Ask rather than assume: the capability approach in the practitioner setting1

This chapter investigates the relationships between science and society, in particular social policy 'practice', by consulting the social policy actors (i.e. researchers, professionals and practitioners who deal with or implement diverse policy decisions). The purpose of the chapter is to develop our innovative communication initiative, in which we engaged with social policy professionals and practitioners in a two-way, mutually enriching theory-practice dialogue. Using the capability approach as an analytical lens hereallows for a fresh look at social policy implementation and delivery and helps to better understand how social policies in their entirety play out in different contexts. The historical and political contexts of social policies and people's different needs and values, the cornerstone of the CA, are increasingly recognised by policy practitioners and professionals who have first-hand experience with policy delivery or application at the local level. This chapter demonstrates that their experience with multiple access and eligibility-related issues on the ground sheds new light on the applicability of the CA, and how this approach may help to identify key features grounded in local knowledge, be it around social policy design, delivery or implementation.

Converting shared parental leave into shared parenting: the role of employers and use of litigation by employees in the UK

The UK government introduced Shared Parental Leave (SPL) in 2014 to expand parents' capabilities to share parenting, by affording fathers similar entitlements to post-birth leave as mothers. Policy sought to simultaneously address other sources of gender inequality to expand parents' capability sets to remain in work after childbirth and to share parenting differently. This social policy development represents a major step forward in addressing gender inequality at home and at work. However, the policy has not produced the desired change in fathers' leave uptake and the implementation has exposed several issues. This chapter argues that legal rights are one possible instrument for reaching that goal andincludes a wider legal and labour market landscape as a potentially relevant source of inequalities. Using the capability approach, it examines how the SPL shapes fathers' capability set to co-parent and how the broader regime of employment and anti-discrimination law addresses gender equality in home and at work. The chapter offers a more comprehensive explanation for the failure of SPL to enhance parents' capability to share parenting in ways they as a couple have reason to value, as well as an example of how to incorporate a multi-level interdisciplinary analysis of legal rights into social policy analysis through a capability lens.

From ‘active’ to ‘capable’: a capability framework for policy and practice on ageing and later life

The main European policy framework to address the challenges of population ageing is called 'active ageing', and it seeks to promote older people's engagement in economic and social activities and their independence and autonomy. This chapter proposes the adoption of an alternative-a capability framework-to deal with the challenges of population ageing, which is based on the capability approach (CA) and shifts the focus from activity (mainly economic and social activity) to the real opportunities older people have (their capabilities) to do what they value and to be the persons they want to be. This calls for comprehensive efforts to map out older adults' preferences and needs, and a more flexible, multidimensional and supportive approach to old-age policy, without imposing a priori importance on certain policy domains and without a strong focus on individual responsibility. The capability framework can open the door to policy alternatives that are more focused on older adults' opportunities and preferences.

Education as investment? A comparison of the capability and social investment approaches to education policy

This chapter compares the role of education policy in social investment and the capability approach. Based on an analysis of the document 'Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes' adopted by the European Commission in 2012 (and cited in the 'Social Investment Package'), we argue that the role of educational policy in social investment is mainly that of fostering the right skills for the flourishing of the economy and thus of improving people's productivity as workers. In contrast, the capability approach allows emphasizing the contribution of education not only to workers' employability but also to citizens' autonomy as well as to democratic citizenship. From this viewpoint, the capability approach could improve the normative basis of social investment, allowing to broaden the perspective on education policy beyond the one centred on human capital that currently informs social investment.

Rethinking social policy from a capability perspective

In this chapter, we discuss the key challenges and issues related to interpreting basic concepts of the capability approach (CA) in a social policy context. We start by briefly introducing the CA, tracing the idea of capabilities back to the writings of Aristotle and interpreting them in the context of Sen's capability approach. We then discuss the theoretical and empirical debates surrounding the CA as it was further developed by Nussbaum and later interpreted by other scholars such as Robeyns. The focus here is on the main conceptual and empirical debates in relation to social policy research and practice, centred on the key concepts in Sen's approach to capabilities: means, capabilities, functionings, conversion factors, and agency. Multiple interpretations of these concepts create difficulties in applying the CA to social policy research. This chapter offers a way forward in addressing these issues as they apply specifically to social policy research and practice.

Social investment, human rights and capabilities in practice: the case study of family homelessness in Dublin

This chapter brings together capabilities and rights theory with a participative action and policy engaged framework, to provide an account of their practical operationalization in the context of marketisation in housing policy. It explores how the capabilities (particularly functionings, conversion factors, and agency) and rights of homeless families were impacted. It details how the Participatory Action Human Rights and Capability Approach (PAHRCA) methodology enabled homeless families to co-construct with researchers, and to articulate to policymakers, new 'bottom-up' knowledge. Applying the capability approach (CA) as an evaluative framework in Irish housing policy, the chapter demonstrates how housing is an essential prerequisite in enabling a person to exercise choices in almost every area of life required to maximize personal and family well-being. It explains that the potential contribution of the CA in social policy case can come through participation of the vulnerable themselves in a process of co-production and self-assertion.

From the capability approach to capability-based social policy

This concluding chapter synthesizes the key messages from the book and presents a framework for future uses of the capability approach (CA) in social policy research and practice. As shown throughout the volume, social policy as a multi-layered research field spans numerous domains, each with their inherent complexities and approaches. Taking policy domains as an evaluative entry point, social policy research seeks to understand their development, processes, aims, implementation and impact from multiple perspectives and actors, including policymakers, professionals and practitioners, and policy recipients. The CA offers a promising way forward in understanding these multiple perspectives as demonstrated by the individual chapters in this volume. We break systematically from the established scholarship in our aim to offer new frameworks for analysing and formulating policies. We propose the use of a capability approach to social policy (see Chapter One), further specified into capability theories (Robeyns, 2017), as illustrated by the conceptual and methodological developments in this volume, synthesized here. Additionally, we discuss a three-tiered translational process for shifting from developing an evaluative space for understanding social policy development, its implementation and effects, towards developing capability-based social policies at a collective level. This final, concluding chapter, briefly summarizes the key arguments of the book to provide a foundation for making this shift.

Comparative social policy analysis of parental leave policies through the lens of the capability approach

This chapter analyses public parental leave in five pairs of European countries and assesses its opportunity potential to facilitate equal parental involvement and employment, focusing on gender and income opportunity gaps. It draws on Sen's capability approach and Weber's ideal-types to comparative policy analysis. It offers the ideal parental leave design, one which minimizes the policy-generated gender and class inequality in parents' opportunities to share parenting while working, thus providing real opportunities for different groups of individuals to achieve valued functionings as parents. Five policy indicators are created using benchmarking and graphical analysis and two sources of opportunity inequality are considered: the leave system as the opportunity and constraint structure and the socio-economic contexts as the conversion factors. The chapter produces a comprehensive overview of national leave policies, visually presenting leave policy across ten European countries. It demonstrates that leave systems in countries from the same welfare regime can diverge in the degree to which they create real opportunities for parents and children as well as in key policy dimensions through which these opportunities are created.