1. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 1 Capabilities and Reciprocity – basic reflections on their compatibility Folie 1 Bernhard Babic | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | 1.The Capability Approach (CA) 2.The CA‘s applicability and added value for social work 3.Potential compatibility with Reciprocity

2. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 2 1. The Capability Approach (CA) | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | Bernhard Babic  originally developed by the economist, philosopher, and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen as an alternative to neo-liberal and utilitarian concepts  according to Clark (2005) „the most influential alternative to standard economic frameworks for thinking about poverty, inequality, and human development”  focus on what people are effectively able to do and to be; that is, on their capabilities  contrasts with other approaches that concentrate on people’s happiness or desire-fulfilment, or on income, expenditures, or consumption  suggests that evaluations and policies should focus on the enhancement of people‘s capabilities; we should ask if and to what extent do they really support people to lead a life “they have reason to choose and value” (Sen 2001)

3. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 3 resources/ commodities utility/ assessment x1x1 x2x2 u (x 1, x 2 ) (x 1, x 2 ) budget The ‚usual‘ economical assessment of the standard of living (Leßmann 2012) | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | Bernhard Babic

4. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 4 resources/ commodities utility/ assessment x1x1 x2x2 (x 1, x 2 ) functionings/ life situation personal technology f (x 1, x 2 ) personal, social and environmental factors b1b1 b2b2 b i = f(x 1, x 2 ) Q i = {b i |b i = f(x 1, x 2 )} v i = v i (b i /Q i ) budget Assessment of the standard of living according to Sen‘s CA (Leßmann 2012) | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | Bernhard Babic

5. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 5 Achieved functionings Capability set Resources Conversion factors Choice Resources: goods and services available with a certain budget/income Conversion factors: individual, social and environmental Capability set: amount of functionings, a person basically could realise Achieved functionings: functionings a person realised | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | Central terms of the CA (Leßmann 2012) Bernhard Babic

6. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 6 Multidimensionality –Functionings = doings and beings as dimensions –Not (just) resources, utility/happiness/satisfaction –money is important but not everything –life situation is influenced by many different aspects Choice –represented as a set of opportunities/functionings –humans are actively shaping their lives –choice has an positive effect on human well-being | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | Key characteristics of the CA Bernhard Babic

7. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 7 | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | Constrains of the CA  How to identify valuable functionings/capabilities: Nussbaum (2000, 2006) defines a list of essential capabilities, while Sen (1999, 2004) rejects such predefined lists. From his point of view the choice of valuable functionings/ capabilities has to be settled in a democratic process, involving not at least the directly affected people.  Lack of lack of a model of temporal interaction: The “description of functionings and capabilities (…) suggests their development and education, but the formal model of Sen is (…) a comparative static model and Nussbaum’s ideas (…) remain sketchy” (Leßmann 2009). As a consequence, the CA needs to be adapted very carefully to a specific field of work. Bernhard Babic

8. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 8 | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | 2. The CA‘s applicability and added value for social work Example: „Approaching Capabilities with Children in Care“ Between October 2009 and March 2010 within two field studies in Nicaragua and Namibia 177 childern/young people in various forms of care (and 138 ‚relevant adults‘) were asked qualitatively for  the life they would like to lead later on  how they asses their chances to realise their plans  what kind of support they already receive  what kind of support they need additionally to achieve their goals Bernhard Babic

9. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 9 | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | It was possible to extract a culturally adequate notion of a flourishing life from the data, which provided SOS Children’s Villages with reliable criteria to assess and optimise their work and to support the development of new programmes and services (e.g. creating more opportunities for positive peer experiences). Bernhard Babic

10. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 10 | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | What makes the CA attractive for social work?  focus on the individual values/needs of a person without ignoring the interdependence of social/environmental factors and individual well-being  (according to Sen) extensive participation of target groups concerning the problem definition and the identification of appropriate solutions  explicite openness towards and appreciation of socio-cultural diversity (huge inclusive potential)  many analogies with community social work/community development Bernhard Babic

11. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 11 | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 |  commits the state/society (and the agents acting on his/her authority) to enable the people to live a life they have reason to choose and value  incorporates economical standard concepts and goes beyond them  has already proven his ability to generate added value, e.g. in form of the HDI, that showed that a high living expectation is not necessarily correlated with a high GDP (gross domestic product) and caused therefore some significant shifts in the field of international development cooperation Bernhard Babic

12. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 12 | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | 3. Potential compatibility with Reciprocity Relevant axioms of the CA:  People and their values are ends in themselves and must not be instrumentalised in any way (the economy/the state has to serve the people, not the other way round).  As well-being correlates with the ability to live according to one‘s values, limitations of the personal freedom (reflected in one‘s capability set) have to be reduced wherever possible.  Accordingly, the quality of societies, policies, services, developments etc. depends on the extent to which they contribute to people‘s well-being. Bernhard Babic

13. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 13 | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | Consequences and assumptions concerning Reciprocity:  Well-being is against this background actually the results of a successful coproduction of an individual, that actively pursues his/her goals and has the necessary conversion factors at his/her disposal, and of an environment that offers according opportunities.  In case of a lack of agency or opportunity, well-being will hardly be reached, if the necessarily involved parties do not understand and treat each other respectfully as indispensable resources.  Therefore, adequate opportunities for participation (this is at least bringing in one‘s values) have to be seen as a precondition of individual well-being as well as for an appropriate accomplishment of tasks by the representatives of the society and her authorities (including social workers). Bernhard Babic

14. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 14 | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 |  And finally, if we accept the axiom of the CA, that the individual values should be the starting point of any activitiy that aims at the realisation of well-being, the CA might even be able to tell us, what should be the subject of the according reciprocal processes: it should be an exchange on values and how to meet them. Bernhard Babic Achieved functionings Capability set Resources Conversion factors Choice

15. | 8. Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit 2012 | 14.09.2012 | Folie 15 | Round Table Discussion, Helsinki| 16.11.2012 | Thank you very much for your attention ! Kiitos huomiostanne! Contact: Bernhard Babic Gertraudenstr. 1 96050 Bamberg Germany Bernhard.babic@web.de http://www.bernhard-babic.de Bernhard Babic