Political arenas, life styles, and the impact of technologies on policymaking

Abstract

Public policies are often founded upon or employ specific technologies. Two basic types of technology are distinguished—behavioral and physical technologies—and their contributions to policy and policymaking are discussed. The attractiveness of a technology to policymakers depends on how politically significant groups view the technology's impact on life styles and its implications for the allocation of values. Following Theodore Lowi's groundwork, behavioral technologies generally are perceived to “redistribute” values (power, respect, wealth, status) and “regulate” styles of living, while physical technologies generally appear to “distribute” values, opportunities, and freedom to pursue desired life styles. The policy sciences are given separate treatment as a behavioral technology with both “distributive” and “redistributive” aspects. The creative use of physical technology, development of multidisciplinary policy studies, and efforts towards more “distributive” behavioral technologies are discussed as more relevant and productive for policymaking.