Whose Values? Policy Design

This chapter explores scholarly contributions regarding what values are inherent in policy design. The “social construction of target populations” framework developed over 30 years ago still applies today, and scholars continue to find evidence of its applicability across multiple policy domains. This framework focuses both on the content of policy design, who is deserving and not deserving of policy benefits, and what effect, if any, such content has on the participation of targeted groups. Policymakers often use symbols and language to craft policy to maintain existing narratives and the status quo. One such narrative, advanced by the work of Michael Bang Petersen, is the “deservingness heuristic,” emphasizing how the perceived effort level of the targets of public policy affects perceived deservingness of benefits. Testing theories of policy design presents a challenge for policy scholars, as the dominant frameworks discussed in this chapter are as much as about psychology as they are about policy content. Thus, advancing the field of policy design will require an interdisciplinary approach.