Exploring the role of Capabilities in Social Innovation

The notion of social innovation can be traced to the discourse on social change through the works of Marx, Weber and Durkheim amongst others. The emergence of the co-operative movement in the 19th century with Robert Owen’s work specifically 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 term itself while ambiguous with blurring boundaries is considered overarching to include the debates on the social process of innovation in methods and techniques as well as the discourse on innovations in the societal norms, methods of engagement towards a social goal and configurations of communities to achieve certain social objectives. This paper focuses on the latter – the human dimensions of social innovation.