Examining the Impact of Policy Narratives on Policy Design: An Interpretivist Analysis of Bureaucrats' Narratives, U.S. Welfare Reform, and the Social Construction of Welfare Recipients
Advisor Information
Ethel Williams
Location
Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
2-3-2018 2:15 PM
End Date
2-3-2018 3:30 PM
Abstract
U.S. welfare policy has a long history of attempting to make distinctions between those who are and are not worthy of government assistance — a problem engulfed in socioeconomic and sociopolitical conditions, race, gender, and class. In the public debates leading up to the creation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, bureaucrats were among those to identify structural problems as the cause of poverty; however, they failed to advocate structural solutions. The extant research examining welfare policy discourse and the social construction of welfare recipients lacks sufficient understanding of the role bureaucrats play and their contributions to the outcomes. In order to understand how bureaucrats’ language and administrative discourse influenced the design of the 1996 U.S. Welfare Reform, this research draws upon the combined insights of Policy Design Theory and the Narrative Policy Framework. It uses Qualitative Content Analysis methodology to examine documents and publications produced by governmental agencies and transcripts of bureaucrats’ congressional testimonies.
Examining the Impact of Policy Narratives on Policy Design: An Interpretivist Analysis of Bureaucrats' Narratives, U.S. Welfare Reform, and the Social Construction of Welfare Recipients
Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library
U.S. welfare policy has a long history of attempting to make distinctions between those who are and are not worthy of government assistance — a problem engulfed in socioeconomic and sociopolitical conditions, race, gender, and class. In the public debates leading up to the creation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, bureaucrats were among those to identify structural problems as the cause of poverty; however, they failed to advocate structural solutions. The extant research examining welfare policy discourse and the social construction of welfare recipients lacks sufficient understanding of the role bureaucrats play and their contributions to the outcomes. In order to understand how bureaucrats’ language and administrative discourse influenced the design of the 1996 U.S. Welfare Reform, this research draws upon the combined insights of Policy Design Theory and the Narrative Policy Framework. It uses Qualitative Content Analysis methodology to examine documents and publications produced by governmental agencies and transcripts of bureaucrats’ congressional testimonies.