Bricolage or Entrepreneurship ?
and assembles tools and material as he or she goes .” ( Freeman 2007 , 486 ; see also Carstensen 2011 ). Freeman is interested in understanding how knowledge is formed and thus identified dynamics of learning . However , if the concept of policy change is questioned , identifying the type of “ learning ” only gives a partial answer . The concept of bricolage in public policy needs to be refined to unlock its potential in explaining policy change .
Levi-Strauss used the French word of Bricolage as an analogy to underline an oblique strategy . In his classic bricolage piece of 1962 , the word is mainly used to describe some extraneous , oblique movements in ball games , as well as snooker or racing . The use of the word bricolage and bricoleur is nowadays very different . The bricoleur is one in a domestic environment such as a workshop , using whatever is at hand to perform a form of craftsmanship .
Now , imagine a bricoleur trying to fix a table , running out of screws . She is deprived of a solution to the problem and needs a new solution . However , she is bounded to what is available in the workshop ; she looks for alternatives and decides to use a nail instead of screw . Let us now imagine that the nail is too short for the hole of the screw . The bricoleur looks again around her and finds a chip of wood . She has an idea : by sticking the chip of food at the bottom of the hole , she can use the nail . The bricoleur has thus fixed the table but rather than using “ by the book ” solutions , she combined different solutions to make it fit to the situation . The solution is not a type of modus operandi : the bricoleur will not start using nails and wood chips instead of screws . Rather , this solution is a devious mean used to keep the process of fixing the table on going .
Let us now return to Levi-Strauss to generate theoretical leverage on bricolage as a form of policy change . Applied to public policy , the bricoleur is one who cares about finding a solution rather than using a specific solution . Bricolage is thus a form of agency that is problem-solving oriented and characterized by :
1 . Contextual conjectures : the bricoleur creates structures by means of events ( Levi-Strauss 1988 , 15 ). The bricoleur realizes there is a problem after an event occurs . The bricoleur ’ s agency lays in the choice to ignore the problem or to solve it . Once the choice made to solve the problem , the bricoleur looks for the means to come up with a solution .
2 . A process goal : the bricoleur uses devious means ( Levi-Strauss 1988 , 11 ) to create a bespoke solution to a specific problem . Outcome goals , or rather , the choice of a particular outcome , is less important than the process goal .
3 . Bounded rationality and scarce resources that cannot be expanded : the elements used by the bricoleur are “ preconstrained ” ( Levi-Strauss 1988 , 12 ), there is a finite amount of policy ideas at hand .
4 . As a result , the bricoleur produces a policy solution created from the “ new arrangement of elements ” ( Levi-Strauss 1988 , 13 ).
These four characteristics of bricolage will be subsequently leveraged
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