The symbolic dimension is at the heart of public action and of the contemporary transformations of policy. The goal of this research project is to think about the evaluation of a particular type of public policy which has never been considered as such - symbolic public policies, which we propose to define as all public actions that choose to mobilize symbols with the intention of creating lasting changes in their representation. For this, we develop an innovative methodological approach in order to capture the effects of symbolic public policies. The approach aims to combine qualitative and quantitative tools for assessment (indices and interviews) to measure and evaluate the symbolic dimension of public policy. It also aims to combine individual interviews from government and collective interviews from the governed in order to understand the complexity of the effects of symbolic public policies in the tension between their intentions and their reception.