  The capability approach provides a way of measuring a person’s level of well-being. It combines two elements: ‘functionings’, that is the various activities that a person performs or states that they achieve, and ‘capabilities’, that is the option of realizing functionings if one so chooses. Thus ‘being adequately nourished’ and ‘working as a computer programmer’ are examples of functionings, whereas ‘having the choice to be adequately nourished’ and ‘having the option to work as a computer programmer’ are examples of capabilities. The approach places most emphasis on capabilities out of a concern for freedom of choice. A concern for functionings alone, it is argued, might justify forcing people to behave in certain ways (eat healthy food, for example). A person’s well-being is then measured by the size of her capability set: the more capabilities she has, the better off she is judged to be.