Critical social policy and the capability approach / Hans-Uwe Otto, Holger Ziegler (eds.).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Hans-Uwe Otto and Holger Ziegler -- Part 1: Democracy and the Social - Theoretical Foundations -- The Capability Approach and deliberative democracy / Robert Salais -- Rationality and freedom? Sen's CA and critical policy evaluation / Reńé Lehwe-Litzmann -- Capability and Freedom: Sen Re-examined / Benedikt Reusch -- Participation without Welfare? The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, feminism and the Capabilities Approach / Zoë Clark -- Capabilities and the Empirical Foundations of Critical Pragmatism / Bénédicte Zimmermann -- Part 2: Theorising Social Policy - A Capabilities Perspective -- The Capability Perspective: Basic Features and their Relevance for Social Policy / Nicolai Suppa -- Autonomy versus constraints to market economy: What does social policy supply? / Albert Scherr -- External Capabilities and the Limits to Social Policy / William A. Jackson -- Empowerment and the Capabilities Approach in Public Health - Some Remarks from the perspective of a scientific evaluation research / Elias Sahrai and Uwe H. Bittlingmayer -- On the relationship between the analysis of the welfare state and normative categories / Norbert Wohlfahrt -- Contributive Justice, Class Divisions and the Capabilities Approach / Andrew Sayer -- Part 3: Assessing Social Policy - What the Capabilities Approach may provide -- What is the value added of the Capability Approach for evaluating social and labour market policy? / Alexander Goerne -- Capabilities as an assessment tool for social policies - The example of the effects of non-formal training measures in Spain / Joan Miquel Verd and Marti López-Andreu -- Towards a more critical appraisal of social policies - The contribution of the capability approach.

The (European) welfare state, as well as the political space of "the social," is currently being reorganized in a fundamental way. This has major implications for any attempt to contribute to a more just or even emancipatory way of shaping "the social." This book discusses what the Capabilities Approach may contribute to the attempt. Rather than assessing the philosophical foundation of this approach, the book critically discusses the potentials and pitfalls of analyzing social and labor-market policy and, in particular, social services from a capabilities perspective. --Provided by publisher.