Exploring the Role of the Capability Approach in Social Innovation

The emergence of the co-operative movement in the nineteenth century with Robert Owen's work in particular promoted innovation in the social field. In more recent times, the application of the concept has been in a wide range of sectors from civil society, government and the corporate world. The paper uses the Capability Approach (CA) to understand the human dimensions of social innovation (SI). In doing so, the paper draws attention to the complementarities between the CA and SI. Four case studies from different domains are deployed to further the understanding of the SI using a CA lens. The findings offer a new insight into SI in terms of the CA that maybe relevant in a wide range of domains.