Empowerment, Capabilities and Homelessness: The Limitations of Employment-focused Social Enterprises in Addressing Complex Needs

《Empowerment, Capabilities and Homelessness: The Limitations of Employment-focused Social Enterprises in Addressing Complex Needs》

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关键字: Homelessness; Social enterprise; Empowerment; Capability; Employment; Big society; BIG SOCIETY; SUPPORT; PEOPLE; COMMUNITY; CONSUMER; SERVICES; RIGHTS

作者单位: [Tanekenov, Aslan] Kazakh British Tech Univ, Int Sch Econ & Social Sci, Room 422, Alma Ata 050000, Kazakhstan. [Fitzpatrick, Suzanne; Johnsen, Sarah] Heriot Watt Univ, Inst Social Policy Housing & Equal Res, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. Tanekenov, A (reprint author), Kazakh British Tech Univ, Int Sch Econ & Social Sci, Room 422, Alma Ata 050000, Kazakhstan. E-Mail: a.tanekenov@kbtu.kz

摘要: Empowerment' is often said to be a key objective of policies aiming to improve the lives of homeless people and other vulnerable groups. This paper contends that Sen and Nussbaum's influential capability' approach provides an appropriate means of operationalising this arguably nebulous concept. Via a critique of work-focused social enterprises in the homelessness field, as promoted by successive UK governments, it seeks to demonstrate the importance of a multi-dimensional approach to enhancing the capabilities of homeless people with complex support needs. Specifically, it argues for attention to be given to four (independently important) empowerment domains': the bodily domain; the political and economic domain; the social and emotional domain; and the creative, intellectual and self-development domain. This broad-based understanding of empowerment implies that a balance must be struck between specialist provision, such as the bespoke social enterprises focused upon in this paper, and more integrative models which seek to support homeless people in ordinary community and workplace settings.