Functionings and capabilities
Sen (1985) argued that judging welfare by goods or income, or by utility as in utilitarianism, is limited. People with disabilities or illness may convert the same income into far less, and long-deprived people adapt their expectations downward. Sen therefore distinguished 'functionings', the beings and doings people achieve, such as being nourished, healthy, educated or taking part in community life, from 'capabilities', the real freedom to choose among them (Sen, 1993).
Nussbaum's central capabilities
Sen declined to fix a list, holding that relevant capabilities should be chosen through public reasoning. Nussbaum (2003, 2011) instead proposed ten central capabilities, including life, bodily health, emotions, practical reason, affiliation, play and control over one's environment, and argued that governments must secure a threshold of each for every citizen. Sen (1999) defined development as the expansion of freedom, an idea that fed into the Human Development Index and the Multidimensional Poverty Index. The approach is often compared with Rawls's theory of justice and its focus on primary goods.
Measurement and critiques
Robeyns (2005) and Alkire (2005) highlight its ability to capture deprivations, such as social exclusion, that income misses. Critics note that capabilities are hard to observe, so studies often fall back on functionings, and that agreeing on weights is difficult. Others say the approach is too individualistic and underplays social structures. It remains a key framework for asking 'equality of what?' in debates such as basic income.
FAQ
- What is the capability approach in simple terms?
- It judges how well people are doing by their real freedom to live the life they want, not just by how much money they have.
- What is the difference between functionings and capabilities?
- Functionings are what a person actually achieves, such as being healthy; capabilities are the real freedom to achieve them.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Sen, A. (1985). Commodities and capabilities. North-Holland. Where Sen first set out functionings and capabilities.
- Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford University Press. The best-known statement of development as expanding freedoms.
- Nussbaum, M. C. (2003). Capabilities as fundamental entitlements: Sen and social justice. Feminist Economics, 9(2–3), 33–59. Nussbaum's central capabilities list and her differences with Sen.
- Nussbaum, M. C. (2011). Creating capabilities: The human development approach. Harvard University Press. An accessible overview of the human development approach.
- Robeyns, I. (2005). The capability approach: A theoretical survey. Journal of Human Development, 6(1), 93–117. A clear theoretical survey of the approach.
- Alkire, S. (2005). Why the capability approach? Journal of Human Development, 6(1), 115–135. Why capabilities beat income or utility as evaluative space.
- Sen, A. (1993). Capability and well-being. In M. Nussbaum & A. Sen (Eds.), The quality of life (pp. 30–53). Clarendon Press. A compact statement of capability and well-being.