Amartya Sen Summary
Introduction
Development can be seen as a process of expanding the freedoms that people enjoy. And if freedom is what development is about then it makes sense to concentrate on that rather than on some of the means or instruments of achieving it.
This approach contrasts with others such as identifying development with the growth of GNP, rise in personal incomes, or with industrialisation, technological advance, or social modernisation. These are all important but are means and not ends.
Freedoms depend also on other determinants e.g. social and economic arrangements (e.g. education and health facilities), political and civil rights.
Development requires the removing of major sources of unfreedom: poverty as well as tyranny, poor economic opportunities as well as social deprivation, neglect of public facilities as well as intolerance.
The world has unprecedented opulence and yet denies freedoms to vast numbers of people.
There is a pivotal difference made by pursuing a view of development as an integrated process of substantive freedoms that connect with one another. 8
Freedoms are not only the primary ends of development, they are also among its principal means.
There are five distinct types of freedom, seen in this instrumental perspective: 1.political freedoms, 2. economic facilities, 3. social opportunities, 4. transparency guarantees, 5.protective security.
Chapter 1. The perspective of freedom.
The usefulness of wealth lies in the things it allows us to do – the substantive freedoms it helps us to achieve. but this relation is neither exclusive (there are other influences on us than wealth) nor uniform (since the impact of wealth on our lives varies with other influences).
Freedoms involve both processes (libertarians)and opportunities (consequentialists)
Poverty and inequality
Income deprivations and capability deprivations often appear correlated but it is important to avoid being mesmerised into thinking that taking note of the former would
Development can be seen as a process of expanding the freedoms that people enjoy. And if freedom is what development is about then it makes sense to concentrate on that rather than on some of the means or instruments of achieving it.
This approach contrasts with others such as identifying development with the growth of GNP, rise in personal incomes, or with industrialisation, technological advance, or social modernisation. These are all important but are means and not ends.
Freedoms depend also on other determinants e.g. social and economic arrangements (e.g. education and health facilities), political and civil rights.
Development requires the removing of major sources of unfreedom: poverty as well as tyranny, poor economic opportunities as well as social deprivation, neglect of public facilities as well as intolerance.
The world has unprecedented opulence and yet denies freedoms to vast numbers of people.
There is a pivotal difference made by pursuing a view of development as an integrated process of substantive freedoms that connect with one another. 8
Freedoms are not only the primary ends of development, they are also among its principal means.
There are five distinct types of freedom, seen in this instrumental perspective: 1.political freedoms, 2. economic facilities, 3. social opportunities, 4. transparency guarantees, 5.protective security.
Chapter 1. The perspective of freedom.
The usefulness of wealth lies in the things it allows us to do – the substantive freedoms it helps us to achieve. but this relation is neither exclusive (there are other influences on us than wealth) nor uniform (since the impact of wealth on our lives varies with other influences).
Freedoms involve both processes (libertarians)and opportunities (consequentialists)
Poverty and inequality
Income deprivations and capability deprivations often appear correlated but it is important to avoid being mesmerised into thinking that taking note of the former would