nach oben

Ethics and Information Technology

Erschienen in:

01.06.2011 | Original Paper

Technology, capabilities and critical perspectives: what can critical theory contribute to Sen’s capability approach?

verfasst von: Yingqin Zheng, Bernd Carsten Stahl

Erschienen in: Ethics and Information Technology | Ausgabe 2/2011

Einloggen

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche, um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config

KI-gestützte Suche

Aus

Abstract

This paper explores what insights can be drawn from critical theory to enrich and strengthen Sen’s capability approach in relation to technology and human development. The two theories share some important commonalities: both are concerned with the pursuit of “a good life”; both are normative theories rooted in ethics and meant to make a difference, and both are interested in democracy. The paper provides a brief overview of both schools of thought and their applications to technology and human development. Three areas are identified where critical theory can make a contribution to the capability approach: conceptually, by providing a critical account of individual agency and enriching the concept of technology beyond the simplistic notion of commodities; methodologically, by sensitising towards reification and hegemony of scientific tools, and, finally, by emphasising reflexivity of researchers.

Vorheriger Artikel Editorial: ICT and the capability approach

Nächster Artikel Human development or human enhancement? A methodological reflection on capabilities and the evaluation of information technologies

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Alkire, S. (2002). Valuing freedom: Sen’s capability approach and poverty reduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Anand, P., Santos, C., & Smith, R. (2007). The measurement of capabilities (No. 67). Open Discussion Papers in Economics. Open University.

Bailur, S. (2007).The challenges of community participation in rural information systems projects. Paper presented at the IFIP 9.4 Working Group on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries: Taking Stock of E-development, Sao Paulo.

Basden, A. (2002). The critical theory of Herman Dooyeweerd? Journal of Information Technology, 17, 257–269.CrossRef

Brey, P. (2000). Disclosive computer ethics: Exposure and evaluation of embedded normativity in computer technology. In CEPE2000 computer ethics: Philosophical enquiry. Presented at the CEPE2000 Computer Ethics: Philosophical Enquiry, Dartmouth College.

Brey, P. (2008). The technological construction of social power. Social Epistemology, 22(1), 71–95.CrossRef

Brooke, C. (2002). What does it mean to be ‘critical’ in IS research? Journal of Information Technology, 17, 49–57.CrossRef

Brooke, C. (Ed.). (2009). Critical management perspectives on information systems (1st ed.). Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.

Cecez-Kecmanovic, D. (2005). Basic assumptions of the critical research perspectives in information systems. In D. Howcroft & E. M. Trauth (Eds.), Handbook of critical information systems research: Theory and application (pp. 19–46). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Clark, D. A. (2006). Capability approach. In D. A. Clark (Ed.), The Elgar companion to development studies (pp. 32–45). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Cooke, B., & Kothari, U. (Eds.). (2001). Participation: The new tyranny? London: Zed Books.

Corbridge, S. (2002). Development as freedom: The spaces of Amartya Sen. Progress in Development Studies, 2(3), 183–217.CrossRef

Crocker, D. A. (2008). Ethics of global development: Agency, capability, and deliberative democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRef

Cukier, W., Ngwenyama, O., Bauer, R., & Middleton, C. (2009). A critical analysis of media discourse on information technology: Preliminary results of a proposed method for critical discourse analysis. Information Systems Journal, 19(2), 175–196.CrossRef

Deneulin, S. (2006). “Necessary thickening”: Ricoeur’s ethic of justice as a complement to Sen’s capability approach. In S. Deneulin, M. Nebel, & N. Sagovsky (Eds.), Transforming unjust structures: The capability approach. Dordrecht: Springer.CrossRef

Deneulin, S., Nebel, M., & Sagovsky, N. (Eds.). (2006). Transforming unjust structures: The capability approach. Dordrecht: Springer.

Devereux, S. (2001). Sen’s entitlement approach: Critiques and counter-critiques. Oxford Development Studies, 29(3), 245–263.CrossRef

Doolin, B., & McLeod, L. (2005). Towards critical interpretivism in IS research. In D. Howcroft & E. Trauth (Eds.), Handbook of critical information systems research: Theory and application (pp. 244–271). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Evans, P. (2002). Collective capabilities, culture, and Amartya Sen’s development as freedom. Studies in Comparative International Development, 37(2), 54–60.CrossRef

Falconer, D. (2008). A demographic and content survey of critical research in information systems for the period 2001–2005. Communications of AIS, 2008(22), 547–568.

Feenberg, A. (1993). Critical theory of technology (New ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Feenberg, A. (1999). Questioning technology (1st ed.). London: Routledge.

Feenberg, A. (2004). Looking backward, looking forward. In D. Tabachnick & T. Koivukoski (Eds.), Globalisation, technology, and philosophy (pp. 93–105). New York: State University of New York Press.

