ABSTRACT
This chapter aims at helping the reader better understand what is involved in a value-critical policy analysis, why such an approach might be valuable, to whom it should be valuable, and how it might be done, as well as how this approach differs from both the value-neutral approach and the value-committed approach. Language Policy and Identity Politics in the United States, is an attempt to employ Rein's concept of value-critical policy analysis and to demonstrate its usefulness in illuminating what is at stake in a hotly contested policy debate. The concept of value-critical policy analysis comes from Martin Rein's book Social Science and Public Policy. Another mode of critical analysis involves the systematic examination of moral arguments for the consistency of their internal logic. The final step in this form of value-critical policy analysis involves drawing conclusions from one's analysis and possibly making policy recommendations as well.
