This is the first book dedicated exclusively to the question of the relationships between sustainability and the capability approach. It is rather astonishing that the issue of sustainability first posed by the Brundtland commission in 1987 has gained so little attention from capability scholars despite the approach's focus on human well-being. This book starts with a seminal contribution by Sen on the "Ends and Means of Sustainability" delivered as a keynote in 2000. All contributions to the book focus on the difficulties that arise from a freedom-oriented view of sustainability: they argue for taking note of the impact of human life on nature, they question the meaning of intergenerational justice when measured in the currency of "substantive freedoms" (capabilities), they raise the issue of collective responsibility and suggest ways to model and operationalize the capability approach to sustainable development. The book presents the state of the art concerning "The capability approach and sustainability" while admitting that it is only a first contribution to a growing field that deserves our attention: Defining what is to be sustained and asking how it can be sustained. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities.

This volume relates the Capabilities Approach to research and practice in education, welfare economics, and social policy. Thus, it challenges traditional objectives and approaches in these fields. The authors suggest a capabilities perspective that calls into question the metric of success of these disciplines, as well as in the field of politics. It moves the attention away from economic growth and human capital towards autonomy and "agency freedom" of (young) individuals. Especially with respect to the young, this implies a substantial shift of perspectives. Young persons have been particularly highlighted in the political debate. On the one side, they are one of the groups with the highest risk to face situations of poverty. On the other side, young persons are the main focus group of educational strategies in the form of investments in human capital which dominate the discourse. In this context, the capability perspective implies a provoking shift of paradigms, because it takes place against the background of capitalist societies redefining their notion of "the public" and diminishing the collective responsibility for the vulnerable. The book also assesses the academic implications of the Capabilities Approach and the evaluative frame it provides for assessing policies and rationales in economics, education, and social policy. It discusses whether and how far the capabilities perspective makes a difference. It provides additional value in terms of promoting democracy and justice on a social level, along with well-being on the level of individual (particularly young) individuals.