Publication: The place of technology in the Capability Approach
Issued Date
2018-01-02
Resource Type
ISSN
14699966
13600818
13600818
Other identifier(s)
2-s2.0-85019248580
Rights
Mahidol University
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SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Oxford Development Studies. Vol.46, No.1 (2018), 98-112
Suggested Citation
Marco J. Haenssgen, Proochista Ariana The place of technology in the Capability Approach. Oxford Development Studies. Vol.46, No.1 (2018), 98-112. doi:10.1080/13600818.2017.1325456 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/47421
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Title
The place of technology in the Capability Approach
Author(s)
Abstract
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Increasing scholarly attention has focussed on how to integrate technology within the Capability Approach (CA), yet without a consistent solution. Some describe technology as a special kind of capability input, but others consider the concept of technology to be fundamentally different from that of an ordinary input. We aim to contribute to the theoretical development of the CA by offering a consistent justification for the explicit inclusion of technology in this framework. We propose that technical objects have a ‘generative’ and a ‘transformative’ dimension through which they enable capabilities directly and affect other inputs in the attainment of valued capabilities. The objects acquire the transformative dimension from the broader technological context, which we propose as a new class of conversion factors. Using the example of mobile phones and their role in healthcare access, we demonstrate that our proposal helps to frame the analysis of the development impact of technology.