Note: We revised our curriculum, and this course is now offered as 6803: Interpretive Policy Analysis. I taught it this past Fall along similar lines as this one, using Sandy Schram and Philip Neisser's collection of essays Tales of the State.
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, HAYWARD
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Winter 1996 Dr. Dvora Yanow
Wednesdays MI 4125; 510/885-3282
Prerequisite: PuAd 6805 Off. hrs.: MTTh 5:30-6:30
PuAd 6807: Analysis of Social Policy
Traditional schools of thought in contemporary policy analysis include an economic approach, where public policies are evaluated according to their impact on policy "targets"; and a management science approach, for which decision-making is key to understanding the successes and failures of public policies. The former relies on econometric analyses; the latter uses decision trees. An emergent third school of thought, developing out of the postpositivist world of interpretive social science, challenges the first two for their assumptions about "facts" and "values" in policy analysis. This approach maintains that social values and the historical contexts of policies influence their creation and implementation -- that is, that "facts" are context-specific and therefore political in nature, and that policy analysis cannot be value-free. Its major thrust is investigating the meanings (values, beliefs, feelings) which policies entail for stakeholders, as a way of understanding the role which that policy plays in society as well as its success and/or failure.
This course will explore one school of thought within the interpretive approach to policy analysis, focusing on recent developments in narrative policy analysis. Narrative theories highlight some key elements of interpretive analysis: communities of interpretation, language and category-making, and silences in public policy discourse which are enabled by language, including choices of category labels.
The course will be taught as a seminar: there will be few lectures, and we will rely on roundtable discussions of the weekly readings. Students will be expected to present case studies from the readings. A seminar paper will be required, in which the themes of the course are applied to a policy topic (see below).
Evaluation for the course will be based on weekly preparation, and thoughtful consideration of readings and issues as illustrated in discussions and in the seminar paper.
Course readings
The following books are on order at the bookstore and on reserve:
Emery Roe, Narrative policy analysis (Duke University Press, 1994).
Frank Fischer and John Forester, eds., The argumentative turn (Duke University Press, 1993).
Martin Rein and Donald Schon, Frame reflection (Basic Books, 1995).
Dvora Yanow, ed., "Policy interpretations," Policy Sciences 28:2 (May 1995).
Two other readings (journal articles) are available in the library Reserve Room and for purchase at the Student Union Copy Center.
Paper
Choose a policy issue. Identify the communities of meaning in that issue and their "discourses." Analyze the discourses. What are their symbolic representations? Are there representations other than language? What are their points of similarity and of difference in interpretation?
1. January 3 Interpretive policy analysis: philosophy and method
2. January 10 Narrative theory and policy analysis
*Dvora Yanow, "The communication of policy meanings: Implementation as interpretation and text." Policy Sciences 26:1 (1993).
*Jay D. White, "Taking language seriously: Toward a narrative theory of knowledge for administrative research." American Review of Public Administration 22:2 (June 1992).
FF, pp. 1-8 (8-14); and Kaplan (in FF)
Yanow, "Practices of policy interpretation," in PS
Cases: Hofmann (PS) -- technology
Colebatch (PS) -- local government and evaluation
Chock (PS) -- immigration
3. January 17 Policy narratives I
Roe, pp. 1-19, ch. 1, 155-162, 147-153
4. January 24 Policy narratives II
Roe, ch. 2
Cases: Roe, ch. 3 -- medfly
Roe, ch. 4 -- animal rights
Roe, ch. 5 -- water (irrigation)
Roe, ch. 6 -- global warming
5. January 31 Contending discourses I
Cases: Linder (PS) -- EM Fields and cancer
Pal (PS) -- human rights, NGOs, and the UN
Roe, ch. 7 -- Indian remains
Hajer (FF) -- acid rain
Hoppe (FF) -- ethnicity (Netherlands)
6. February 7 Contending discourses II
Cases: Jennings (FF) -- health policy
Throgmorton (FF) -- electric power
Forester (FF) -- practice
7. February 14 Framing and reframing I
Rein and Schon (FF)
RS, chs. 1-3
8. February 21 Framing and reframing II
Cases: RS, ch. 4 -- early retirement (Germany)
RS, ch. 5 -- educational computing (university)
RS, ch. 6 -- homelessness
9. February 28 Argument and communication
Dryzek, Healey, Dunn, MacRae (all in FF)
10. March 7 Reframing -- a critique
RS, chs. 7, 8
Papers due.
Note: This is an earlier version of the Interpretive Policy Analysis course. An extended list of references is appended.
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, HAYWARD
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Fall 1992 Dr. Dvora Yanow
Mondays MI 4125; 510/881-3282
Prerequisite: PuAd 6805 Off. hrs.: MTTh 5:30-6:30
PuAd 6807: Analysis of Social Policy
"We learn nothing rightly until we learn
the symbolical character of life."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Education"
...
Course readings
The following books are on order at the bookstore and on Reserve:
F. James Davis, Who Is Black?, Pennsylvanis State University Press, 1991.
M. E. Hawkesworth, Theoretical Issues in Policy Analysis, SUNY, 1988.
Martha Minow, Making All the Difference, Cornell University Press, 1990.
Other readings (journal articles and chapters from other books) are available in the library Reserve Room and for purchase at the Student Union Copy Center. Most of the readings should be also available at other university libraries; you might also check your local public library, especially for the books.
Note: You may wish to read Deborah A. Stone, Policy Paradox and Political Reason (Little Brown, 1987) if you have not already done so. A very readable book, it serves as a good general overview of the position underlying this course.
Also, Martin Rein, Social Science and Public Policy (Penguin, 1976), which lays out some of the foundational arguments of the fact-value debate, is out of print. If you find a 2nd hand copy, you may want to purchase it.
September 28 No class
1. October 5 Interpretive approaches to policy analysis
Background Bruce Jennings, "Interpretation and the practice of
readings: policy analysis." In Frank Fischer and John Forester, eds.,
Confronting Values in Policy Analysis. Sage, 1987.
Bruce Jennings, "Interpretive social science and policy
analysis." In Daniel Callahan and Bruce Jennings, eds.,
Ethics, the Social Sciences, and Policy Analysis.
Plenum Press, 1983.
James G. March and Johan P. Olsen, Rediscovering
Institutions, Free Press, 1989. Ch. 3: "Interpretation"
Steven Maynard-Moody and Donald D. Stull, "The Symbolic
Side of Policy Analysis." In Frank Fischer and John
Forester, eds., Confronting Values in Policy Analysis.
Sage, 1987.
Robert T. Nakamura, "A Case Study in the Implementation
of Symbolic Policy Goals." In D. Palumbo and D.
Calista, Implementation and the Policy Process.
Greenwood, 1990. Ch. 5.
Martin Rein, "Frame-Reflective Policy Discourse." In L.
Orchard and R. Dare, eds., Markets, Morals, and Public
Policy. Sydney: Federation Press, 1989. Ch. 14.
Martin Rein, "Value-Critical Policy Analysis." In Daniel
Callahan and Bruce Jennings, eds., Ethics, the Social
Sciences, and Policy Analysis. Plenum Press, 1983.
Geoffrey Vickers, "Valuative discourse in policy
analysis." Policy Studies Journal 9:4 (1980-81).
Dvora Yanow, "Interpretive policy analysis: Notes
toward a theory." In Jong S. Jun, ed., Development in
the Pacific Rim (Greenwood Press, forthcoming 1992).
On Reserve Carol Weiss, ed. Organizations for Policy Analysis:
only: Helping Government Think. Sage, 1992. (a set of essays
for would-be policy analysts about agencies where such
work is done)
In class: Rosabeth Moss Kanter with Barry Stein, A Tale of "O".
(video)
2. October 12 Disputing positivist claims
Hawkesworth, chs. 1-4.
3. October 19 Difference: The social construction of categories
Minow, Introduction and chs. 1-3.
4. October 26 Labeling: Legal, Critical, and Feminist Approaches
Minow, chs. 4-7.
5. November 2 Categorical 'lumpiness'
Minow, chs. 8, 11.
Hawkesworth, ch. 5.
George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By,
University of Chicago Press, 1980. Pp. 3-24, 185-94.
Murray Edelman, Political Language, Academic Press,
1977. Ch. 2, "Categorization, Perception, & Politics."
6. November 9 Student presentations: Census
7. November 16 Student presentations: EEOC
8. November 23 Student presentations: Managing cultural diversity
9. November 30 Silences in public policy discourse
Hawkesworth, ch. 9.
Minow, Afterword
Suggested additional readings
I. On policy analysis (general statements)
Brewer, Garry and deLeon, Peter (1983). The foundations of policy analysis.
Heinemann, R. A. et al. (1990). The world of the policy analyst. Chatham
House.
II. On interpretation and policy analysis
Douglas J. Amy, "Toward a post-positivist policy analysis." Book review
essay. Policy Studies Journal 13 (1984).
William Ascher, "Editorial: Political sciences and the economic approach in a
'post-positivist' era." Policy Sciences 20 (1987):3-9.
Arnold, Thurman W. (1935). The symbols of government. New Haven: Yale
University Press.
Arnold, Thurman W. (1935). The folklore of capitalism. New Haven: Yale
University Press.
Berger, John (1972). Ways of seeing. NY: Penguin. (an essay in art
criticism that is applicable to public policies in interesting ways)
Brown, Richard H. (1976). "Social theory as metaphor." Theory and Society 3:
169-197.
Brunner, Ronald D. (1982). "The policy sciences as science." Policy Sciences
15:115-35.
Cuthbertson, Gilbert Morris (1975). Political myth and epic. Michigan State
University Press.
deHaven-Smith, Lance (1988). Philosophical critiques of policy analysis.
University of Florida.
deNeufville, Judith I. and Barton, Stephen E. (1987). "Myths and the
definition of policy problems." Policy Sciences 20:181-206.
Dittmer, Lowell (1977). "Political culture and political symbolism." World
politics 29:4 (July), pp. 552-583.
Yehezkel Dror, "Grand Policy Analysis." Association for Public Policy and
Management Annual Conference, 1990.
Edelman, Murray (1988). Constructing the political spectacle. U. of Chicago.
Edelman, Murray (1971). Politics as symbolic action. Chicago: Markham.
Feldman, Martha (1989). Order without design. Stanford University Press.
Geertz, Clifford (1973). The interpretation of cultures. NY: Basic Books.
Healy, Paul (1986). "Interpretive policy inquiry." Policy Sciences 19:381-96
Klapp, Orrin E. (1964). Symbolic leaders. Chicago: Aldine.
Landau, Martin (1972). "On the use of metaphor in political analysis."
Political theory and political science. NY: Macmillan. Ch. 3.
Lasswell, Harold D. (1979). The signature of power. NJ: Transaction.
Meinig, D. W., ed. (1979). The interpretation of ordinary landscapes. NY:
Oxford University Press.
Moseley, Dan. On the development of a mythological approach to the analysis
of public policy formulation. MPA Thesis, CSUH, 1990.
Nimmo, Dan and Combs, James E. (1980). Subliminal politics. NJ: Prentice-
Hall. Esp. ch. 1 and epilogue.
Robertson, James Oliver (1980). American myth, american reality. NY: Hill &
Wang.
Symposium on social values and public policy. Policy Studies Journal 9:4
(1980-81).
Thompson, Michael (1979). Rubbish theory. NY: Oxford University Press.
Torgerson, Douglas (1985). "Contextual orientation in policy analysis."
Policy sciences 18:241-61.
Walzer, Michael (1967). "On the role of symbolism in political thought."
Political science quarterly 82:2 (June), pp. 191-204.