ABSTRACT

Before embarking on the journeys of the Chinese service users, this chapter elaborates on the choice of theoretical frameworks employed in this study of recovery, ethnic minorities and inequalities. A critical realist exploration is employed rather than traditional social causation or a constructivist model. This leads to the choice to use the Capabilities Approach and Intersectionality Analysis in this study. The chapter analyses whether and how the recovery journey entails the development or diminishment of service users' capabilities to achieve their valued 'doing' and 'being' using the Capabilities Approach. Intersectionality Analysis is used to address what hinders or facilitates recovery and how class, gender, ethnicity and other structural influences intersect to shape outcomes, that is the direction of the recovery journey travels and the capabilities individuals have. The chapter provides an account of how the synthesis of these theories will be used to guide the exploration and understanding of the journeys of Chinese service users.