Assessing the Relationship Between Policy and Social Constructions in US States

• In Event: Policy in US States and Localities

Abstract

Policy feedback scholars argue that the relationship between policy and politics is dynamic and reciprocal. For instance, policies “make citizens” and reinforce signals in society about who is deserving or undeserving and who is powerful or not (Schneider and Ingram 1993; Soss 1999; Mettler and Soss 2004). Typically, scholars assume that target groups’ social constructions are hegemonic, but recent research suggests that disagreement exists over groups’ perceived power and deservingness. Individual characteristics, such as partisanship or policy experience, affect these perceptions (see Kreitzer and Smith 2019; Kreitzer and Maltby 2019). We argue that social constructions also vary across space. Building off survey data on the power and deservingness of politically relevant groups, we use multilevel regression and post-stratification (MRP) to create state level estimates of social constructions. From this, we are able to see which factors, such as public policy, state demographics, and economic characteristics, shape social constructions. This research allows us to test key assumptions of policy feedback theory.

Authors

• Rebecca J. Kreitzer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Elizabeth A Maltby, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• Candis Watts Smith, PennState University