Feenberg, A. (2008a). From critical theory of technology to the rational critique of rationality. Social Epistemology, 22(1), 5–28.CrossRef

Feenberg, A. (2008b). Comments. Social Epistemology, 22(1), 119–124.CrossRef

Feldman, S. (2010). Social development, capabilities, and the contradictions of (capitalist) development. In S. L. Esquith & F. Gifford (Eds.), Capabilities, power, and institutions: Toward a more critical development ethics. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. London: Penguin Books.

Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings (1972–1977). In C. Gordon (Ed.), London: Harvester.

Freeden, M. (2003). Ideology: A very short introduction. Very short introductions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Garai, A., & Shadrach, B. (2006). Taking ICT to every Indian village: Opportunities and challenges. One World South Asia.

Gasper, D. (2007). What is the capability approach? Its core, rationale, partners and dangers. The Journal of Social Economics, 36, 335–359.CrossRef

Gigler, B. (2004). Including the excluded: Can ICTs empower poor communities? Towards an alternative evaluation framework based on the capacity approach. In 4th International conference on the capability approach, September 5–7, 2004. Pavia, Italy: University of Pavia.

Gouldner, A. W. (1976). The dialectic of ideology and technology: The origins, grammar and future of ideology. Critical social studies. London: Macmillan.

Greenhill, A., & Wilson, M. (2006). Haven or hell? Telework, flexibility and family in the e-society: A Marxist analysis. European Journal of Information Systems, 15(4), 379–388.CrossRef

Harvey, L. (1990). Critical social research. London: Unwin Hyman.

Hawkes, D. (2003). Ideology. The new critical idiom (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.

Howcroft, D., & Trauth, E. (2005). Handbook of critical information systems research: Theory and application. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Howcroft, D., & Trauth, E. M. (2008). The implications of a critical agenda in gender and IS research. Information Systems Journal, 18(2), 185–202.CrossRef

Introna, L. D. (2005). Disclosive ethics and information technology: Disclosing facial recognition systems. Ethics and Information Technology, 7(2), 75–86.CrossRef

Jackson, P., Gharavi, H., & Klobas, J. (2006). Technologies of the self: Virtual work and the inner panopticon. Information Technology and People, 19(3), 219–243.CrossRef

Johnstone, J. (2007). Technology as empowerment: A capability approach to computer ethics. Ethics and Information Technology, 9, 73–87.CrossRef

Kincheloe, J. L., & McLaren, P. (2005). Rethinking critical theory and qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 305–342). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Klein, H. K. (2009). Critical social IS research today: A reflection of past accomplishments and current challenges. In C. Brooke (Ed.), Critical management perspectives on information systems (pp. 249–272). Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.

Kleine, D. (2009). ICT4 what?—using the choice framework to operationalise the capability approach to development. In Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on information and communication technologies and development (Doha, Qatar, April 17–19, 2009) (pp. 108–117). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press.

Kothari, U. (2001). Power, knowledge and social control in participatory development. In B. Cooke & U. Kothari (Eds.), Participation: The new tyranny? (pp. 139–152). London: Zed Books.

Kvasny, L., & Richardson, H. (2006). Critical research in information systems: Looking forward, looking back. Information Technology and People, 19(3), 196–202.CrossRef

Madon, S. (2004). Evaluating the developmental impact of E-governance initiatives: An exploratory framework. Electronic Journal of Information System in Developing Countries, 20(5), 1–13.

Marcuse, H. (2002). One-dimensional man: Studies in the ideology of advanced industrial society (1st ed.). London: Routledge.

Mayasandra, R., Pan, S. L., & Myers, M. D. (2006). Viewing information technology outsourcing organisations through a postcolonial lens. In E. Trauth, D. Howcroft, T. Butler, B. Fitzgerald, & J. DeGross (Eds.), Social inclusion, societal and organisational implications for information systems (pp. 381–396). Berlin: Springer.CrossRef

McAulay, L., Doherty, N., & Keval, N. (2002). The stakeholder dimension in information systems evaluation. Journal of Information Technology, 17(4), 241–255.CrossRef

McGrath, K. (2005). Doing critical research in information systems: A case of theory and practice not informing each other. Information Systems Journal, 15(2), 85–101.CrossRef

McLellan, D. (1995). Ideology. Concepts in the social sciences (2nd ed.). Buckingham: Open University Press.

