Understanding and investigating relationality in the capability approach

The capability approach (CA) is a framework for understanding, assessing, and promoting the quality of human lives social justice. It focuses on capabilities – people's freedoms opportunities to live in valuable ways. Although its proponents readily acknowledge that can depend personal, environmental factors, little attention has been paid ontology (what they are how caused constituted) inherent relationality often not well followed through research practice. This, we suggest, leaves CA vulnerable misinterpretation misappropriation. In this paper draw complementary lenses critical realism, hermeneutics complexity theory develop an explicitly relational explains capabilities, as potential ways being or forms doing, generated by both personal agency material structures. We demonstrate these illuminate constitution particular reference composite case involving man called Bert his healthcare team. outline our demand support more theoretically coherent socially just approaches informed practice, policy.