Mass Publics in Research of Policy Processes: Perspective on Policy Feedback Approach

Abstract

This paper reviews how mass publics as a political actor and their preferences and will emerge from certain theories of policy processes, despite traditional views of theory in political science, such as pluralism, which concentrate on political elites under representative democracy. Focusing on the scope, views of democracy, and relationship between “social process” and “intellectual process” in policy processes within such theories, I consider how studies of agenda setting, policy formation, and policy making have treated political thought and behavior in people in general, and in particular how the policy feedback approach more positively develops the research agenda. In terms of public policy, many previous studies direct attention to it as a dependent variable. The policy feedback approach, however, insists it is an independent variable. It argues that public policy works as an institution, and thus policy design is an important influence over time. This approach asks how public policies are likely to affect contemporary public life through the cognition of mass publics. Understanding these arguments and their implications is helpful in conceptualizing public policies themselves, political participation, and the role of government.