Navarro, V. (2000). Development and quality of life: A critique of Amartya Sen’s development as freedom. International Journal of Health Services, 30(4), 661–674.CrossRef

Nussbaum, M. C. (2000). Women and human development: The capabilities approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Orlikowski, W. J., & Baroudi, J. J. (1991). Studying information technology in organisations: Research approaches and assumptions. Information Systems Research, 2(1), 1–28.CrossRef

Radder, H. (2008). Critical philosophy of technology: The basic issues. Social Epistemology, 22(1), 51–70.CrossRef

Richardson, H., & Robinson, B. (2007). The mysterious case of the missing paradigm: A review of critical information systems research 1991–2001. Information Systems Journal, 17(3), 251–270.CrossRef

Robeyns, I. (2002). Gender inequality: A capability perspective. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Cambridge University, Cambridge.

Robeyns, I. (2005). The capability approach: A theoretical survey. Journal of Human Development, 6(1), 93–114.CrossRef

Robeyns, I. (2006). The capability approach in practice. The Journal of Political Philosophy, 4(3), 351–376.CrossRef

Robeyns, I. (2008). Sen’s capability approach and feminist concerns. In The capability approach: Concepts, measures and applications (pp. 82–104). Cambridge University Press.

Saravanamuthu, K. (2002). Information technology and ideology. Journal of Information Technology, 17, 79–87.CrossRef

Schot, J., & Rip, A. (1996). The past and future of constructive technology assessment. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 54(2–3), 251–268.

Sen, A. (Ed.). (1980). Equality of what? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sen, A. (1982). Choice, welfare and measurement. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.MATH

Sen, A. (1984). Resources, values and development. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Sen, A. (1985a). Commodities and capabilities. Amsterdam: North-Holland.

Sen, A. (1985b). Well-being, agency and freedom. The Journal of Philosophy, LXXXII(4), 169–221.CrossRef

Sen, A. (1987). The standard of living. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRef

Sen, A. (1990a). Gender and cooperative conflict. In I. Tinker (Ed.), Persistent inequalities (pp. 123–149). New York and Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Sen, A. (1990b). Justice: Means versus freedoms. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 19(2), 111–121.

Sen, A. (1992). Inequality reexamined. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sen, A. (1993). Capability and well-being. In M. Nussbaum & A. Sen (Eds.), The quality of life. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. New York: Knopf.

Sen, A. (2006). Identity and violence: The illusion of destiny. New York: Penguin Books.

Stahl, B. C. (2006). Emancipation in cross-cultural IS research: The fine line between relativism and dictatorship of the intellectual. Ethics and Information Technology, 8(3), 97–108.CrossRef

Stahl, B. (2008a). Information systems: Critical perspectives (Routledge studies in organisation and systems). Routledge.

Stahl, B. C. (2008b). The ethical nature of critical research in information systems. Information Systems Journal, 18(2), 137–163.CrossRef

Stewart, K. J., & Gosain, S. (2006). The impact of ideology on effectiveness in open source software development teams. MIS Quarterly, 30(2), 291–314.

Thrift, N. J. (2005). Knowing capitalism. London: SAGE.

van den Hoven, J. (2008). Moral methodology and information technology. In K. Himma & H. Tavani (Eds.), The handbook of information and computer ethics (pp. 49–68). Chichester: WileyBlackwell.CrossRef

Walsham, G. (2001). Making a world of difference: IT in a global context. Chichester: Wiley.

Wastell, D. G. (1996). The fetish of technique: Methodology as a social defence. Information Systems Journal, 6(1), 25–40.CrossRef

Wresch, W. (2009). Progress on the global digital divide: An ethical perspective based on Amartya Sen’s capabilities model. Ethics and Information Technology, 11(4), 255–263.CrossRef

Zheng, Y. (2009). Different spaces for e-development: What can we learn from the capability approach. Information Technology for Development, 15(2), 66–82.CrossRef

Zheng, Y., & Walsham, G. (2008). Inequality of what? Social exclusion in the e-society as capability deprivation. Information Technology and People, 21(3), 222–243.CrossRef

Titel: Technology, capabilities and critical perspectives: what can critical theory contribute to Sen’s capability approach?
verfasst von: Yingqin Zheng
Bernd Carsten Stahl
Publikationsdatum: 01.06.2011
Verlag: Springer Netherlands
Erschienen in: Ethics and Information Technology / Ausgabe 2/2011
Print ISSN: 1388-1957
Elektronische ISSN: 1572-8439
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-011-9264-8

Springer Professional

Abstract

Bitte loggen Sie sich ein, um Zugang zu Ihrer Lizenz zu erhalten.

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 2/2011

Human development or human enhancement? A methodological reflection on capabilities and the evaluation of information technologies

The importance of capabilities in the sustainability of information and communications technology programs: the case of remote Indigenous Australian communities

Understanding benefits realisation of iREACH from a capability approach perspective

The capability approach and the ‘medium of choice’: steps towards conceptualising information and communication technologies for development

Human capabilities and information and communication technology: the communicative connection

Rethinking disability in Amartya Sen’s approach: ICT and equality of opportunity

Premium Partner