Constructionist Policy Design, Democracy, and Social Justice

Introduction to Constructionist Policy Design

Policy design approaches can be described as mechanisms or measures utilized to develop and implement policies in light of specific goals. These goals identify the specific issues that need to be addressed during policy implementation. According to Schneider and Ingram (1997), some of the most essential components of public policy include problem definition, goal articulation, probable benefits, target population, policy directives or rules, and tools to be utilized in implementing those directives. In most cases, policies are developed and established to help address aspects of social behavior in order to enhance the quality of life and experiences of citizens. There are different policy design approaches utilized in the development and enactment of policies, including the constructionist policy design approach. This approach suggests that policies are developed and implemented based on the social realities of citizens, and it can be used to understand why public policies often fail to serve democracy and to comprehend the social justice impacts of public policy.

Why Public Policies Fail to Serve Democracy

The constructionist policy design approach was developed by Schneider and Ingram (1997) to explore how social realities shape public policies. Schneider and Ingram (1997) argue that social construction encompasses the various measures through which the social realities of the world are influenced and developed. Policy scholars consequently believe that public policy is targeted toward the beliefs, stereotypes, and images that shape people's identities and link them to others within a social group that is likely to benefit from, or bear the burdens of, policy. Schneider and Ingram (1997) further contend that, since social construction focuses on dealing with social realities, public policies are mainly geared toward addressing social problems and governance issues. This essentially means that policy design is intrinsically intentional and normative, since policies are developed and implemented to serve specific interests, values, and purposes. According to Burnier (1994), individual realities develop into a specific social order because reality is itself viewed as a social construction.

One of the critical governance issues that public policy must address is democracy, which is an important component of political leadership. Throughout history, public policies have seemingly and persistently failed to serve democracy, as evidenced by pervasive public criticism. The failure of public policies to serve democracy can be explained using different concepts, including Schneider and Ingram's constructionist policy design approach. While numerous policies have been adopted to help promote democracy, they have largely fallen short despite addressing some fundamental individual rights relating to political participation. In the United States, citizens have continued to express dissatisfaction with the country's democracy even as they retain the right to vote, freedom of speech, and the liberty to run for political office.

Through the constructionist policy design approach, one key reason society produces public policies that fail to serve democracy is the failure to meet society's expectations. Social realities—the premise of social construction—shape people's expectations and interests. Public policies are established to meet these interests and expectations in order to be considered effective. Public policies have failed to serve democracy because they are relatively incapable of meeting the needs, expectations, or interests of society. This is particularly true when policies are considered from a governance perspective—that is, how public officials and institutions work toward meeting people's interests and needs. In this regard, public officials and institutions do not implement policies in a manner that effectively addresses those interests and expectations.

For example, economic development and labor policies have failed to provide long-term economic wellbeing to citizens in a manner that meets their expectations. People are effectively forced to struggle with increased income inequality because of relatively heavy taxation and regulatory policies (Schneider & Ingram, 1997). On the other hand, policies geared toward providing welfare have ended up generating economic dependency rather than ending poverty as intended. Because of this dependency, welfare recipients rely on initiatives and actions by public officials and institutions to survive, especially in light of difficult economic times (Soss, 1999). While politicians deliver speeches on improving the plight of welfare recipients during legislative debates and electoral campaigns, welfare policies are enacted and implemented in ways that do not actually end poverty.

These examples demonstrate the discrepancy between public policies and people's expectations. As long as such discrepancies persist, public policies will continue to fall short of serving democracy. While public policies are ostensibly designed based on people's interests, their implementation is not carried out in a manner that genuinely addresses those interests and expectations. From a social construction perspective, public policies do not effectively tackle the devastating social realities of citizens, which means they significantly fail to serve democracy—a system grounded in the will of the majority.

The second explanation for why society produces public policies that fail to serve democracy, from a social constructionist perspective, is that policy designs discourage active citizenship (Schneider & Ingram, 1997). In most cases, policy development processes are led by public officials and legislators who engage in extensive debates about policy directives and intentions. During this process, policy development is not necessarily driven by citizens' interests but is largely influenced by the wishes and desires of policymakers and legislators. While policymakers and legislators are mandated with the task of developing policies that enhance citizens' lives, they may fail to engage active citizen participation in the policymaking process. Schneider and Ingram (1997) state that some societal contexts encourage the use of policy designs that promote antidemocratic tendencies, which are harmful to democracy. The choice of such policy designs is influenced by the fact that they are by-products of a vibrant historical process that incorporates social constructions of target populations, institutions, and power relationships. This implies that policymakers and legislators rely on their own social constructions of knowledge, institutions, target populations, and power relationships—constructions that may not necessarily reflect the current interests and expectations of citizens. The result is public policies that fall short of serving democracy. The flawed democratic performance of public policies can therefore be attributed to a degenerative pattern of policymaking and deceptive social constructions of people's interests and expectations.

Conclusion

Social construction and public policy is an issue that has dominated existing literature and studies on policy formulation and implementation as well as political action. The constructionist policy design approach is one of the concepts that provide significant insights regarding the link between social construction and public policy. As demonstrated in this analysis, policy designs are largely dependent on the social construction of knowledge, targeted citizens, institutions, and power relationships. These factors come into play when creating public policies to address the different issues citizens face. As a result of the significance of social construction in the policymaking process, public policy designs are biased toward serving the interests of advantaged people over disadvantaged groups such as the excluded and marginalized.

References

Burnier, D. (1994). Constructing political reality: Language, symbols, and meaning in politics. Political Research Quarterly, 47, 239–253.

Schneider, A. L., & Ingram, H. M. (1997). Policy design for democracy. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

Soss, J. (1999). Lessons of welfare: Policy design, political learning, and political action. American Political Science Review, 93, 363–380.

Soss, J. (2005). Making clients and citizens: Welfare policy as a source of status, belief, and action. In Deserving and entitled: Social constructions and public policy (pp. 291–328). Albany: State University of New York Press.