‘Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy’ is a strong article put together by scholars Anne Schneider and Helen Ingram. The two argue that “the social construction of target populations is an important, albeit overlooked, political phenomenon” (Schneider, Ingram,1993.) More importantly, they go on to write about how constructions become embedded in policy as messages and then those messages are absorbed by citizens. This in return affects the political participation by certain groups, a prime example of that could be welfare recipients. It is not just a belief within the public that recipients are politically powerless, but a belief by the recipients themselves. Government policies have helped millions
