Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen
Reviewed by: Kristynil Cruz Dimapilis
IV-18 BSE History
We live in
a world of rapid change not only in the fields of trade, commerce and communication,
but also in terms of interactive ideas and ideals. And yet we also live with
remarkable deprivation, destitution and oppression. We cannot deny the fact
that as the world change, different problems also goes with it like persistence
of poverty, problems in education, occurrence of famines and widespread hunger,
violation of political freedom, extensive neglect of the interest and agency of
women and worsening threats to our environment and to the sustainability of our
economic and societal lives.
Overcoming
these problems is a central part of the exercise of development and with this I
am fascinated with the question, how freedom as an individual opportunity and
social commitment can help in addressing these problems? And as I read the book
written by Amartya Sen which entitled, Development as Freedom, I have been
enlightened and knowledgeable on what is the role of freedom in individual and
societal development.
Let me
share some of the important points related to this book:
The Perspective of Freedom
Seeing development in terms of
substantive freedoms of people has far-reaching implications for our
understanding of the process of development and for also for the ways and means
of promoting it. On evaluate sides; this involves the need to assess the
requirements of development in terms of removing the unfreedoms from which the
member of the society may suffer.
The Ends and the Means of Development
The ends
and the means of development call for placing the perspective of freedom at the
center of the stage. The people have to seen, in this perspective, as being
actively involved- given the opportunity-in shaping their own destiny, and not
just as passive recipients of the fruits of cunning development programs. The
state and society have extensive roles in strengthening and safeguarding human
capabilities.
Freedom and the Foundations of Justice
It was argued in this chapter that, in
analyzing social justice, there is a strong case for judging individual
advantage in terms of the capabilities that a person has, that is, the substantive
freedoms he or she enjoys to lead the kind of life he or she has reason to
value.
Poverty as Capability Deprivation
Poverty
must be seen as the deprivation of basic capabilities rather than merely as
lowness of incomes, which is the standard criterion of identification of
poverty. The perspective of capability-poverty does not involved any ideal of
the sensible view that low income is clearly one of the major causes of
poverty, since lack of income can be a principal reason for a person’s
capability deprivation.
Markets, State and Social Opportunity
The efficiency contributions of the
market mechanism can hardly be doubted, and traditional economic results, in
which efficiency is judged by the prosperity or opulence of utility, can be
extended to efficiency in terms of individual freedoms as well. But these efficiency
results do not, on their own, guarantee distributional equity. Indeed, the far
reaching powers of the markets mechanism have to be supplemented by the
creation of basic social opportunities for social equity and justice.
The Importance of Democracy
Developing
and strengthening a democratic system is an essential component of the process of
development. The significance of democracy lies, in three distinct virtues: (1)
its intrinsic importance, (2) its instrumental contributions, and (3) its
constructive role in the creation of values and norms. No evaluation of
democratic form of governance can be complete without considering each.
Famines and Other Crises
This chapter has been mainly concerned
with the problems of averting famines and preventing calamitous crises. This is
one of the important parts of the process of development, for it involves the
enhancement of the security and protections that the citizens enjoy. The
connection is both constructive and instrumental. First, protection against
starvation, epidemics, and severe and sudden deprivation is itself an
enhancement of the opportunity to live securely and well. Second, the process
of preventing famines and other crises is significantly helped by the use of
instrumental freedoms such as the opportunity of open discussions, public
scrutiny, electoral politics and uncensored media.
Women’s Agency and Social Change
Nothing, arguably, is as important
today in the political economy of development as an adequate recognition of
political, economic and social participation and leadership of women. This is
indeed a crucial aspect of “development as freedom.”
Population, Food and Freedom
The
view of “ development as freedom” turns out to the solution of the problems of population growth which lie in expanding
the freedom of the people whose interest are most directly affected by over-frequent child bearing and child-rearing. The solution
of the problem calls for more freedom, not less.
Culture and Human Rights
We need to
understand cross-cultural influences as well as our basic capability to enjoy
products of other cultures and other land. We must not lose our ability to
understand one another and to enjoy the cultural products of different
countries in the passionate advocacy of conservation and purity.
Social Choice and Social Behavior
Whether we
deal with “work ethics,” or “business mortality,” or “corruption,” or “public
responsibility,” or “environmental values, “or ideas of “the right family size,
“we have to take note of variations- and changeability-in priorities and norms.
In analyzing issues of efficiency and equity, or the removal of poverty and
subjugation, the role of values cannot but be crucial.
Individual Freedom as a Social
Commitment
It is important to take note the
instrumental role of capability expansion in bringing about social change.
Indeed the role of human beings even as instruments of change can go much
beyond economic production and include social and political development.
Insights
Insights
In this book I have seen development as a process of expanding
substantive freedoms that people have. The perspective of freedom has been used
both in evaluative analysis for assessing change, and in the descriptive and
predictive analysis in seeing freedom as a causally effective factor in
generating rapid change. The organizing principle that places all the different
pieces into integrated whole is the overarching concern with the process of
enhancing individual freedoms and the social commitment to help to bring that
about. Unity is important, but at the same time we cannot lose sight of the
fact that freedom is an inherently diverse concept, which involves-as was
discussed extensively-considerations of processes as well as substantive
opportunities.
Mr.
Amartya Sen, effectively showed how quality of lives should be measured not by
our wealth, but by our freedom and his writings have revolutionized the theory and practice of development that is
why I highly recommended this book to other readers.
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