Abstract: The social construction of target population theory is a public policy theory proposed by American scholars Anne Schneider and Helen Ingram, which has become one of the most influential western policy theories. Their theory focuses on how policies allocate benefits and burdens among different target populations, and the impact of such distribution on democracy. Their theory originated from the reflection of the American democratic crisis and was devoted to the design of public policies that contribute to the development of democracy. On the basis of policy design theory, social construction theory and critical theory, their theory presents a series of important theoretical propositions, which has been tested in a large number of empirical studies. In general, as both a policy analysis framework and a policy democratic theory, their theory is of great significance to public policy research in China.