The Need to Become Fashionable

2019 ◽  
pp. 103-121
Author(s):  
Supriya Routh
Keyword(s):  
Capability Approach ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Traditional Account ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Conceptual Articulation ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
The Capability Approach

This chapter evaluates the capability approach both in its ability to justify the traditional account of labour law and in its usefulness in furthering a newer conceptual articulation of regulation of work (labour law). The chapter undertakes this evaluation through an exploration of labour law scholars’ engagement with the capability approach. While labour law scholars’ engagement with the capability approach is varied, several of them offer a narrow interpretation of the approach. That interpersonal variations mandate different levels of resources and circumstances for individuals to attain similar functioning ability is one of the fundamental insights of the capability approach. Seen in the context of legal entitlements of heterogeneous workers—from Uber drivers to domestic workers—this insight signifies that substantive entitlements of workers need to be context-specific and diverse so that each different category of workers could expand their overall capability to a roughly equal level. It is the capability approach that is able to offer a coherent idea of legal regulation integrating heterogeneous legal entitlements under one conceptual whole. The chapter contends that while it is possible to justify the traditional account of labour law by employing the capability approach, full potential of the approach will be realized in engaging it in normative (re)conceptualization of regulation of work.

What is Labour Law? Implications of the Capability Approach

2019 ◽  
pp. 122-140
Author(s):  
Brian Langille
Keyword(s):  
Capability Approach ◽  
Capabilities Approach ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Legal Subject ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Capability Approach

Creating real capabilities to engage in decent work is a vital social project. Labour law is best conceived of as that part of our law which seeks to remove obstacles to, and to nurture, such capabilities. Labour law’s undertaking is thus part of the larger project of human development—of advancing the cause of substantive human freedom conceived of as the real capacity to lead a life we have reason to value. On this view, the world of labour law is large (it is concerned with all who work) and its mission one which is both important and coheres with our basic values in all aspects of our lives. But labour law has, at present, another account of itself, long successful, but which is narrower and less ambitious. The legal starting point for that view is contract, and labour law’s mission is to control contract power. This is an important but narrower normative vision, which both restricts our understanding of what labour law is and limits its scope of application. Attempts to advance labour law’s self-understanding by appealing to the capability approach have been made, but met with resistance. In this chapter, this encounter is reviewed and assessed by examining the role of the capabilities approach (CA) in constituting labour law as a legal subject. In so doing, this chapter draws attention to another issue—the relationship between the normative narrative underpinning a discipline such as labour law (whatever it may be) and its expression in law.

The Capability Approach and Labour Law: Identifying the Areas of Fit

2019 ◽  
pp. 42-61
Author(s):  
Guy Davidov
Keyword(s):  
Capability Approach ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Entire Field ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Capability Approach

The goal of this chapter is to assess to what extent the Capability Approach (CA) can be useful for labour law theory. It begins by asking, what is the purpose of looking for a purpose for labour law? The chapter distinguishes between legal purposes (such as purposive interpretation) and non-legal purposes (for example, defending the law against economic and libertarian critiques). It argues that, for legal purposes, there must be a ‘fit’ between the proposed normative theory and existing laws. It then distinguishes between three different strands in the literature regarding what do we want people to be capable of: whatever they want (‘substantive freedom’); specific capabilities (justified by another theory); or effective ability to enjoy labour laws (that require separate justifications). The chapter argues that the first two strands can be used to justify some specific laws—notably, workplace equality, health and safety, and working time law—but certainly not the entire field. The third strand can be used as a ‘supplementary device’ to justify specific means that will make the laws effective—but does not provide the primary justification for the laws themselves.

The Capability Approach and the Economics of Labour Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 143-158
Author(s):  
Simon Deakin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Human Freedom ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Complete Theory ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
The Capability Approach

The implications of the capability approach for the positive and normative analysis of labour law are considered in this chapter. It is argued that the capability approach does not offer a complete theory of labour law and does not, in itself, provide substantive guidance for labour law reform, but that it offers a distinct ontological and methodological perspective which can help to reframe the debate over the economic effects of labour law. In its emphasis on the importance of institutions for creating the conditions for human freedom, and in its advocacy of a range of indicators of human well-being beyond those based on economic growth alone, the capability approach underpins the idea that labour law can play a role in creating the conditions for sustainable development.

The Capability Approach to Labour Law

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Age Discrimination ◽  
Amartya Sen ◽  
Employment Policy ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Normative Basis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Capability Approach

In this volume, leading scholars of both labour law and the Capability Approach (CA) explore the possible connections between their disciplines. Accounts of the CA—particularly those of Martha C. Nussbaum and Amartya Sen—do not specifically address labour law, but the CA is attractive to labour lawyers and scholars examining the foundations of their discipline. The questions being asked are whether the CA has anything to offer labour law, and if it does, what forms might this offering take? And, conversely, what light labour law might shine on the CA? In addressing these questions, the chapters in Part I inquire into the nature of the relationship between the CA and labour law—whether it is positive or negative and whether the CA can provide a normative basis for, or an understanding of, labour law. The chapters in Part II explore the CA/labour law debate through different and well-known perspectives on labour law, including economics, history, critical theory, restorative justice, and human rights. The final set of chapters examine the possible relevance of the CA to a range of specific labour law issues, such as freedom of association, age discrimination in the workplace, trade, employment policy, and sweatshop goods. As with this set of specific issues, the book as a whole is not meant to be an exhaustive account of the CA/labour law connection. Rather, it is offered as a first focused effort to open up the discussion and to stimulate further inquiry in this interdisciplinary enterprise.

The capability approach, agency and sustainable development

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elise Klein ◽  
Paola Ballon
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Multidimensional Poverty ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Policy Integration ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
The Capability Approach

This chapter examines the role of agency within the capability approach in promoting sustainable development. Drawing on research carried out in Mali, it considers the importance of including psychological and collective domains in the measurement of agency and proposes the use of ‘local’ metrics of agency: dusu and ka da I yèrè la. After providing a background on the Mali case study, the chapter discusses agency in relation to power and gender in the study site. It also analyses the policy implications of the ‘leave no-one behind agenda’ for agency and multidimensional poverty and concludes by identifying areas for policy integration, such as creating context-specific policy formations where agency is central.

Competenza ad agire insieme e senso di iniziativa: il tirocinio per attraversare i confini tra studio e lavoro

2020 ◽  
pp. 93-102
Author(s):  
Fabrizio d'Aniello
Keyword(s):  
Professional Growth ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Boundary Crossing ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Knowledge Models ◽  
Internship Experience ◽  
Cultural Historical Activity ◽  
The University ◽  
And Training ◽  
The Capability Approach

The pre-eminent motivation behind this contribution lies in the intention to offer students of three-year degree course in education and training sciences and master's degree in pedagogical sciences of the University of Macerata a further support than those already existing, aimed at expanding the educational meaningfulness of the internship experience. The main criticality of such experience is connected with the difficulty in translating knowledge, models, ideas into appropriate activities. This notably refers to the conceptual and educational core of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship and, consistently, to the skill to act. Therefore, after a deepening of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, followed by related pedagogical reflections based on the capability approach, the paper presents an operative proposal aimed at increasing young people's possibilities of action and supporting their personal and professional growth. With regard to this training proposal, the theoretical and methodological framework refers to the third generation cultural historical activity theory and to the tool of the boundary crossing laboratory, variant of the change laboratory

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