Social analysis in PSIA focuses on institutional, political and social dimensions of policy reform. It involves the analysis of formal and informal institutions, stakeholders, political economy risks, power relations and social dynamics within which the reform takes place.
This section deals with social analysis in policy reform, encompassing the transition from gaining a better understanding of the distributional impacts of proposed or continuing reform to influencing a more informed and locally embedded process of policy review and design. The TIPS sourcebook provides practical guidance how to conduct social analysis in the context of PSIA. In a generic sense, the term "social analysis" encompasses institutional, political, and social analyses. - Institutional analysis looks at the “rules” that people develop to govern group behavior and interaction in political, economic, and social spheres of life. Institutional analysis is based on an understanding that these rules—whether formally constructed or informally embedded in cultural practice—mediate and distort, sometimes fundamentally, the expected impacts of policy reform.
- Political analysis looks at the structure of power relations and often-entrenched interests of different stakeholders that affect decision making and distributional outcomes. Political analysis is built on recognition that political interests underpin many areas of policy debate and economic reform, challenging assumptions about the technical nature of policymaking.
- Social analysis looks at the social relationships that govern interaction at different organizational levels, including households, communities, and social groups. Social analysis is built on an understanding of the role of social and cultural norms in governing relationships within and between groups of social actors, with implications for the degree of inclusion and empowerment of specific social groups.
Social analysis complements economic analysis by using largely qualitative and analytically robust tools to understand the nature of social, political, and institutional relations that underpin the design, implementation, and impact of policy and that has a less-predictable impact on individual and group behavior and relations. These insights can enhance economic analysis by clarifying the costs and benefits of policy reform (even when it might not be possible to place precise values on them). Social analysis can also reveal the social and political significance that such shifts in costs and benefits accruing to different groups have over time. Political economy analysis is an element of social analysis in PSIA and is concerned with the interaction of political and economic processes in a society: the distribution of power and wealth between different groups and individuals, and the processes that create, sustain and transform these relationships over time. Political economy of reform applies a power based model, (rather than a rational-choice based model) drawing on theories of economics, law as well as political and social sciences. It allows development practitioners to engage more effectively in “pro poor” policy reforms and operations by considering stakeholder perspectives in operational design and implementation. Learn More |
The following pages present a simple analytical framework that highlights the significance
and application of institutional, political, and social analyses at three levels of policy reform: macro-level analysis of the country and reform context, meso-level processes of policy implementation, and micro-level impact of policy reform. Each level of analysis is applied with its own set of practical tools. 
Source: TIPS, page 32. Macro-Level Analysis: Understanding the Country and Reform Context Further reading
Meso-Level Analysis: Understanding the Policy Implementation Process Further reading
Micro-Level Analysis: Understanding the Impacts of Policy Reform Further reading Back to Tools and Methods for PSIA |
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