scholarly journals Exploring the Contribution of Grassroots Innovations to Justice: Using the Capability Approach to Normatively Address Bottom-Up Sustainable Transitions Practices

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Belda-Miquel ◽  
Victoria Pellicer-Sifres ◽  
Alejandra Boni
Keyword(s):  
Capability Approach ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Grassroots Innovation ◽  
Grassroots Innovations ◽  
Sustainable Societies ◽  
Purchasing Group ◽  
The Capability Approach

There is growing interest in the potential of grassroots innovations for the transition towards more just and sustainable societies. Nevertheless, there is lack of clear normative discussion regarding these processes. The paper strives to propose and test a framework that enables an analysis of how and in which sense specific grassroots innovation processes may be contributing to the construction of more just societies. To this end, we connect elements of the multi-level perspective on sociotechnical transitions (frequently used in the analysis of grassroots innovations) with elements of the capability approach, which offers a multi-dimensional perspective to justice. The framework is used to address two purposively selected empirical cases in two key sectors in Spain: an energy cooperative and a food purchasing group. We draw on the information of 25 individual interviews with members of these two cases, on observation, and on secondary sources. Information was processed by means of a qualitative content analysis. We draw on predefined categories from the framework, which was refined during the analysis. The paper illustrates that grassroots innovations may be contributing to justice in several aspects: they expand capabilities in different dimensions, improve public reasoning processes, and create better structural conditions for human flourishing. Nevertheless, these processes are not free of tensions and contradictions.

scholarly journals L’incidence du milieu d’études sur les possibilités de choix de femmes autochtones : typologie de parcours scolaires

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-68
Author(s):  
Jo-Anni Joncas ◽  
Annie Pilote
Keyword(s):  
Capability Approach ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
The Other ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Capability Approach

This paper aims to assess the impact of the study environment on the opportunities of Indigenous women to complete the school pathway desired. During individual interviews, we collected 19 stories of Indigenous women’s experiences at two Quebec universities, one with several initiatives for indigenous students and the other with few. Through a typological analysis, four types of school pathways are presented according to the impact of the study environment; the pathway with: 1) pre-existing opportunities; 2) opportunities highlighted by the study environment; 3) rebound opportunities; and 4) driven by external impulses. Inspired by the capability approach, the results highlight the importance of focusing not only on the services and measures available to these students, but also on their ability to use them to achieve the desired academic path. This requires considering the factors that enable them to make effective use of educational resources for the purpose they choose.

scholarly journals ‘Paying our own way’: Application of the capability approach to explore older people’s experiences of self-funding social care

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Tanner ◽  
Lizzie Ward ◽  
Mo Ray
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Political Interpretation ◽  
Political Form ◽  
The Capability Approach

Adult social care policy in England is premised on the concept of personalisation that purports to place individuals in control of the services they receive through market-based mechanisms of support, such as direct payments and personal budgets. However, the demographic context of an ageing population and the economic and political context of austerity have endorsed further rationing of resources. Increasing numbers of people now pay for their own social care because either they do not meet tight eligibility criteria for access to services and/or their financial means place them above the threshold for local authority-funded care. The majority of self-funders are older people. Older people with complex and changing needs are particularly likely to experience difficulties in fulfilling the role of informed, proactive and skilled navigators of the care market. Based on individual interviews with older people funding their own care, this article uses a relational-political interpretation (Deneulin, 2011) of the capability approach (CA) to analyse shortfalls between the policy rhetoric of choice and control and the lived experience of self-funding. Whilst CA, like personalisation, is seen as reflecting neo-liberal values, we argue that, in its relational-political form, it has the potential to expose the fallacious assumptions on which self-funding policies are founded and to offer a more nuanced understanding of older people’s experiences.

Competenza ad agire insieme e senso di iniziativa: il tirocinio per attraversare i confini tra studio e lavoro

2020 ◽  
pp. 93-102
Author(s):  
Fabrizio d'Aniello
Keyword(s):  
Professional Growth ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Boundary Crossing ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Knowledge Models ◽  
Internship Experience ◽  
Cultural Historical Activity ◽  
The University ◽  
And Training ◽  
The Capability Approach

The pre-eminent motivation behind this contribution lies in the intention to offer students of three-year degree course in education and training sciences and master's degree in pedagogical sciences of the University of Macerata a further support than those already existing, aimed at expanding the educational meaningfulness of the internship experience. The main criticality of such experience is connected with the difficulty in translating knowledge, models, ideas into appropriate activities. This notably refers to the conceptual and educational core of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship and, consistently, to the skill to act. Therefore, after a deepening of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, followed by related pedagogical reflections based on the capability approach, the paper presents an operative proposal aimed at increasing young people's possibilities of action and supporting their personal and professional growth. With regard to this training proposal, the theoretical and methodological framework refers to the third generation cultural historical activity theory and to the tool of the boundary crossing laboratory, variant of the change laboratory

scholarly journals Education as a common good from the capability approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Gracia‐Calandín ◽  
Isabel Tamarit‐López
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
The Capability Approach

scholarly journals Life-Changing Experiences of Mothers with School-Age Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Focusing on Their Health Risk Perceptions and Health-Related Behaviors

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 4523
Author(s):  
Hye Jin Yoo ◽  
JaeLan Shim ◽  
Namhee Kim
Keyword(s):  
Health Risk ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
The Family ◽  
Health Related Behaviors ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Prevention Methods

This study aimed to explore health risk perceptions, changes in health-related behaviors, and life experiences of mothers with school-age children during the early coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Data were collected between 16 July and 10 September 2020, by individual interviews and analyzed through qualitative content analysis. After the twelve participants’ experiences were analyzed, four themes and ten sub-themes were derived. The four themes were: “Struggling to identify the substance of COVID-19,” “Taking the initiative to protect the health of the family,” “Frustrated by the brutal reality of no end in sight,” and “Trying to adjust wisely to an inevitable new lifestyle.” The findings suggest that while the world remains in an ongoing battle with COVID-19, national health institutions should prepare a health education system for specific infection prevention methods that can be practiced by individuals in daily life.

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