typically conflates wellbeing with either utility (happiness, satisfaction,
desire-fulfilment) or with resources (income, wealth, commodity command).
In effect, he inserts a chain of new concepts to bridge the gap between
these two poles as follows:
Commodities → Commodity Characteristics → Capability to function →
Functioning → Utility
Drawing on Lancaster’s work (1966) he distinguishes between a commodity
and its set of characteristics or desirable properties (see also Max-Neef
1989). A meal, for example, may have the properties of satisfying hunger,
establishing social contacts or providing a focus for household life.
Conversely, a number of distinct commodities will often share one or more
characteristics, as when all (or most) foodstuffs have the characteristic of
satisfying hunger. More significantly, he introduces the important new
concepts of functioning and capability. A 'functioning' is ‘an achievement of
a person: what she or he manages to do or to be’ (Sen, 1985a:12). Sen’s
initial claim was that a person’s wellbeing should be viewed in terms of the
totality of ‘beings’ and ‘doings’ she or he actually achieves. Going further, a
person’s capability set represents the vector of all the different functionings
she or he is able to achieve. It is distinct from functioning (bare
achievement) in that it reflects a person’s real opportunities or positive
freedom of choice between possible life-styles. This immediately opens up
two distinct and important spaces for thinking about wellbeing.
While income and commodities undoubtedly contribute to wellbeing