Amartya Sen was born on November 9th,1933 in West Bengal, India to Bangladeshi Parents. He was a professor and highly regarded as a welfare economist. Having won the Nobel Prize for his works in Welfare Economics and Social Choice as well as numerous other accolades including the Bharat Ratna, the National Humanities Medal, Johan SkyttePrize, he belonged to the group of contemporary liberal thinkers and contributed widely in sociology by authoring many books as well as by presenting the Capability approach theory. Sen, in this book often takes liberty to repeatedly mention about the Capability approach. This concept of approach directly focuses on the quality of life that individuals are actually able to achieve.
Along with many distinguished pieces of work, the one of his books which still stands relevant in today’s time is ‘Development as Freedom’[1]As the title suggests, it is one of the first pieces of literature of human thought which combines ‘freedom’ and ‘development’ as two concepts to complement each other. This book basically challenges the usual conventional notions of development, convincing the reader to look beyond just growth in economic terms and focus on the very fact of human well-being. The author has managed to beautifully join principles of sociology, economics and philosophy to put forth his points and make a compelling argument.
“Human lives are battered and diminished in all kinds of different ways, and the first task… is to acknowledge that deprivations of very different kinds have to be accommodated within a general overarching framework.”[2]
The author challenged economists to measure valuable human functioning, such as being able to move around, or being able to live a long and healthy life.[3] Thus, Development as Freedom argues for a broad, inclusive understanding of human progress. From that line, it encapsulates the book’s overarching theme which is that development is not just about higher incomes, but about freeing people from all the different kinds of “battering” that diminish life. This could be either economic, social, or political. By situating income as only one factor among many, Sen’s work takes a holistic approach to development that prioritizes human freedom and dignity over purely economic indicators. This broad vision fundamentally reshaped development thinking, putting things to perspective and making it clear that acknowledging diverse deprivations is the first step toward a more equitable and freedom-enhancing development process.
Even though exploring various aspects, this book comes back to revolve around freedom as the central theme. Sen most profoundly explains about specific aspects that give the readers a lot to introspect about. He speaks about how Individual differences have the ability to transform resources into valuable activities which basically means that opportunities are to be considered as the key to the lock. Sen elucidates on balance of materialistic and non-materialistic factors in evaluating human welfare as well as concern for the distribution of those said opportunities within the society. Sen identifies five types of freedoms which are as follows; political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, guarantee of transparency, protective security. However, these freedoms are not viewed as separate things but are actually mutually inter-connected. For example, Political freedom can pave the way for economic facilities, which in turn, can increase social opportunities as well as protective security for instances such as assistance during unemployment or famine relief. Freedom, in it’s true sense for individuals, means availability of food, clothes, shelter and basic sanitation along with every person having free will, basic civil rights and political liberty. At the same time, development should be seen as the expansion of these freedoms that people enjoy and mainly for the necessity in removing the of major sources of things that definitely do not go hand-in-hand while discussing freedom; like poverty, tyranny, poor economic opportunities, neglect of public facilities, so on and so forth. Poverty is usually interpreted as the deprivation to live a good life and development is interpreted to be the expansion of one’s capability. The relationship between income and capability differs from one community to another, from one culture to another and is most definitely influenced with other factors being taken into account such as age, gender, disabilities and monetary distribution that is done within families. In this context, Sen’s concern was that individuals can differ greatly to the ability to convert the same available resources into functioning as something that is of value by just simply implementing adaptive preferences.
Throughout his book, the author uses real world case studies to illustrate his arguments. He writes about historical events to show that lack of freedom and transparency can birth economic vulnerabilities. The author also sheds light upon successful development stories such as Kerala, India, wherein the state, has achieved spectacular social progress by making correct investments in education and healthcare sectors, despite having low income levels. Kerala isn’t a booming industrial hub. But the use of remittances is done in a very smart manner. Public distribution systems and welfare programs make sure basic economic needs are met, even for the poor. The social safety nets established within Kerala that protect vulnerable populations: old-age pensions, public food programs and much more. The part where it gets the most interesting is that Kerala has a long history of strong democratic participation, which in turn leads to a high voter turnout, and that the common men are very much involved in public discourse. God’s own country is a real epitome to show that a group of people need not be rich to be developed, if expanding human capabilities and freedoms are given the priority, development surely follows.
The most intriguing and fascinating chapter in this book, in my opinion, is women’s agency and social change. Sen argues that empowering women is not a byproduct of development but it is development in itself; When there is failure of the same, it will incite catastrophe in the process of development. Empowering women is presented as a transformative force inthe society as well as for the economy which can be used as a yardstick to measure progress. The notion of individual contributions of men and women play a major role in the benefits between men and women. Even in China, I will say, precisely in China, this holds true. Mao started the liberation of China by expanding freedom especially of women.[4]This started with unbinding the feet of the women so that they can freely work, walk, including walk to school. Mao truly created the Republic, and the people truly knew China to be theirs.
There is no textbook formula for development and if there is one fact that can universally be agreed on, it is that all cultures desire freedom. Countries of democracy are better enabled for this to be showered on the citizens. The author argues democratic values are essential to successful development. He strengthens this point by pointing out no substantial famine has ever occurred in an independent and democratic country with a relatively free press. He gives the example of India, where the last famine, in 1943, took place when India was not even a democracy back then, but under the rule of Britishers. Through this book, Sen further goes on to state to the readers that the opportunities used by the individuals also playan important role while looking at the achievements made in a democratic country and not the rules and regulations that are safeguarded. It has been very much observed that the democratic societies with a free press have historically avoided famines. Establishment of political freedoms ensures that Governments shall be held accountable, for which, they are more likely to take proactive measures to prevent such disasters in the first place. This observation shows the instrumental role of political freedoms in protecting the overall well-being of the citizens and highlights the need of active participation with the freedom given to all the citizens in the democracy.
Amartya Sen’s work, despite being published more than two decades ago, still stands relevant even in the present political and economic landscape and can be a conversation for everyone as this book engages readers from all walks of life.
“Development as Freedom” stands as a candle to give light to a road-map for creating a world where freedom of individuals should be expanded and it can also be known as a call to action to remind us that true development is not just about economic growth. The main take away from this piece of literature is that Freedom is the primary end as well as the principal means of development.
[1]Amartya Sen. Development as Freedom. New York: Alfred Knopf; 1999.
[2]Amartya Sen, A Decade of Human Development (2010) Journal of Human Development (Vol 1, No. 1) <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14649880050008746> accessed 2 January 2025
[3]University of Oxford, Amartya Sen & OPHI, <https://ophi.org.uk/research/amartya-sen-and-ophi> Accessed 3 January 2025
[4]Kathleen M. Moktan and Ramesh Subramaniam, Women in the People’s Republic of China (Manila: Asian Development Bank, Programs Department East and Social Development Division, 1998), 14.