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Ethos Issue 3, Oct 2007
Poverty, Capabilities and Social
Justice
Martha C. Nussbaum
Of course, many other things affect people’s
ability to exercise their capabilities, for example, their
treatment within the family. That is one reason why John Rawls
and I have both argued that the family is actually a political
entity. Government does not directly structure the family,
but it can do a great deal to render that structure more just:
for example, by enforcing laws against domestic violence and
child abuse, by ensuring all children have decent nutrition
and a decent education, and by teaching about the equal worth
of all citizens, in public schools. In India, there are many
creative strategies that have empowered women, who often get
unfair treatment in the family: one that has worked well is
giving women one-third representation in the panchayats. This
has led to much more emphasis on the education of girls, and
in general to a stronger bargaining position for women in
the family.
It is also important that government can
delegate part of its role to nongovernmental bodies, such
as the market or the family: but if citizens do not achieve
the capabilities in that way, we ought to hold the government
accountable and seek a better one. If one has the capabilities
as one’s goals, one can then experiment with different
economic and social structures and see to what extent they
deliver the desired results. |
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The
Central Human Capabilities
1 |
Life
Being
able to live to the end of a human life of normal length;
not dying prematurely, or before one’s life is so
reduced as to be not worth living. |
2 |
Bodily Health
Being able to have good health,
including reproductive health; to be adequately nourished;
to have adequate shelter. |
3 |
Bodily Integrity
Being able to move freely from
place to place; to be secure against violent assault,
including sexual assault and domestic violence; having
opportunities for sexual satisfaction and for choice in
matters of reproduction. |
4 |
Senses, Imagination and
Thought
Being able to
use the senses, to imagine, think, and reason—and
to do these things in a "truly human" way,
a way informed and cultivated by an adequate education
including, but by no means limited to, literacy and basic
mathematical and scientific training. Being able to use
imagination and thought in connection with experiencing
and producing works and events of one’s own choice,
religious, literary, musical, and so forth. Being able
to use one’s mind in ways protected by guarantees
of freedom of expression with respect to both political
and artistic speech, and freedom of religious exercise.
Being able to have pleasurable experiences and to avoid
non-beneficial pain. |
5 |
Emotions
Being
able to have attachments to things and people outside
ourselves; to love those who love and care for us, to
grieve at their absence; in general, to love, to grieve,
to experience longing, gratitude, and justified anger.
Not having one’s emotional development blighted
by fear and anxiety. (Supporting this capability means
supporting forms of human association that can be shown
to be crucial in their development.) |
6 |
Practical Reason
Being able to form a conception
of the good and to engage in critical reflection about
the planning of one’s life. (This entails protection
for the liberty of conscience and religious observance.) |
| 7 |
Affiliation
A. Being able
to live with others, to recognise and show concern for
other human beings, to engage in various forms of social
interaction; to be able to imagine the situation of
another. (Protecting this capability means protecting
institutions that constitute and nourish such forms
of affiliation, and also protecting the freedom of assembly
and political speech.)
B. Having the
social bases of self- respect and non-humiliation; being
able to be treated as a dignified being whose worth
is equal to that of others. This entails provisions
of non-discrimination on the basis of race, sex, sexual
orientation, ethnicity, caste, religion, or national
origin. |
| 8 |
Other Species
Being able to live with concern
for and in relation to animals, plants, and the world
of nature. |
| 9 |
Play
Being
able to laugh, to play, and to enjoy recreational activities. |
| 10 |
Control
Over One’s Environment
A. Political.
Being able to participate effectively in political choices
that govern one’s life; having the right of political
participation, protections of free speech and association.
B. Material. Being
able to hold property (both land and movable goods),
and having property rights on an equal basis with others;
having the right to seek employment on an equal basis
with others; having the freedom from unwarranted search
and seizure. In work, being able to work as a human
being, exercising practical reason and entering into
meaningful relationships of mutual recognition with
other workers. – Martha C. Nussbaum |
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