No Voice, No Choice Assessing Danish Active Labour Market Policies Using Sen’s Capability Approach

• Published in: Work, employment and society Vol. 35; no. 1; pp. 178 - 188
• Main Authors: Fernandez-Urbano, Roger, Orton, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England Sage Publications, Inc 01.02.2021; SAGE Publications; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Commodification; Labor market; Research design; Research Note; social policy; capabilities; labour market; wellbeing; Denmark; activation; unemployed
• ISSN: 0950-0170; 1469-8722
• DOI: 10.1177/0950017020935323

Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) are the subject of ongoing interest, which has included the framing of ALMPs as the re-commodification of labour. It has also been argued that Sen’s Capability Approach (CA) offers the potential to reconsider ALMPs from a more progressive viewpoint – so, is this the case and to what extent is, or can, the CA be a helpful research and analytical tool with which to study ALMPs? These questions are addressed through a reflexive examination of a study of Danish ALMPs, which utilized the CA and key themes of capabilities promotion, voice and choice. The CA influenced all aspects of the research design, methods and analysis. It is argued that the CA is a helpful methodology in bringing a new perspective to studying ALMPs. Additionally, the study raised concerns about the trajectory of the Danish ALMPs studied and possible alternatives to current approaches.