Education and Agency Freedom in Du Bois and Sen

Abstract

Education and Agency Freedom in Du Bois and Sen What is the role of education in human development? WEB Du Bois and Amartya Sen confront this classic question in The Souls of Black Folk (1903) and Development as Freedom (1999) and each rejects the narrow common sense of his times. Sen provides a multidimensional understanding of education as having (1) direct relevance in enhancing individual freedom; (2) indirect political relevance in enhancing individual citizenship and collective democracy; and (3) indirect economic relevance in increasing opportunities and economic growth. Du Bois holds that liberal and basic education will enhance individual and group agency for exercising citizenship and securing opportunity. He anticipates Amartya Sen’s “agency-oriented” capability approach, where one’s well-being functionings depend on the agency freedom to exercise reasoned choices. Du Bois’s analysis of the Black freedom struggle against Jim Crow highlights the necessity of education for agency freedom.

Keywords:

• Education
• Agency
• WEB Du Bois
• Souls of Black Folk
• Amartya Sen
• Agency Freedom

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by a summer research grant from Western Washington University. An early version of these arguments was presented at the Western Political Science Association meeting in San Diego in 2016; thanks to Nick Bromell and Jamie Mayerfeld for advice. I thank the two anonymous reviewers, an associate editor, and my colleagues Vicki Hsueh, Johann Neem, and Patrick Lynn Rivers for feedback on later versions. All errors of fact or interpretation rest with me.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

About the Author

Niall Ó Murchú teaches global studies and political economy at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, including courses on the capabilities approach. His primary research is on the political economy of settler native conflicts in Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine. He is engaged in videographic research on nationalism and family in cinema. He has published articles or video essays in Ethnic and Racial Studies, Comparative Politics, Irish Political Studies, [In]Transition, and International Journal of the Sociology of the Family.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by a summer research grant from Western Washington University.