Integrating Structure and Agency: A Synthesised Framework for Capability Analysis
Terence D. Agbeyegbe · Journal of Human Development and Capabilities · 2026
The capabilities approach, pioneered by Sen, provides a robust evaluative framework for assessing human development and social justice by focussing on the substantive freedoms individuals have to pursue lives they value. While Sen's framework deliberately concentrated on normative evaluation, leaving open questions about causal mechanisms, systematic analysis of how capabilities are structurally produced and transformed remains underdeveloped. This paper extends the capabilities approach by developing a three-mechanism framework that specifies how capability sets emerge and evolve through social processes. The framework identifies institutional design, normative environments, and resource allocation as three interacting mechanisms that jointly shape opportunity structures. These mechanisms operate recursively: capability exercise generates functioning achievements that feed back into institutional adaptation, producing dynamic cycles that either entrench inequality or enable progressive transformation. Applied to education policy, the framework demonstrates how systematic attention to these mechanisms can guide both empirical measurement and policy design. By integrating normative evaluation with causal analysis, the synthesised framework preserves Sen's commitment to freedom and ethical individualism while enhancing explanatory power and offering concrete tools for understanding capability dynamics in practice.