framework," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-30, April.
    20. Hall, Stephen & Foxon, Timothy J., 2014. "Values in the Smart Grid: The co-evolving political economy of smart distribution," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 600-609.

    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:taf:rsocec:v:63:y:2005:i:1:p:101-124. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RRSE20 .

    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.