Using the Cultures Framework for Policy Analysis

Abstract

AbstractCultural analysis has much to offer policy development. It complements policy approaches that see society as comprised of individuals, offering a way of accounting for broader influences on behaviour than economic maximisation and broadly shared psychological traits. In a world where ‘information deficit’, ‘rational actors’ and ‘nudge theory’ dominate policy conversations, culture offers more nuanced understandings and reveals new opportunities for policy action. This chapter describes examples of policy recommendations that have been developed from research using the cultures framework. It proposes a series of steps, using the framework, for the development of policy or other interventions. The framework can also be used to underpin policy evaluation, guiding the assessment of proximal outcomes (changes to cultural ensembles) as well as distal outcomes (changes to measures of sustainability) that result from an intervention.