JAGANNATH BAROOAH COLLEG Another Assignment

JAGANNATH BAROOAH COLLEGE
AMARTYA SEN’S CAPABILITY APPROACH
SUBMITTED BY- SUBMITTED TO: -
SHARMISTHA NATH SANTANA DATTA
ROLL NO- 2021379 DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
BA 5th SEMESTER
Acknowledgement
It gives me immense pleasure that we got the opportunity to take part in this
assignment and so we are thankful to SANTANA DATTA that we could
successfully complete the task given to us by you. We are grateful enough to you
that we got to learn new things from the task allotted to us and this could only
happen because of the things you made us do. We are thankful to you again for
granting us the opportunity. This is a gratitude to you from us for giving things in
time and not less than the work to be done.
I also wish to express my gratitude to my fellow classmates for their kind and
valuable advices without which my work would not have been completed.
with regards,
Sharmistha Nath
The Sen capability approach is a moral framework. It proposes that social arrangements should
be evaluated primarily according to the extent of freedom people have to promote as well as
achieving functions they value. Amartya Sen’s capability theory approach is a theoretical
framework that involves two core normative claims.
First, the assumption that freedom to achieve well-being is of primary moral importance. And
second, that freedom to achieve well-being must be understood in terms of people with
capabilities. In other words, their real opportunities to do and be what they value. The approach
has been developed into a variety of more specific normative theories. Such as those of social
justice or the narratives of development ethics.
It has also given rise to a new highly interdisciplinary literature in the social sciences resulting in
new social statistics and indicators. And to a new policy paradigm used mainly in developing
studies, the so-called “human development approach” or human well-being.
The capability approach claims that freedom to achieve well-being is a matter of what people can
do and be. And therefore, the kind of life they can effectively lead. As Sen argues, people’s
commodities or wealth or their mental reactions (utility) are an inappropriate angle because they
provide limited or indirect information about how life is going. Sen illustrates his point with the
example of a standard bicycle.
This has the characteristics of “transportation”, but whether it will actually provide transportation
will depend on the characteristics of those trying to use it. It could be considered a generally
useful tool for most people to extend their mobility. Even if that person by some quirk, finds the
bicycle charming, we should be able to notice within our assessment system that it still lacks
transportation. This mental reaction also does not show that the same person would not
appreciate transportation if it were actually available to them.
Theory of capabilities
The capabilities approach goes directly to the quality of life that people can actually achieve. This
quality of life is analysed in terms of the central concepts of “functioning” and “capability”. Sen
argues that the correct approach to assessing how well people is doing is their ability to live a life
that we have reason to value, not their wealth of resources or subjective well-being. But to begin to
assess how people perform in terms of capacity, we first need to determine which functions are
important to the good life and how much, or at least we need to specify an assessment procedure
to determine this.
Assessing capability is more information-demanding than other accounts of advantage because it

not only has a much broader view of what constitutes the achievement of well-being, but also
attempts to assess the freedom people actually have to make high-quality choices. Because the
value of a set of capabilities represents an individual’s effective freedom to live a life that is
valuable in terms of the value of the functioning available to that individual, when available
functioning’s are enhanced, so is the individual’s effective freedom.
Interpersonal Variations
The diagnosis of capacity failures or significant interpersonal variations in capacity leads the
attention to the relevant responsible causative pathways. These are: individual physiology, local
environmental diversities, variations in social conditions, differences in relational perspectives and
distribution within the family. Many of these interpersonal variations also influence people’s
abilities to access resources in the first place. For example, people with physical disabilities often
have more expensive requirements for achieving the same capabilities, such as mobility. While at
the same time they also have greater difficulty obtaining income.
CONCLUSION
the capabilities approach is defined by its choice of focus on the moral significance of individuals’
ability to achieve the kind of life they have reason to value. This distinguishes it from more
established approaches to ethical evaluation. They focus exclusively on subjective well-being or
the availability of means for good living, respectively. A person’s ability to live a good life is defined
in terms of the set of valuable “beings and actions”. Like having good health or having loving
relationships with other people to whom they have real accessibility.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
 My respected teachers
 Textbook
 Refreshers
 Friends and classmates
 Internet

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JAGANNATH BAROOAH COLLEGE

AMARTYA SEN’S CAPABILITY APPROACH

SUBMITTED BY- SUBMITTED TO: -

SHARMISTHA NATH SANTANA DATTA

ROLL NO- 2021379 DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Assessing capability is more information-demanding than other accounts of advantage because it

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