Bénédicte Zimmermann

Pragmatism and the Capability Approach Challenges in Social Theory and Empirical Research

This article asks about the conditions of a sociological operationalization of the capability approach developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. Raising the question of freedom and social opportunities, the capability approach has so far mainly been discussed by economists and philosophers. In order to adopt this approach for a sociological and pragmatist perspective, it engages with methodological and theoretical issues. Whereas capabilities have until now mainly been studied within quantitative frameworks, the author opts for a qualitative method of inquiry that draws on a pragmatist and configurational approach. Such a shift towards qualitative inquiry is a key condition for a better sociological understanding of notions like freedom and opportunities that stand at the core of the capability approach.

Collective responsibility in the workplace from a capability perspective

The article shows how a shift in perspective results from use of the capability approach in evaluating corporate activity: instead of a narrow focus on economic development, attention is paid also to the human development dimension. The author puts forward a conception of professional development resulting from the combined exercise of different capabilities, of which she discusses three essential dimensions, namely, freedom of choice, empowerment and collective responsibility. On the basis of a case study, she analyses the forms and founding principles of collective responsibility as related to individual capabilities. She describes how these factors impact on workplace participation procedures, and outlines the principles of justice that they entail. More broadly, she shows the tensions and new challenges to trade unionism and collective action thrown up by the need to combine individual and collective voice. L’article montre le déplacement de perspective qu’induit le recours à l’approche par les capacités pour évaluer l’activité des entreprises: du strict développement économique à la prise en compte du développement humain. L’auteure avance une conception du développement professionnel comme résultant de l’exercice conjoint de différentes capacités dont elle discute trois dimensions essentielles: la liberté de choisir, le pouvoir d’agir et la responsabilité collective. A partir d’une étude de cas, elle analyse les formes et les fondements de la responsabilité collective mise en jeu par les capacités individuelles. Elle en relève les conséquences sur les procédures de participation dans l’entreprise et les principes de justice mis en œuvre. Plus largement, elle montre les tensions et les nouveaux défis qui en résultent pour le syndicalisme et l’action collective en vue de combiner « voice » individuelle et collective. Der Beitrag beschreibt den Perspektivenwechsel, der sich aus der Verwendung des Ansatzes der Verwirklichungschancen für die Bewertung der Unternehmenstätigkeiten ergibt: Die Tätigkeit eines Unternehmens wird demnach nicht nur unter dem Gesichtspunkt der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, sondern auch der menschlichen Entwicklung bewertet. Die Autorin schlägt ein Konzept der beruflichen Entwicklung vor, das sich aus der gleichzeitigen Wahrnehmung verschiedener Verwirklichungschancen ergibt, und erörtert die drei wichtigsten Dimensionen dieser Chancen: Wahlfreiheit, Handlungsmöglichkeit und kollektive Verantwortung. Anhand einer Fallstudie werden die Formen und Grundlagen der kollektiven Verantwortung, die sich aus den individuellen Verwirklichungschancen ergibt, untersucht. Die Autorin erläutert die daraus resultierenden Folgen für die Partizipationsverfahren im Unternehmen sowie die Gerechtigkeitsprinzipien, die dabei angewandt werden. In einem weiteren Kontext ergeben sich daraus Spannungen und neue Herausforderungen für die Gewerkschaftsbewegung und kollektives Handeln, um individuelle und kollektive “Voice” miteinander zu verknüpfen.

Changes in work and social protection: France, Germany and Europe

This article adopts a dual approach to the examination of unemployment insurance reforms in France and Germany. On one hand it looks back at the historical link between waged work and social protection which is characteristic of both systems; on the other hand it considers the impact of the European Employment Strategy on national reforms. The historical retrospective reveals the eminently political nature of social protection and its intimate relationship with a vision of society based on a nation of wage-earners. That vision is now being called into question but the kind of alternative political project needed to breathe life into the idea of Social Europe has yet to emerge.

Bringing Sen’s capability approach to work and human resource practices

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to introduce the special issue of the Design/methodology/approach - Bringing together economists and sociologists, the special issue develops a relevant range of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Findings - The special issue adopts the capability approach as a yardstick to assess corporate policies from the combined perspective of economic and human development. It asks how firms can contribute to developing sustainable human capabilities at work. Originality/value - Human resource management is mainly oriented towards optimising workers’ labour for the benefit of employers and shareholders. The papers in this issue provide some well-documented suggestions on how to break with a reductionist understanding of employees as “human capital”, considered from the sole viewpoint of economic efficiency, by introducing a shift in perspective towards an integrated approach, embracing both economic and human development.

