scholarly journals Enabling Participation Income for an Eco-Social State

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Francesco Laruffa ◽  
Michael McGann ◽  
Mary P. Murphy

We revise Atkinson’s concept of a ‘participation income’ (PI), repositioning it as a form of green conditional basic income that is anchored in a capabilities-oriented eco-social policy framework. This framework combines the capability approach with an ‘ethics of care’ to re-shape the focus of social policy on individuals’ capability to ‘take care of the world’, thus shifting the emphasis from economic production to social reproduction and environmental reparation. In developing this proposal, we seek to address key questions about the feasibility of implementing PI schemes: including their administrative complexity and the criticism that a PI constitutes either an arbitrary and confusing, or invasive and stigmatising, form of basic income. To address these concerns, we argue for an enabling approach to incentivising participation whereby participation pathways are co-created with citizens on the basis of opportunities they recognise as meaningful rather than enforced through strict monitoring and sanctions.

Author(s):  
Edward Ryan Teather-Posadas

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare many of the inadequacies of our capitalist systems, as Zizek extols in Pandemic! COVID-19 Shakes the World (2020). This essay explores how the capabilities approach, as outlined by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, may be re-examined in the light of this new viral reality by the contributions of Slavoj Zizek and Byung-Chul Han. The capability approach, as it stands, suffers from two missing pieces: that of an acknowledgement of the necessity of negativity as a foil to positivity within the capabilities as articulated by Nussbaum, and the existence of the material root of all capabilities, namely the need to have the capacity to be capable. A "capability for boredom", and a "zeroth capability" are discussed as solutions, means by which to fill these gaps. Finally, an universal basic income is discussed as a means by which to support the functioning of a "zeroth capability", the goal being to avoid a descent into bare life during this time of pandemic capitalism. Teather-Posadas E.R. To thrive in these times: capabilities, negativity, and the pandemic // International Journal of Zizek Stu-dies. 2021. Vol. 15. №1.


2009 ◽  
pp. 66-79
Author(s):  
Gianluca Busilacchi

- Over the last year the capability approach has been widely used by social scientist. Its success is mainly due to the richness of its theoretical framework and the possibility to enrich the interdisciplinary researches also at the empirical level. However the empirical applications in the field of public policy, especially social policy, are still very limited: what is the reason? And which is the role of economic sociology in contributing to the analysis of social policy endorsing the capability approach? The first part of the paper concerns the explanation of the theoretical framework of the capability approach, through an analysis of its main concepts and empirical applications. Then we will try to see why the capability approach can be especially used by economic sociology, and why this social science can be enriched by the capability approach to analyse social policy with a richer toolbox.Keywords: social policy, capability approach, economic sociology, public policy, Amartya Sen, poverty


Author(s):  
Rod Hick ◽  
Tania Burchardt

This article examines capability deprivation as the basis for analyzing poverty. The capability approach, developed initially by Amartya Sen, questions the “informational space” on which considerations of poverty, inequality, justice, and so forth, should be based. According to the capability approach, the appropriate “space” for analyzing poverty is not what people have, nor how they feel, but what they can do and be. After providing an overview of the concepts that comprise the capability approach, this article discusses three key questions within the literature regarding the nature of the approach, namely: the question of functioning and/or capabilities, the question of a capability list, and the question of aggregation. It also describes some prominent empirical applications that have been inspired by the capability approach and concludes with an assessment of the current state-of-the-art literature on the capability approach.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Jean-Michel Bonvin ◽  
Francesco Laruffa

In this article we explore the potential of the capability approach as a normative basis for eco-social policies. While the capability approach is often interpreted as a productivist or maximalist perspective, assuming the desirability of economic growth, we suggest another understanding, which explicitly problematises the suitability of economic growth and productive employment as means for enhancing capabilities. We argue that the capability approach allows rejecting the identification of social progress with economic growth and that it calls for democratically debating the meaning of wellbeing and quality of life. We analyse the implications of this conceptualisation for the design of welfare states.


Author(s):  
Mara A. Yerkes ◽  
Jana Javornik ◽  
Erik Jansen ◽  
Anna Kurowska

2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 383-399
Author(s):  
Julian Molina Romero

Das Thema soziale Gerechtigkeit steht wieder ganz oben auf der politischen Agenda. Seit die Pandemie-Anfälligkeit der globalen Gesellschaft deutlich vor Augen geführt wurde, wirkt Covid-19 überall wie ein Brandbeschleuniger: Hunger, Armut, gespaltene Gesellschaften, Populismus und Autoritarismus scheinen vermehrt die Folge. Der Bedarf an Handlungsempfehlungen in der Krise ist groß. Der Capability Approach (CA) liefert für die Adressierung aktueller Gerechtigkeitsprobleme ein umfassendes und zugleich praktisches Konzept. Vielversprechend scheint insbesondere der systematische Zusammenhang von Freiheit, sozialer Verantwortung und demokratischer Praxis, der in anderen Ansätzen wie z.B. dem bedingungslosen Grundeinkommen weniger Berücksichtigung findet. Abstract: Realisation of Social Justice in the “Crisis”: Freedom, Social Responsibility and Public Use of Reason Within the Framework of the Capability Approach The issue of social justice is back at the top of the political agenda. Since the pandemic vulnerability of global society has been shown dramatically, Covid-19 has been acting like a multiplier: hunger, poverty, divided societies, populism and authoritarianism seem to be increasingly the result. The need for recommendations for action in the crisis is great. The capability approach (CA) provides a comprehensive and at the same time practical concept for addressing current problems of social justice. Especially, the systematic connection of freedom, social responsibility and democratic practice, which is not considered in other approaches such as the unconditional basic income, seems promising.


The capability approach, an increasingly popular conceptual and theoretical framework focused on what individuals are able to do and be, offers a unique evaluative perspective to social policy analysis. This book explores the advantages of this approach and offers a way forward in addressing conceptual and empirical issues as they apply specifically to social policy research and practice. Short conceptual and empirical chapters provide clear examples of how policies shape the capabilities of different groups and individuals, critically assessing the efficacy of different social policies across multiple social policy fields, providing both academic and practitioner viewpoints.


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