Four target groups
Schneider and Ingram (1993) crossed social image (positive/negative) with political power (strong/weak) to identify four types. 'Advantaged' groups such as seniors and veterans, with positive images and strong power, receive many benefits and few burdens. 'Contenders' such as big business, powerful but negatively viewed, face visible regulation but gain hidden benefits. 'Dependents' such as children and poor mothers, positively viewed but weak, receive symbolic benefits, and 'deviants' such as criminals, negative and weak, bear concentrated punishment and burdens.
Policies make citizens
The core insight is that policies send target groups messages about who they are. Soss (1999) showed that recipients of stigmatized public assistance experienced government as indifferent and coercive and participated less, unlike social insurance recipients. Campbell (2003) found that Social Security turned seniors into a powerful political group. Mettler and Soss (2004) framed this as a bridge between policy feedback and citizenship research. The theory also resonates with labeling theory.
Applications and critiques
A review by Pierce and colleagues (2014) found applications in immigration, criminal justice, health and environmental policy. The theory is used to analyze welfare chauvinism toward immigrants and strategies by which politicians frame groups to win support. Critics note that measures of social construction vary across studies and that the theory says little about how group images change.
FAQ
- What is this theory in simple terms?
- Policy benefits and punishments depend on whether society sees a group as 'good' or 'bad' and how much power the group has.
- Why do policies affect political participation?
- Through policies people learn whether they are respected or stigmatized, which changes how they see government and whether they take part.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Schneider, A., & Ingram, H. (1993). Social construction of target populations: Implications for politics and policy. American Political Science Review, 87(2), 334–347. The founding article.
- Schneider, A. L., & Ingram, H. (1997). Policy design for democracy. University Press of Kansas. Policy design and democracy.
- Schneider, A. L., & Ingram, H. M. (Eds.). (2005). Deserving and entitled: Social constructions and public policy. State University of New York Press. Applied case studies.
- Pierce, J. J., Siddiki, S., Jones, M. D., Schumacher, K., Pattison, A., & Peterson, H. (2014). Social construction and policy design: A review of past applications. Policy Studies Journal, 42(1), 1–29. Review of applications.
- Soss, J. (1999). Lessons of welfare: Policy design, political learning, and political action. American Political Science Review, 93(2), 363–380. Welfare and political learning.
- Mettler, S., & Soss, J. (2004). The consequences of public policy for democratic citizenship: Bridging policy studies and mass politics. Perspectives on Politics, 2(1), 55–73. Policy and citizenship.
- Campbell, A. L. (2003). How policies make citizens: Senior political activism and the American welfare state. Princeton University Press. Seniors and Social Security.