 Why expanding capabilities does not necessarily imply reducing injustice: an assessment of Amartya Sen’s Idea of Justice in the context of Mexico’s Oportunidades/ProsperaOscar Garza-Vázquez Review of Social Economy, 2023, vol. 81, issue 3, 442-468 Abstract: The idea that discussions about justice ought to offer practical political guidance has gained force in recent years. In this context, Sen's Idea of Justice (2009) aims at fulfilling this role. I assess to what extent Sen's comparative approach to justice succeeds in providing a useful conceptual framework to reduce injustice in practice, as it claims. Using the context of poverty in Mexico, and the social programme Oportunidades/Prospera as illustration, I argue that Sen's approach remains insufficient to guide injustice-reduction actions effectively. First, I note that despite enhancing individual's capabilities, these social improvements have not translated into a more just social reality overall. Second, I associate these shortcomings to the failure of capability-enhancing policies in accounting for the relational reproduction of injustice. Therefore, I conclude that to reduce injustice, we need to broaden the scope of injustice-reduction policies to address the ways in which injustice is reproduced through social interactions. Date: 2023 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rsocec:v:81:y:2023:i:3:p:442-468 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/00346764.2021.1881150 Access Statistics for this article Review of Social Economy is currently edited by Wilfred Dolfsma and John Davis More articles in Review of Social Economy from Taylor & Francis Journals |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.