A framework developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum that assesses well-being and justice by people's capabilities — their real freedoms to achieve valued functionings — rather than by income, resources or utility alone.
In more detail
Functionings are 'doings and beings' such as being nourished, literate or able to take part in community life; capabilities are the substantive opportunities to achieve them. Sen refuses to fix a list, leaving priorities to public reasoning, while Nussbaum proposes ten central capabilities. The approach shaped the UNDP's Human Development Reports and multidimensional poverty measures. Critics point to measurement difficulties and to the indeterminacy of an approach without a list.