Title: Enhancing capabilities : the role of social institutions /
Authors: Otto, Hans-Uwe.; Ziegler, Holger.; Otto, Hans-Uwe,; Ziegler, Holger,
Publisher: Barbara Budrich Publishers,
Year: 2013
Subjects: Social work education Germany.; Education and state Germany.; Manpower policy Germany; Public welfare Germany; Social institutions.; Social choice.; Social justice; Germany Social policy.
Abstract: "The volume suggests a capability perspective for evaluating welfare and educational policies. Capabilities are conceptualized as people's freedom to choose and conduct a life they have reason to value. The contributions analyze what social institutions - in particular in the field of education and welfare - may provide in order to enhance capabilities in particular for most vulnerable people. The capabilities approach to social justice does not primarily outline a transcendental philosophical theory of justice but rather a perspective which opens up a conceptual foundation for empirical social research in real life situations. Focusing on the freedoms to achieve actual livings that individuals can have reason to value, the capabilities approach promises to be a fruitful perspective for developing and justifying evaluative metrics for assessing welfare and educational policies. While the potentials and limits of the capabilities approach have been intensively discussed on general and conceptual levels, the role of organizations and institutions for enhancing capabilities is still a blind spot. As inequalities of capabilities are not merely macro-structural phenomena but also located in different institutional forms at various scales, this volume aims at analyzing the complex and often ambivalent role of institutions and policies in promoting or impeding the life prospects of individuals."--Publisher's website.
Contents: Introduction: Enhancing capabilities -- The role of social institutions / Hans-Uwe Otto & Holger Ziegler. -- Part 1: Welfare. Connecting 'human' and 'social' discourses: The human development, human security, and social quality approaches / Des Gasper, Laurent J.G. van der Maesen, Thanh-Dam Truong & Alan Walker ; Implications for a capability-based social policy -- A European perspective / Franz Ferdinand Eiffe ; The local dimension in labour market policies: Promoting autonomy or enforcing compliance? / Jean-Michel Bonvin & Eric Moachon ; Enabling local actors in labour market policy in Germany -- lessons from a case study on the reintegration of disadvantaged youth / Petra Bouché ; Governmental poverty and wealth reporting based on the capability approach / Jürgen Volkert. -- Part 2: Education. Subjectivity, education and capabilities -- Education (, Bildung') as an essential dimension of welfare politics which are aimed at enhancing capabilities / Albert Scherr ; Constrained opportunities and principles of justice in action: The role of school actors in helping technical students finding a work experience / Nicolas Farvaque ; Hidden privatisation and its impact on public education / Guntars Catlaks ; Nussbaum's capabilities, gender justice and educational transformations / Melanie Walker. -- Part 3: Social services. Associations, communities and nations: The solidarities and services sustaining human capabilities / Bill Jordan ; Creative capabilities and community capacity / Mark J. Stern & Susan C. Seifert ; On the normative Foundation of social welfare- Capabilities as a yardstick for critical social work / Hans-Uwe Otto, Albert Scherr & Holger Ziegler.