Dimensões ideológicas no Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano (IDH): uma avaliação a partir de Amartya Sn em Desenvolvimento com Liberdade

Abstract

This thesis deals with the ideological dimensions of the Human Development Index (HDI): an assessment based on Development as Freedom. Its general objective is to evaluate the ideological position embedded in the Human Development Index (HDI), having as an empirical approach the book Development as Freedom, by Amartya Sem (1999). We start from the premise that there is an ideological position in the thinking that guides the construction of the HDI. And, as this Index is the most used in the world in the construction of public policies, with great weight in relation to Urban and Regional Planning. We found that the great inspiration of the United Nations (UN) for its creation was the theory of Indian Amartya Sen on development. We know that Sen is not alone in this position. Other theorists were part of the construction and theoretical foundation in the creation of this Index. However, there is a consensus that Sen was the main name associated with this foundation and, within Sen's vast work, the one that best articulates these foundations is the book Development as Freedom. Given this perspective, establishing an evaluation, under the ideological aspect that guided the construction of the Human Development Index, from the work Development as Freedom, became plausible, feasible and of great importance, since the author's thought is a striking reference in scientific production and in the formulation of public policies for over 30 years. In this context, we built, from the contributions of the theoretical framework on ideology, dialectical axes of ideological positioning in order to assess the ideological positioning in the work used as an empirical cutout, Amartya Sen's book. From this perspective, we reach three axes of ideological positioning: (alienation-emancipation), (consensus-conflict) and (private-universal), in which each axis presupposes positioning selected foundations on the three axes. After all the analyzes about the application of the method proposed in this thesis, the axes of ideological positioning proved to be efficient, especially with the subsidy of thematic analysis techniques (content analysis), managing to identify various ideological positions by the author throughout the work, with emphasis on the axis (alienation-emancipation) that dominates the positions on the alienation side. The method proved to be able to have its axes divided into gradations, in ideological positioning levels, in addition to the possibility of approaching other axes, thus increasing the number of axes. The possibility of creating ideological indicators was also observed, in order to statistically mark these positions, which could, therefore, culminate in a type of index of ideological positioning.