Pro-Poor Innovations to Promote Instrumental Freedoms: A Systematic Literature Review

Through a systematic literature review, this article aims to evaluate the impacts of various concepts of pro-poor innovations (PPI) on the five instrumental freedoms in Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach. For this, 165 articles were analysed to summarize the main influences of the pro-poor innovation on each type of instrumental freedom: political freedoms, economic facilities, transparency guarantees, social opportunities, and protective security. In general, the results indicate a positive influence of the innovation concepts for distinct types of freedom, with emphasis on the expansion of social opportunities and economic facilities.

CULTURAL JUSTICE, BASIC INCOME AND THE CAPABILITY APPROACH

In this paper, we elaborate on a theory of an evolutionary political economy capable of accommodating the issue of cultural justice by taking seriously the redistribution–recognition dilemma, a normative analysis of which has been put forth by Nancy Fraser. While accepting Fraser’s articulation of the dilemma, we resist her concluding that Sen’s capability approach is insensitive to cultural justice or the recognition of difference. There is no automatic guarantee, yet an intermediate theory of recognition or cultural justice could in theory be brought to bear on what is, after all, ‘a framework’. We argue that Fraser’s analysis is well suited to be such an intermediate theory, and propose a theoretical device for an evolutional perspective on redistribution and recognition. We concentrate on identifying the stage of the market process at which policy intervenes to remedy redistribution, and the stage of the communication process at which policy intervenes to remedy recognition. Interventions at the entrance stages of both processes are relatively effective and one possibility for such an intervention is to propose Basic Income, which would make it not inconsistent with the capability approach, even though this approach neither directly suggests such a policy not excludes others.

YouTube vlogging as access to possibilities: A phenomenological study of an OG Filipino vlogger

This qualitative phenomenological study aims to understand and provide contextual explanation on the meaning behind the communicative action of YouTube vlogging as located in the essence of experience of the OG Filipino vlogger voice. The bracketing used is an in-depth interview, and the participant is Lincoln Velasquez, more popularly known as Cong TV, one of the top 10 individual vloggers in the Philippines (his channel having >7 million subscribers), and also one of the earliest to start in 2008, several years before vlogging became commercially lucrative in 2016. The analysis is conducted by coding, categorizing, and interpreting the interview transcript, from which 13 sub-themes emerge. By conceptually connecting the sub-themes, the grand theme of vlogging as access to possibilities is surfaced. Through an initial linkage to Sen’s capability approach, a further theoretical abstraction of the grand theme to vlogging as expansion of capabilities is tentatively proposed.

In defence of our model for just healthcare systems: why an explicit philosophy is needed in addition to the law, and how Scanlon helps derive just policies

In a recent response to our paper on developing a philosophical framework to guide the design and delivery of a just health service, Sarela raises several objections. We feel that although Sarela makes points which are worthy of discussion, his critique does not undermine either the need for, or the worth of, our proposed model. First, the law does not negate the need for ethics in determining just healthcare policy. Reliance on legal processes can drive inappropriate focus on ensuring policies avoid judicial review, as opposed to ensuring they are truly just; the law affords protection against unjust policies but does not put a commitment to avoiding them at the heart of policy-making. We defend the need for Scanlonian supplementation by emphasising the practical value of adding a step based on reasonable rejection, particularly in ensuring that the views of vulnerable stakeholders are robustly considered. We discuss the similarities and differences between the work of Daniels and Sen in considering the relationship between health and opportunity, concluding that Sen’s capability approach is both valuable and compatible with our proposed model. Finally, the practical use of our model requires consideration of what constitutes a reasonable person. Our model is explicitly intended to help develop a healthcare system which is just to all its users. With this in mind, we suggest that those involved in decision-making should meet Scanlon’s definition of reasonable: they should be motivated to justify their actions to, and seek agreement with, others.

Female and Male Community-Level Empowerment: Capability Approach-Based Findings for Rural India

This paper adds to the empirical research on empowerment drivers by analysing the empowerment of women and men at the community level. Using micro-data from four villages in rural Karnataka/India, our econometric estimations confirm several predictions of Sen’s capability approach on potential determinants of empowerment. Education, decent employment, other-regarding agency goals, political networks, trust and fairness coincide with reported impact on community-level change. Gender-specific estimations demonstrate that most empirical drivers of empowerment are quite consistent for men and women in many respects. Some variables, however, notably higher education, correlate with community-level empowerment of men, but not of women, which emphasises different gender roles in rural Karnataka. These findings may help researchers and practitioners to further develop cause-related strategies to overcome major determinants of disempowerment in institutional village decision contexts in general as well as those which are gender-specific.

Migration as a Capability: Discussing Sen’s Capability Approach in the Context of International Migration

Migration is a form of spatial and social transplant from one local and national context to another. Migration trajectories often expose the underlying intersections of social relations and social hierarchies that underpin cultural and social national environments. Migrants who encounter those complex structural inequalities must learn to negotiate classed, gendered and racialised social relations and seek the most suitable social positions within new systems. This article builds on Amartya Sen’s capability approach to conceptualise migrants’ embeddedness in the framework of social inequalities and explores the relationship between individual choices, resources and entitlements. It points towards patterns of advantage and disadvantage that frame migrants’ opportunities and draws tacit analytical, theoretical and methodological links that have the innovative potential for the study of migration. Building on the parallels between studies in the fields of social inequalities and migration, this article argues that Sen’s analytical and conceptual approach provides innovative insights into migration experiences, and Sen’s unique reasoning opens up new avenues for the discussion of migrants’ social justice.