Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach

by Martha C. Nussbaum

Overview

This is a primer on the Capabilities Approach, Martha Nussbaum’s innovative model for assessing human progress. She argues that much humanitarian policy today violates basic human values; instead, she offers a unique means of redirecting government and development policy toward helping each of us lead a full and creative life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674050549
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	03/31/2011
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Martha C. Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago and, with Amartya Sen, a Founding President of the Human Development and Capability Association.

Table of Contents

Contents
Preface
1. A Woman Seeking Justice
2. The Central Capabilities
3. A Necessary Counter-Theory
4. Fundamental Entitlements
5. Cultural Diversity
6. The Nation and Global Justice
7. Philosophical Influences
8. Capabilities and Contemporary Issues
Conclusion
Postscript
Appendix A: Heckman on Capabilities
Appendix B: Sen on Well-Being and Agency
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index

What People are Saying About This

Amartya Sen

A remarkably lucid and scintillating account of the the human development approach seen from the perspective of one of its major architects.

— Amartya Sen, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics

Henry Richardson

Nussbaum, who has done more than anyone to develop the authoritative and ground-breaking capabilities approach, offers a major restatement that will be required reading for all those interested in economic development that truly enhances how people live.
— Henry Richardson, Georgetown University

David Alan Crocker

The very best way to be introduced to the capability approach to international development. It is also a wonderfully lucid account of the origins, justification, structure, and practical implications of her version of this powerful approach to ethically-based change in poor and rich countries.

— David Alan Crocker, The University of Maryland School of Public Policy

Jonathan Wolff

A marvelous achievement: beautifully written and accessible. With Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum is one of the founders of the 'capability approach' to justice; the most innovative and influential development in political philosophy since the work of John Rawls. This book, for the first time, puts in one place all the central elements of Nussbaum's systematic account of the approach, together with its sources and implications.

— Jonathan Wolff, University College London

Editorial Reviews

Nussbaum (law & ethics, Univ. of Chicago) looks at what it really means for a country to experience prosperity. Traditionally, a country's economic well-being was measured by its gross domestic product. Nussbaum takes a more personal approach by focusing on how economic prosperity plays out in ordinary citizens' lives. She analyzes the life of a woman in India by taking a close look at her situation to see what capabilities and opportunities she—and women like her—might have. The key is not to look simply at the hand they've been dealt, but whether their particular society affords them opportunities to win with it. Nussbaum calls this the "capabilities approach," and it offers a novel way to measure prosperity on a national level by seeing how well a country can provide life-changing prospects for all its citizens. VERDICT By demonstrating the philosophical underpinnings of this approach and how the theory plays out in the real world, Nussbaum makes a compelling case. Not only is this a more realistic measure of wealth, but it is also a far more compassionate one. For readers who enjoy economics laced with humanity.—Carol J. Elsen, Univ. of Wisconsin Libs., Whitewater

Library Journal

In her new book, Creating Capabilities, the philosopher and legal scholar Martha Nussbaum argues that we need to refocus our ideas about development on the scale of individuals: on concrete human lives and the way they actually unfold. Quantitative measures like per capita GDP, she writes, are poor measures of development; they can't capture the shape and texture of individual lives, even though individual lives are what matter. Development isn't about how rich your nation is, on average—it's about whether people can live in a way "worthy of human dignity."...Nussbaum's book comes at an interesting time, just as growth in the rich world is slowing. That slowdown makes her ideas relevant for rich people, too. Dignified life in the rich world isn't only about being "well-fed," either...Even amid a slowdown, there are other dimensions in which life can keep improving.

Boston Globe online - Josh Rothman

A remarkably lucid and scintillating account of the the human development approach seen from the perspective of one of its major architects.

Amartya Sen

A marvelous achievement: beautifully written and accessible. With Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum is one of the founders of the 'capability approach' to justice; the most innovative and influential development in political philosophy since the work of John Rawls. This book, for the first time, puts in one place all the central elements of Nussbaum's systematic account of the approach, together with its sources and implications.

Jonathan Wolff

Renowned philosopher Nussbaum concisely captures the essential ideas of a new paradigm of social and political thought, the "human development and capabilities" approach to global social justice, founded on the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, and now used by the World Bank, the IMF, the Arab Human Development Report, and the United Nations Development Programme.

Choice - S. A. Mason

The very best way to be introduced to the capability approach to international development. It is also a wonderfully lucid account of the origins, justification, structure, and practical implications of her version of this powerful approach to ethically-based change in poor and rich countries.

David Alan Crocker

Nussbaum, who has done more than anyone to develop the authoritative and ground-breaking capabilities approach, offers a major restatement that will be required reading for all those interested in economic development that truly enhances how people live.

Henry Richardson

A remarkably lucid and scintillating account of the the human development approach seen from the perspective of one of its major architects.

Amartya Sen

Renowned philosopher Nussbaum concisely captures the essential ideas of a new paradigm of social and political thought, the "human development and capabilities" approach to global social justice, founded on the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, and now used by the World Bank, the IMF, the Arab Human Development Report, and the United Nations Development Programme.
— S. A. Mason

Choice

In her new book, Creating Capabilities, the philosopher and legal scholar Martha Nussbaum argues that we need to refocus our ideas about development on the scale of individuals: on concrete human lives and the way they actually unfold. Quantitative measures like per capita GDP, she writes, are poor measures of development; they can't capture the shape and texture of individual lives, even though individual lives are what matter. Development isn't about how rich your nation is, on average—it's about whether people can live in a way "worthy of human dignity."...Nussbaum's book comes at an interesting time, just as growth in the rich world is slowing. That slowdown makes her ideas relevant for rich people, too. Dignified life in the rich world isn't only about being "well-fed," either...Even amid a slowdown, there are other dimensions in which life can keep improving.
— Josh Rothman

Boston Globe online