A Comparative Study of Capability Poverty Status In Iranian Hotel and Hospital Service Sectors

Capability poverty, which assesses individuals’ privileges, was first introduced by Amarty a Sen in mid 1980s. This approach focuses mainly on developing human potentials and acquiring the ability to lead an honorable life. Therefore, having access to proper nutrition and housing, as well as health and education services, being involved in decision making and maintaining dignity have been highlighted in capability poverty approach. In this approach, poverty doesn't mean having no income, however, it is defined as being deprived of individual and social capabilities, the solution of which lies in developing such human competence. Consequently, the followers of this approach evaluate poverty using human and social indices. This Article aims to compare various aspects of human development among employees of hotel and hospital sectors of Tehran, in o rder to investigate capability poverty status and propose suggestions to improve the different aspects of human development and consequently, reduce capability poverty. To this end, Inglehart et al.’s perspectives on human development aspects and indices have been used as the theoretical basis of the study. To conduct this survey, questionnaires have been given out among 200 employees of similar service sectors of hotels and hospitals, who have been chose via multi-stage sampling method, in 2010.The findings of this study demonstrate that employees of hotels service sectors gained a higher score in the studied aspects of human development _indicating capability poverty status_, comparing to those who work in the similar service sectors of hospitals, and benefited from a better position concerning capability poverty.