Training and capabilities in French firms: How work and organisational governance matter

Purpose - The purpose of this tri-sectoral comparative study is to analyze the scope and content of vocational training policies, and their practical implications and outcomes for employers and employees at three French-based companies, one in the pharmaceutical sector, the second in the consultancy and information technology sector, and the third in the automobile industry. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is a qualitative study and relies on a cross-fertilization of methods valorizing the triangulation approach: in-depth informal interviews with different categories of personnel, participant and non-participant observation, and documentary investigation. Findings - Our results show that though the three companies investigated rank as training friendly organizations both in terms of the level of financial investments and training densities, these statistical regularities mask significant qualitative differences. The focus, goals, opportunities and outcomes of training policies at the three firms share few common attributes. The paper goes on to propose a typology identifying three types of training organisations: skill up-dating, learning, and capability enhancing. Originality/value - The paper demonstrates that product specificities and the technology associated with it matter less than the system of work organisation and the mode of management in determining the scope and content of training programmes as well as their outcomes in matters of professional development. Whereas researchers have invariably monopolized the term of learning organizations to designate service-sector corporations, staffed by highly skilled workforces, operating at the core of the knowledge economy, our findings shows that even neo-taylorist industrial firms can justifiably qualify to be learning organizations. Finally, the paper proposes a comprehensive analytical grid to facilitate further qualitative research in the field of vocational training.

From Critical Theory to Critical Pragmatism: Capability and the Assessment of Freedom:

This article discusses the implications of the double dimension of the capability concept, which is simultaneously normative and descriptive, in sustaining a critical approach toward freedom. Capability may provide a key concept for critical theory. It may also fuel critical pragmatism as anchored in committed empirical inquiry. Building on John Dewey’s pragmatist account, the article advocates a critical approach that is as much a matter of conceptual yardstick as of empirical inquiry. Taking reforms in the area of French continuing vocational training as a case in point, it demonstrates the analytical and critical power, when it comes to the idea of freedom, of a capability approach confronting three levels of inquiry that are usually investigated separately: the institutional (public policy) level, the organizational (in this case company) level, and the individual (biographical) level.

Work, Labor: History of the Concept

Work refers as much to the content and the performing of an activity, to the production of economic goods and values in capitalist societies, as to the production of social identities and hierarchies. Since the late nineteenth century, capitalist societies have essentially been built on the two latter meanings, reducing work to labor, that is to abstract work that can be quantified and measured in time and money. The history of the concept is closely linked to the constitution of a social order on the basis of standards of class and nation in the framework of the welfare state, as well as to the production of its principles of intelligibility by the social sciences.

Introduction: The Capability Approach and Critical Sociology

The capability approach was not the brainchild of a sociologist. Amartya Sen is an economist, held in high regard by his peers, and indeed concerned with reconciling economic development with fundamental human rights while remaining faithful to the values of ethical individualism.1 One might harbor doubts regarding the fruitfulness of such an enterprise for a critical sociology. The purpose of this special issue is to remove the prejudices which may impede a reasoned reception of the capability approach among sociologists who are unsatisfied with the realizations of neoliberalism and orthodox economic science. From its inception the capability approach was conceived as a multidisciplinary enterprise. In the first instance Amartya Sen sought to hold together economic research and philosophy, as can be seen, among others, in his common work with Martha Nussbaum (Nussbaum and Sen, 1993) and his frequent confrontations with political philosophers such as Rawls (Sen, 1990, 2006) and Dworkin (Sen, 2009). For him there is no theory of welfare without political philosophy; no economic theory without moral philosophy; no development studies without a theory of human rights. Following the example of Adam Smith in linking economics and philosophy, he has opened up an area of debate, which transcends disciplinary boundaries and treats them as revisable conventions without, however, obliterating them. The interdisciplinary capability approach, originating in economics, has in a second step spread to social sciences as a whole (e.g. demography, gender studies, social policies). Like an extensive root system, the capability approach is ramifying and producing new sprouts in sociology. The objective of this special issue of Critical Sociology is to demonstrate the wide-ranging possibilities of cross-fertilization between the capability approach and contemporary sociology. Three specific orientations have guided the conception of this special issue. An essential asset of the capability approach is how its investigative approach is rooted in an epistemology of evaluation (De Munck and Zimmermann, 2015). This is why this issue firstly

Voice in French corporate training: A critical issue in developing employee capability:

The article discusses the impact of organizational configurations on employees’ training capabilities. Inspired by the capability approach, it uses qualitative data to question under what organizational conditions firms in France provide their employees with the opportunities and means to participate not just in training programmes, but in those programmes they have reason to value. The results suggest the existence of three different training models – skill-updating, skill-developing and capability-enhancing – depending on the choice processes involved, the importance they accord to employee agency, and the training outcomes. While human resource policies offering training opportunities are important in French organizations, enabling individual capability ultimately depends on employee participation schemes. The article further argues that this goal cannot be achieved through collective voice alone; in vocational training, individual voice plays an equally central role.

Work and Labor: History of the Concept

The concept of work has at least three different but complementary meanings in contemporary Western societies. As an action, it refers to the content and the performing of an activity; as a product, it is part of the organization of capitalist societies; finally, as a status, it constitutes a linchpin of social organization. Since the late nineteenth century, capitalist societies have essentially been built on the two latter meanings of the word, in other words on a semantic reduction of work to labor. The very European history of this reduction of the concept of work to that of labor, that is, to abstract work that can be quantified and measured in time and money, is also the history of the constitution of the social world on the basis of wage labor in the welfare state. It is closely linked to the building of a collective order on the basis of standards of class and nation, as well as to the production of its principles of intelligibility by the social sciences. This particular association of work to its product and social status, to the detriment of action, is today revealing its limits both in practical and theoretical terms, inviting scholars to rediscover the diversity of meaning of the concept of work.