The capabilities approach and agency for shaping family formation trajectories in Ghana
Population studies
32
Issue: 3
(12 - 2018)
Context/Background: Developed by Amartya Sen, the Capabilities Approach (CA) has been applied in
several domains of abstraction for understanding human well-being and development. However, there
is very little about CA in the processes of forming families, particularly in Africa. This paper employs CA
to examine the Ghanaian family formation trajectories. It explores the norms and preferences, the
choices and decision-making processes, timing as well as constraints embedded in the family formation
process.
Data sources and methods: This paper draws on a bigger Ghana/Mali qualitative research that
contrasted individual realities and collective images of family formation trajectories in the two countries,
but specifically focuses on the Ghana case to understand the individual family formation trajectories in
terms of their family life histories, resources available to them as well as their notions on the ideal family
life. It is based on analyses and discussions of thirty (30) in-depth interviews conducted in rural and
urban Ghana.
Results:The results show an inherent interplay of agency-driven idealized goals and socio-cultural
concerns, in other words, realities that reflect agency-structure concerns with regards to different
family life domains (pre-marital relationships, partner choice-making, marriage, etc.).
Conclusion:Based on the analyses, we conclude that the concepts of ‘ambivalence’ and ‘agency’ are
important in smoothening the difficulties family formation actors encounter in pursuing their personal
family life goals within the context of socio-cultural family life requirements.
Keywords: Family formation; Pre-marital relationships; Capabilities approach; Ghana; West Africa
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