Dewey's book on Democracy and Education established his credentials in the field of education and once counted as his most important book. It has been re-published in many editions and continuously in print ever since the original publication in 1916.

I question the notion of food choice and consider how much food choice someone living on low income actually has. In my fieldwork, it became clear that food choices, and hence one’s nutritional and health state, cannot be viewed in separation from the participants’ individual stories and the complexities of their lives. Daily routines, financial situation, and food accessibility have an impact on people’s food choices. In realising this, I found Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach useful, which moves beyond food entitlements. (...) More specifically, a health capabilities approach as introduced by Venkatapuram and the association made between health and capabilities by others : 3, 2003) views health as the combination of the influence of socio-economic structures, as well as personal agency resulting in choices. I present the main learnings from viewing Foodways and Futures through the ‘capabilities lens’ and thus view food choices as the combination of the complex interrelations between socio-economic structures and agency. (shrink)

And in this book the distinguished scholar Amartya Sen offers a powerful critique of the theory of social justice that, in its grip on social and political ...

This book develops some of the most important themes of Sen's works over the last decade. He argues in a rich and subtle approach that we should be concerned with people's capabilities rather than their resources or welfare.

This paper analyzes politics of food education in Japan where food education has become one of the central motifs of food policy in recent years. It describes the emergence of private enterprise institutions that offer credentials for people as “food education experts,” the majority of whom are women. Based on a survey of more than one hundred food education experts, the paper explores motivations of these women and finds that the reasons for the popularity of food education certifications are not (...) so much that women wanted to challenge the dominant food system—as agrofood scholars may have expected or hoped for—but for reasons related more to the gendered career expectations and pressures for women to conform to a culturally-scripted feminine ideal. The paper’s importance beyond Japan lies in the discussion of dynamics and implications of privatization of food education. “Privatization” indicates a shift in the location of control and in what is considered to be “necessary” knowledge about food. Subject to market logic, food education is at risk of becoming an exercise of superficial mastering of “sanitized” information. Furthermore, at the core of privatization of food education is an increasingly pervasive approach to food education that I term “food literacy” approach, based upon a deficiency framework which posits individual knowledge and skills as sole reasons for inappropriate food choices, dietary behaviors, and culinary practices. Not only is the food literacy approach highly individualistic and apolitical, but it also enables and exacerbates the privatization and gendered pressures of food education. (shrink)

This book sets out to generate new ways of reflecting ethically about the purposes and values of contemporary higher education in relation to agency, learning, public values and democratic life, and the pedagogies which support these.

This article asks about the conditions of a sociological operationalization of the capability approach developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. Raising the question of freedom and social opportunities, the capability approach has so far mainly been discussed by economists and philosophers. In order to adopt this approach for a sociological and pragmatist perspective, it engages with methodological and theoretical issues. Whereas capabilities have until now mainly been studied within quantitative frameworks, the author opts for a qualitative method of inquiry (...) that draws on a pragmatist and configurational approach. Such a shift towards qualitative inquiry is a key condition for a better sociological understanding of notions like freedom and opportunities that stand at the core of the capability approach. (shrink)

One would be hard pressed to find a more controversial or nebulous human right than the right to health - a right that stems primarily, although not exclusively, from Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). While activists, non-governmental organizations, and scholars have made significant progress in promoting a human rights approach to health and the field of health and human rights more generally, the question of a philosophical and conceptual foundation - a theory (...) - for the right to health has fallen through the cracks that emerge from an interdisciplinary intersection of medical ethics, international relations, international human rights law, health policy, health law, and public health law. This Article offers a philosophical justification for a right to health. As such it makes a case for the right to health as a meaningful and operational right and discusses the degree to which this right is necessarily justifiable and enforceable as prescribed in international law. The theoretical framework proposed in this Article builds on and integrates Aristotle's political theory, the capability approach, and a social choice paradigm known as incompletely theorized agreements. This Article draws on these perspectives to develop a theory of a right to health and to explicate societal obligations, both state and non-state, for progressive realization of this right. Finally, this Article argues that sustaining the effort to realize a right to health requires individual and societal commitments to what I call public moral norms. In other words, this Article argues for treating the right to health as an ethical demand for equity in health. This ethical demand will likely involve legal instruments for enforcement, but more likely will require individuals, states, and non-state actors to internalize public ethical norms to enhance implementation and compliance with a right to health in international human rights policy and law. (shrink)

While there is much common ground between the writings of Amartya Sen and John Stuart Mill – particularly in their advocacy of freedom and gender equality – one is a critic, while the other is an advocate, of utilitarianism. In spite of this contrast, there are strong echoes of Sen's capability approach in Mill's writings. Inasmuch as Mill sees the capability to be happy as important he holds a form of capability approach. He also thinks of happiness as constituted by (...) the exercise of certain capabilities (including the higher faculties). Furthermore, Mill addresses the possibility that people can adapt to limited opportunity, which is central to Sen's critique of some ‘utility’-based views. By contrasting contentment and happiness Mill suggests one way in which a utilitarian might address cases of adaptation. His discussions of capabilities and of adaptation are consistent with his utilitarianism. (Published Online February 16 2006). (shrink)