Emotional problems: policymaking and empathy through the lens of transnational motherhood

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we explore the role of social empathy in policymaking. Social empathy extends empathy from an interpersonal disposition to the social and political structures that inform policy processes and outcomes. Empathy requires an emotional understanding of phenomena, which we suggest can be cultivated through an emotional analysis of policy, and can result in more socially just outcomes. Building on social work and emotional policy analysis research, we present a framework for both nurturing and applying empathy in policy contexts, which is then applied to the case of Canada’s Caregiver Program. We demonstrate how emotional discourse analysis exposes the various subject positions of both the analyst and policy subjects, implicating disciplinary forces that hinder connection between actors. Once such forces are illuminated, policymakers can reconfigure policy in more socially just ways. We thus emphasize the transformative potential of fostering empathy in and through policymaking.

Keywords:

• Emotional discourse analysis
• social empathy
• feminist and critical policy analysis
• caregiver program
• Canada

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Note that we suggest this analysis not as an alternative to representative bureaucracy and deliberative processes, but rather as a supplement to them.

2. Emotions are the translation and expression of affect, which is the unconscious bodily experiences in response to stimuli (Orsini 2017: 5–6; see also Jasper, 2011).

3. For an overview and discussion of the LCP, see Stasiulis and Bakan (2005).

4. Due to the recentness of the reform, no data currently exists evaluating the lived effects of these policy changes.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephanie Paterson

Stephanie Paterson is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Concordia University, where she specializes in feminist and critical policy studies. Her research interests focus on state feminism, notably, feminist governance and gender/intersectionality mainstreaming, and the politics of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood.

Lindsay Larios

Lindsay Larios is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at Concordia University, specializing in feminist and critical public policy studies. Her current research as a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Fellow focuses on the politics of pregnancy and birth, and precarious migration as an issue of reproductive justice in the Canadian context.