Interpersonal relationships, human development, and the trajectory of economic change: a social constructionist perspective

The development of the human being and of the institutional and economic structures in which he or she lives does not take shape from the single individual, nor from society as a whole, but from the relationships between people within their daily life contexts, where aspirations, ideals, values, suffering, love, and solidarity, amongst other things, can be expressed and regarded. By adopting a social constructionist perspective, this article aims to describe the peculiar, irreplaceable role of interpersonal relationships in human development and economic change. By transmitting specific meanings, values, knowledge, and skills to individuals, interpersonal relationships—as highly personalised human interactions—can directly bolster people’s well-being, empowerment and resilience, foster cooperation, and prosocial behaviours, and shape the actions taken at the social, political and economic levels. This approach enriches the perspective on human development advanced by the literature on the capability approach and is adopted in the paper as a profitable lens for interpreting the process of structural change, making explicit the relevance of interpersonal relationships in shaping the trajectory of economic change.