5.3 What can you do? Who can you be? Capabilities and Well-being

The capabilities approach to well-being focuses on what people can do and be, not just what they have. It considers both the opportunities available to individuals and their actual achievements, emphasizing the importance of freedom and choice in pursuing a fulfilling life.

This approach aligns with the chapter's exploration of scientifically studying happiness by providing a framework to assess well-being beyond just subjective measures. It highlights the role of societal factors and individual agency in shaping our ability to achieve happiness and live a life we value.

Capabilities Approach to Well-being

Key Components of the Capabilities Approach

• The capabilities approach, developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, assesses individual well-being and social arrangements based on what people are able to do and be
• Functionings are the various things a person may value doing or being (being healthy, having a good job, being educated, participating in community life)
  • Achieved functionings are the realized outcomes that a person actually experiences
• Capabilities refer to the set of valuable functionings that a person has effective access to and the freedom to choose from
  • They are the substantive opportunities or real freedoms that enable individuals to achieve various lifestyles
• The approach emphasizes the importance of both well-being freedom (the ability to achieve valued functionings) and well-being achievement (the actual attainment of those functionings)
• Nussbaum proposes a list of ten central capabilities essential for human flourishing:
  1. Life
  2. Bodily health
  3. Bodily integrity
  4. Senses, imagination, and thought
  5. Emotions
  6. Practical reason
  7. Affiliation
  8. Other species
  9. Play
  10. Control over one's environment
• The approach recognizes the diversity of human beings and the plurality of dimensions in which quality of life can be assessed, beyond just income or subjective well-being measures

Advantages of the Capabilities Approach

• Focuses on what people are effectively able to do and be, rather than just the resources they have
• Accounts for human diversity and the different ways individuals can convert resources into valued outcomes
• Recognizes the intrinsic importance of freedom and choice in well-being
• Considers both the opportunities available to individuals (capabilities) and their actual achievements (functionings)
• Provides a multidimensional framework for assessing quality of life, beyond monetary measures
• Emphasizes the role of societal arrangements and public policies in expanding or constraining individuals' capabilities

Individual Capabilities and Societal Factors

Conversion Factors Influencing Capabilities

• An individual's ability to convert resources into valued functionings is influenced by personal, social, and environmental conversion factors
  • Personal conversion factors are internal characteristics that influence how a person can convert resources into functionings (physical condition, sex, reading skills, intelligence)
  • Social conversion factors are societal characteristics that affect one's ability to utilize resources for their well-being (public policies, social norms, discriminatory practices, power relations)
  • Environmental conversion factors can enable or hinder the conversion of resources into desired outcomes (climate, geographical location, infrastructure)

Societal Arrangements and Capability Sets

• Societal arrangements, institutions, and public policies play a crucial role in shaping the capability sets available to individuals
  • They can expand or constrain individuals' substantive freedoms and opportunities
• Inequality in capabilities can arise from disparities in access to resources, social discrimination, or unequal distribution of power within a society
  • This limits individuals' ability to achieve valued functionings
• Governments and societies have a responsibility to create enabling conditions and remove barriers that hinder individuals' capabilities
  • This includes providing education, healthcare, social protection, and ensuring non-discrimination

Agency and Choice in Happiness

The Role of Agency in Pursuing Well-being

• The capabilities approach emphasizes the central role of agency and choice in individuals' pursuit of well-being and the kind of life they have reason to value
• Agency refers to a person's ability to:
  1. Act on behalf of what matters to them
  2. Pursue goals and values that they endorse
  3. Bring about change in their own lives and the world around them
• The approach distinguishes between agency freedom (the freedom to choose and act) and agency achievement (the realization of goals and values pursued)

The Value of Choice and Constraints on Agency

• Having a range of valuable options and the freedom to choose among them is intrinsically important for well-being, beyond just the outcomes achieved
  • The process of choice itself is seen as valuable
• However, people's choices are often constrained by their socio-economic circumstances, social norms, or adaptive preferences shaped by deprivation or oppression
• Enhancing individuals' capabilities expands their agency and empowers them to make meaningful choices that align with their values and conception of a good life

Capabilities Approach in Interventions

Microfinance and Women's Empowerment

• The Grameen Bank microfinance program in Bangladesh provides small loans to poor women
  • This enhances their economic capabilities and empowers them to start businesses and improve their livelihoods

Conditional Cash Transfers for Education and Health

• The Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer program in Brazil provides financial assistance to low-income families
  • It is contingent on children's school attendance and health check-ups, expanding their capabilities in education and health

Organizing and Supporting Informal Sector Workers

• The Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in India organizes informal sector women workers
  • It provides them with training, credit, and social security, enhancing their capabilities for decent work and social protection

Housing as a Fundamental Capability

• The "Housing First" approach to homelessness, implemented in various countries, prioritizes providing stable housing to homeless individuals
  • It recognizes that having a secure place to live is a fundamental capability for well-being

Participatory Budgeting and Political Capabilities

• Participatory budgeting initiatives, such as those in Porto Alegre, Brazil, involve citizens in decision-making processes about public spending
  • This enhances their capabilities for political participation and democratic engagement

Education and Sustainable Development

• The "Barefoot College" in India provides training to rural women to become solar engineers
  • This expands their capabilities for education, employment, and sustainable development in their communities