Social policy, Capability Enhancement and the Life Course Perspective
This paper considers the potential linking of the capability approach and the life course perspective, in the area of social policy, from the perspective of the key concepts that are central to both frameworks : individual agency, multidimensionality and longitudinality. It then explores the ability of the life course perspective to deal with two key analytical challenges associated with introduction of the of the capability approach into social policy : multidimensionality and longitudinality. This is done at three key social policy levels : the conceptual level, the management of evidence and the assessment of policy/program effectiveness. It emphasises the potential contribution of the life course perspective in the determination of causality using the framework developed by Bernard (1993), in particular its contribution when addressing causality in the context of multidimensionality and longitudinality.