Public Policy 7-24-23.docx

Non profit organizations All institutions have to make a profit or break even Profit = Revenue – C P has to be 0 or positive Its not good for it to be negative Non profit means that the profit cannot legally be given to any one in the business In Profit organization, the shareholders ge the profi...

Non profit organizations All institutions have to make a profit or break even Profit = Revenue – C P has to be 0 or positive Its not good for it to be negative Non profit means that the profit cannot legally be given to any one in the business In Profit organization, the shareholders ge the profit In Non-profit, the money stays within the organization Agenda Setting Public Agenda: items being discussed or acted upon by an institution/media/public Agenda setting: Getting something on the agenda Process by which problems and solutions gain or lose attention Review the Stages Model from Chapter 2 Bounded Rationality: People can only consider so many things at once There are limits as to how many alternatives we can consider Levels of the public policy agenda Agenda universe: all possible ideas Systemic Agenda: ideas that could reasonably be considered by participants in policy process Institutional Agenda: list of issues currently under consideration by an official instutition These are discussed by elites and is an informational hearing Decision Agenda: Itams that are to be acted upon by the government Bills, proposed rules People actively block and advance ideas from one agenda level to the next Bachrach and Baratz: Two fces of power Actor makes a decision that compels another actor to do something An actor limits the scope of the process to only consider preferred issues and alternatives Keep an item off the agenda Gatekeeping: News medias way to keep items off the agenda Groups exercise power in advancing issues or blocking them News media, interest groups, social media, think tanks Policy entrepreneuers Who drives the agenda? Pluralism: many groups compete in marketplace of ideas Elite theory: policy making is dominated by best-educated, wealthiest Article: Wohn and Bowe 2016: social media and agenda setting Media coverage affects what people think, based on research of mass media Agenda setting comes from mass media Authors propose crystallization framework of reality formation Constant stream of information from multiple directions Each connection in a social network is a micro agenda setter We build our perception of reality like a crystal is formed. Its not a top down process People tend to self select news sources that match their beliefs and social media can choose for you Social media exposes users to information that they wouldn’t seek out Explosre, however, doesn’t change opinions Your experience can become an echo chamber in a more homogenous social network Additionally, people are conscious of the algorithms decisions and will choose to work against or with it They will like something to increase chances of them seeing it Problem definition Public policy is problem oriented Problems HAVE to be defined and are not self explanatory Birkand says that problem definition is social construction The nature and scope of the problem and that it is a problem Something can be done about problems but not conditions The definition of a problem will set parameters for potential solution Solutions can become problems themselves Kindon: two ways society and groups learn of problems 1. Economic Indicators (Statistical evidence that is regularly monitored) 2. Stone: Numbers can be symbols and must be interpreted because they may stand for a broader concept Focusing events: Sudden events that generate attention/ especially harmful issues Stone: casual stories often have normative statements about the problem and potential solutions Diverse Zones