Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy

TLDR

Social constructions shape the policy agenda, tool choice, and rationales, becoming embedded messages that influence citizen orientations and participation. The authors contend that the social construction of target populations is an overlooked political phenomenon that merits study by political scientists. The theory explains differential group advantages beyond traditional power, shows how policy designs reinforce or alter these advantages, and enriches conventional explanations of policy change, beneficiary dynamics, participation disparities, and democratic roles.

Abstract

We argue that the social construction of target populations is an important, albeit overlooked, political phenomenon that should take its place in the study of public policy by political scientists. The theory contends that social constructions influence the policy agenda and the selection of policy tools, as well as the rationales that legitimate policy choices. Constructions become embedded in policy as messages that are absorbed by citizens and affect their orientations and participation. The theory is important because it helps explain why some groups are advantaged more than others independently of traditional notions of political power and how policy designs reinforce or alter such advantages. An understanding of social constructions of target populations augments conventional hypotheses about the dynamics of policy change, the determination of beneficiaries and losers, the reasons for differing levels and types of participation among target groups, and the role of policy in democracy.