Learning in the bath-tub: the micro and macro dimensions of the causal relationship between learning and policy change

Claire A Dunlop,Claudio M Radaelli

doi:10.1080/14494035.2017.1321232

Abstract

Whilst the literature classifies policy learning in terms of types or ontological approaches (reflexive and social constructivist learning versus rational up-dating of priors), we offer a three-dimensional approach to explore the relationships between individual learning, learning in groups and the macro-dimension. Our contribution maps most (although not all) lively debates in the field on a multi-dimensional space and explores the logic of causality from micro to macro. To achieve these two aims, we draw on Coleman’s ‘bath-tub’. We map learning in the bath-tub by considering prominent studies on learning but also, in some cases, by exploring and drawing lessons from political science and behavioural sciences. By integrating findings in an eclectic way, we explain the logic of learning using a single template and suggest methods for empirical analysis. This is not a literature review but an original attempt to capture the causal architecture of the field, contributing to learning theory with findings from mainstream political and behavioural sciences.

Highlights

Introduction and motivationThe claim that there is a causal relationship between learning and policy change is a classic feature of theoretical and empirical policy analysis
Whilst the literature classifies policy learning in terms of types or ontological approaches, we offer a three-dimensional approach to explore the relationships between individual learning, learning in groups and the macro-dimension
One popular textbook on Theories of the Policy Process edited by Sabatier and Weible (2014) refers to learning 80 times in relation to: the impact of collective learning (p. 13, see Heikkila & Gerlak, 2013); experiential learning clashing with preferred policy options (p. 31, citing Moynihan, 2006); organizational learning (p. 44, in relation to the multiple streams framework); policy-oriented learning affecting social constructions (p. 132, citing Montpetit 2007, p. 198 in the context of the advocacy coalitions framework); learning as mechanism of policy diffusion; learning and policy capacity (p. 401, see Howlett, 2009); and, learning as meso-theory adopted by the narrative policy framework (p. 243, see Shanahan, Jones, & McBeth, 2011)

Summary

Introduction and motivation

The claim that there is a causal relationship between learning and policy change is a classic feature of theoretical and empirical policy analysis. The bath-tub is a way to show how the literature populates the dimensions of analysis: the model of the individual, the group dimension, and the relationship between learning in one organization or sector, and the macro outcomes. This is a multi-dimensional way that is familiar to several theories of the policy process – in policy analysis it is common to refer to the micro, the meso and the macro level (where ‘meso’ means sectors or policy sub-systems rather than groups). It shows the field in its entirety rather than breaking it down into those who stay on one side of the ontological debate and those who endorse other ways of knowing (for these wider discussions about ways of constructing knowledge the reader can turn to Moses & Knutsen, 2012)

Why dip a toe in Coleman’s bath-tub?

Establishing the micro-foundations: from macro to micro

Micro to micro transitions

Learning aggregation from micro to macro

Notes on contributors