ABSTRACT

Since Amartya Sen introduced the idea of capabilities in the mid 1980s, social theorists, social scientists, and social justice practitioners have embraced and critiqued its fundamental ideas. The capability approach is a normative framework for evaluating and assessing human well-being that provides guidelines for policies and social change (Robeyns, 2009). This chapter distills key points about the capability approach, explores the ways that it has contributed to thinking about social justice, and offers two examples of how capability framework have been applied to specific practice fields.