A THEORY OF HUMAN NEED:
A THEORY OF HUMAN NEED:
A THEORY OF HUMAN NEED Ian Gough
Contemporary relevance:
Contemporary relevance Goodin on social policy: If we are to
justify the welfare state supplanting the market, in providing
goods & services on the basis of need, 2 questions should be
answered (Goodin, 1988, ch. 2): 1) Is there such a thing as
objective or universal need? (answer required yes) 2) Are needs
morally more important than wants? (answer required yes) Similar
questions apply in supplanting cultural practices to improve human
development.
Critics of need:
Critics of need Liberals: needs are dangerous:One of the most
dangerous euphemisms in the sociological vocabulary, a misnomer for
a political decision based on questionable advice by idiosyncratic
or paternalist experts (A. Seldon) Economists: needs are
preferences Sociologists: needs are socially constructed Radical
democrats: needs are discursive Feminists & anti-racists: needs
are group specific Cultural critics: needs are Western.
Illich:Basic needs may be the most insidious legacy left behind by
development
The Needs roller-coaster:
The Needs roller-coaster Rise in 1970s Fall in 1980s:
neo-liberals Southern critics cultural critics theoretical
weaknesses Rise in 1990s: HDRs, MDGs End of Cold War Sen and
flourishing theory
Theory of Human Need 1 :
Theory of Human Need 1 Distinguish wants and needs Needs and
avoidance of serious harm of some objective kind Serious harm:
fundamental disablement in the pursuit of ones vision of the good,
whatever the nature of that vision. An impediment to successful
social participation.
Theory of Human Need 2:
Theory of Human Need 2 Basic needs: universal preconditions for
participation in one's form of life. Two: Physical health Autonomy
of agency the capacity to make informed choices about what should
be done and how to go about doing it. Impaired by: severe mental
illness, poor cognitive skills, and by blocked opportunities to
engage in social participation. Critical participation the capacity
to situate the form of life one grows up in, to criticise it and,
if necessary, to act to change it requires critical autonomy.
Theory of Human Need 3:
Theory of Human Need 3 Need satisfiers usually variable and
culturally specified. Intermediate needs: those characteristics
that everywhere contribute to improved physical health and
autonomy. 11 categories (see figure) Role of codified knowledge
here. Comparability of need-satisfaction across cultures Soper:
What [Doyal and Goughs] work shows, they would argue, is that you
can chart basic need satisfaction for objective welfare without
either embracing relativism or operating at such a level of
generality that the pertinence of the theory for specific problems
concerning social policy is sacrificed.
Theory of Human Need 4:
Theory of Human Need 4 Identifying specific need satisfiers
requires distinct procedure Role of cultural repertoires of beliefs
and practices: default solutions But to adapt need satisfiers to a
rapidly changing environment, THN argues, a dual strategy is
required.
Theory of Human Need 5:
Theory of Human Need 5 Common dilemmas: 4 societal
preconditions: production, reproduction, cultural transmission and
political authority Hypothesis: Success in meeting these improves
need satisfaction, and vice versa. Basic needs can never be
satisfied independently of the social environment, but must be
conceptualised independently of any specific social
environment.
Theory of Human Need 6:
Theory of Human Need 6 Needs: Normative arguments and social
justice. Membership of any group implies obligations or duties. To
ascribe duties to someone presupposes that they are in fact able to
perform these duties. Therefore ascription of a duty logically
entails entitlement to the need satisfaction to be able to
undertake that duty. Where the social group is large, this entails
similar obligations to strangers, whose needs we do not directly
witness and can do nothing individually to satisfy. This will
require support for agencies that satisfy their needs: the welfare
state.
THN critics 1:
THN critics 1 Individualism: Autonomy as selfish and/or heroic
ambition and masculine independence? No: autonomy of agency as
interdependent agency But asymmetric dependence of children, the
frail elderly, people with disabilities and ill people. Need for
care for substantial chunks of our lives.
THN critics 2:
THN critics 2 Objectivism: Draws sharp line between objective
and subjective states: ignores their interdependence? Subjective or
hedonic well-being can foster objective or eudaimonic well-being.
Two-way feedback THN does recognise self-confidence and sense of
control as components of autonomy of agency But the implications of
this are not followed through. A thorough-going objectivism cannot
be sustained when studying well-being.
THN critics 3:
THN critics 3 Paternalism: Top down: D&G know best? But
recognise role of wide participation and experiential knowledge in
understanding needs and need satisfiers Develops a procedural
approach the dual strategy for relating codified and experiential
knowledge But lacks Sens critical distinction between functionings
and capabilities: fasting versus starving.
