POLY1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Liberal Democracy, Larissa Waters, Cultural Turn
Lecture 2 - Framing Social Policy
two different theories/models explaining policy change
rational approach - policy is the result of objective puzzling + analysing (rational
exercise)
objective + analytics
prescribes procedures for decision making that will lead to the choice of the most
efficient means of achieving policy goals
Getting the most bang for your buck
rooted in enlightenment rationalism (we come up with knowledge through intellectual
process of deduction) and positivism
e.g. evidence-based policy
evidence hierarchy pyramid on powerpoint - positivist basis
becomes problematic if we dont recognise that social politicise embrace values and
contested knowledge/perspectives
critical approach - result of contest and struggle between competing interests and
ideas
suggests that rational approach has inability to explain causation - why are some
policies adopted and others arent? Policy-making is a political process
Understands policies as being mainly determined by the political contest between
different groups and competing ideas
in contrast to rational model, where dominant influence is objective analysis of info
power is central to this approach
power = ability to implement plans of action and persuade/coerce others to follow
it
pros + cons of political contestation
different perspectives + debate can be productive, but can delay policy-making/might
have imbalance of power
expected in liberal democracy
certain groups and ideas come to dominate to the point that there does not appear to
be alternatives
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Privately-funded lobby groups limits voice of ordinary citizens
policy as problem solving
first step is therefore understanding the problem
People can become the problem
use of language
but whos problem is it?
agency: micro
personal troubles
have to do with the self and areas of social life of which an individual is directly and
personally aware
structure: macro
public issues
Have to do with matters that transcend local environments
Larger structure of social and historical life
often involves a crisis in institutional arrangements
Positioning - different understandings of the issue will result in different ways of trying
to fix it
argumentative turn in social policy analysis is associated with the view that policy is
made of language
argument is central to all parts of the policy process
ideology and discourse
shape how people participate in understanding the social arrangements in which
they live
sometimes an either or (one bad group, one good group) representation
Allows us to make links between social structure and individual lives, by explaining
how people internalise thinking about the social structure and their place within it
the totality of processes which form and maintain social awareness
content of ideas
processes which maintain that thinking
system of ways in which our ideas about our social world make our place within it
Discourse reflects + reproduces ideological formations
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Document Summary
Privately-funded lobby groups limits voice of ordinary citizens policy as (cid:1684)problem solving(cid:1685) first step is therefore understanding the problem. Have to do with matters that transcend local environments. Larger structure of social and historical life often involves a crisis in institutional arrangements. Practical - specific behaviours and practices which arise from ideological beliefs customs/roles which are expected of people in particular groups e. g. personal grooming + behaviour in professional roles. Theoretical - ideas, rationalisation or conceptualisation which explain or underpin specific behaviours/practices e. g. idea that we should be able to distinguish professionals from others. Frameworks of social organisations -> norms language as a form of social practice, rather than individual language, discourse and power. Policies, by nature, contain implicit representations of (cid:1684)problems(cid:1685) what we propose to do about something indicates what we think needs to change therefore policies constitute (give shape to) problems we should question taken-for-granted assumptions.
