Stuck in poverty? Stability and change of capabilities and functionings
Loading...
Author (Corporation)
Publication date
13.08.2026
Type of student thesis
Course of study
Type
01A - Journal article
Editors
Editor (Corporation)
Supervisor
Parent work
Journal of Human Development and Capabilities
Special issue
DOI of the original publication
Link
Related research data
Series
Series number
Volume
Issue / Number
Pages / Duration
Patent number
Publisher / Publishing institution
Routledge
Place of publication / Event location
Edition
Version
Programming language
Assignee
Practice partner / Client
Abstract
Dynamic poverty research based on quantitative panel studies of income and deprivation showed that for many people, poverty is not a permanent state but rather occurs in phases across the life course. The capability approach (CA) does not reduce poverty to low income but conceptualises it as the lack of genuine opportunities to live a life according to one’s own values. While there is a broad debate about measuring capabilities, a dynamic view is largely missing in the CA, both in theoretical debates and empirical research. With data from a qualitative panel study on 40 income-poor households in Switzerland, this paper analyses how capabilities and functionings change over time. We propose a model of the personal and social factors underlying the dynamics of capabilities with a focus on the role of aspirations and on feedback loops between fertile or corrosive functionings and capability sets. Empirically, two thirds of the study households experienced stability or stagnation of capabilities and functionings, whereas significant capability enhancement, as well as the decline of capabilities during the two-year study period, was rarer but could be discerned retrospectively by means of the biographical interview accounts.
Keywords
capability approach, dynamic poverty research, aspirations, functionings
Event
Exhibition start date
Exhibition end date
Conference start date
Conference end date
Date of the last check
ISBN
ISSN
1945-2829
1945-2837
1945-2837
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
Yes
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
Review
peer-reviewed
Open access category
Hybrid
License
Citation
Gonon, A., Nadai, E., & Böhme, M. (2026). Stuck in poverty? Stability and change of capabilities and functionings. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. https://doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2026.2699231