The Social Construction of Target Populations in Lottery Scholarship Design: An Examination of the Arkansas Lottery Policy

• In Event: 65.081 - Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: 65.081-3 - Poster Session: Legal and Judicial Issues for Underserved Populations

Abstract

Lottery policies have been created by many states to generate additional funds to support public initiatives. In 2009, Arkansas adopted a lottery to generate higher education scholarships. Through 18 participant interviews and document analysis of 14 primary and 72 secondary documents, this study examined how decision makers socially constructed target populations while forming lottery policy. Developed by Helen Ingram and Anne Schneider (1993), the social construction of policy design provides a framework for better understanding how social constructions become embedded into the political discourse from the policy design process. Participants noted that education became the primary beneficiary with the policy also benefiting the retail and vendor community. The symbolic nature of education became the driving force within policy design.

Authors

• Kristopher Copeland, Northeastern State University - Tahlequah

• Ketevan Mamiseishvili, University of Arkansas