Unicorns and Hacks
Revolving-Door Lobbyists and the Cultivation of Political Credibility
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3035570 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Wendy Y Li (0000-0001-5269-8736, Johns Hopkins University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2378-0231 • E-ISSN: 2378-0231 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/23780231251368039 |
| OpenAlex | W4413800451 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 70 |
How do revolving-door lobbyists produce corporate political influence? The revolving door, or the circulation of personnel between government and lobbying, has garnered significant attention as an avenue for undue private influence over policymaking. In this article, the author argues that the revolving door is a mechanism through which individuals cultivate political credibility over time. Through 52 semistructured interviews with policy professionals involved in U.S. federal policymaking, the author illustrates three components of political credibility-credentials, bureaucratic competence, and claims to policy expertise-and how they are mobilized and constructed through career moves. Although revolving-door moves typically result in an accumulation of political credibility, career transitions also introduce opportunities for credibility depreciation. The findings highlight sources of inequality and heterogeneity among policy professionals and clarify the relational and cultural mechanisms through which corporations and interest groups exercise influence in U.S. politics
Computer security · Credibility · Political science · Politics · Revolving door · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies
The fifth branch
The Organizational State
Liquidated
Lobbying and Policy Change
Getting a Job
Abductive Analysis
Think Tanks in America
Pedigree
The Business of America is Lobbying
Revolving Door Lobbying
Revolving Door Lobbyists
Is It Whom You Know or What You Know? An Empirical Assessment of the Lobbying Process
Structural power and political science in the post-crisis era
Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education
Distinction
Agendas, alternatives, and public policies
Quiet Politics and Business Power
Thinking Like an Economist
The Fracturing of the American Corporate Elite
Brokerage and Closure
The State Nobility
Bridge decay
Who walks through the revolving door? Examining the lobbying activity of former members of Congress
Assessing business advantage in Washington lobbying
How many lobbyists are in Washington? Shadow lobbying and the gray market for policy advocacy
Revolving door lobbyists and interest representation
Lobbyists into Government
Defending Interests
The Last Plantation
In and out of revolving doors in European Union financial regulatory authorities
Bureaucratic Revolving Doors and Interest Group Participation in Policy Making
Revolving Door Lobbyists and the Value of Congressional Staff Connections
A foot out the door
Policy Consequences of Revolving-Door Lobbying
From the Halls of Congress to K Street
Hidden Politics? Assessing Lobbying Success During US Agency Guidance Development
The Politics of Ex Parte Lobbying
Introduction
Campaign Finance and American Democracy
The Declining Value of Revolving‐Door Lobbyists
Learning to Think Like an Economist without Becoming One
Privatizing Participation
The Two Faces of Capital
Regulatory capture's third face of power
Two Faces of Power
Lobbying as Legislative Subsidy
Towards a dynamic approach to reconversions
Unicorns and Hacks
Theory Construction in Qualitative Research
Class Dominance or Fracturing? Sources of Broad Interest in Lobbying by Fortune 500 Corporations
Flexible Coding of In-depth Interviews
Symbolically Maintained Inequality
Career Funneling
Interlock Globally, Act Domestically
Who Killed the Inner Circle? The Decline of the American Corporate Interlock Network
Interlocking Directorates and Political Cohesion among Corporate Elites
The policy-planning capacity of the American corporate community
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |