Legislative Recruitment and Legislative Careers
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6301423 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Donald R Matthews (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1984 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 547 |
| Publication date | 1984-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Legislative Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0362-9805 • E-ISSN: 1939-9162 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.2307/439635 |
| OpenAlex | W2324885871 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 62 |
| References cited | 131 |
A long-standing line of inquiry in legislative research has dealt with the social backgrounds, recruitment, and career experiences of legislators. This review essay begins by considering the ways in which opportunities to serve in a legislative assembly are distributed in a variety of societies. It then reviews studies of the motives, incentives, and goals of persons seeking legislative offices, and assesses the relationship between the opportunity to serve as a legislator and the desire to do so. Next it considers the processes through which people become members of legislative assemblies, especially contrasting the United States with non-American systems. Finally, the essay takes stock of research on the careers of legislators, and notes findings on the professionalization of the legislative career. Who belongs to legislative assemblies and how they got there are questions which have attracted the attention of a wide variety of scholars. Researchers interested in political elites, in social stratification, in the political role of personality, in the processes of modernization, and many other large matters have studied the backgrounds and careers of legislators. And next to college sophomores, legislators may be the most accessible subjects for social science research around. The result is a large amount of research which seems, on its face, to have little to say to students of legislative institutions. (For review of this general literature, see Lasswell, Lerner, and Rothwell, 1952; Matthews, 1954a; Bell, Hill, and Wright, 1961; Keller, 1963; Marvick
Business · Legislature · Political science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research
It Takes a Candidate
Electoral Engineering
Rethinking the Comparative Perspective on Class and Representation
Perfil profissional e distribuição regional dos senadores brasileiros em dois séculos de história
Politics of Presence? Congresswomen and Symbolic Representation
Redistributive Preferences and Indicators of Social Mobility
The Great Convergence
Deputies of the State Duma of the VI Convocation
Uma tipologia do recrutamento partidário
A elite parlamentar brasileira de 1995 a 2010
Why do parties use primaries
The Pursuit of the Public Interest
Do ministers’ occupational and social class backgrounds influence social spending
Survey Types, Sample Biases and the Effects of Demographic Quotas. The Results of an Experiment with a Three-Frame Survey in a Major Russian City
Back from Holyrood
An election too far
Transformational party events and legislative turnover in West European democracies, 1945–2015
The Value of Legislative Versus Electoral Experience and Gender in Explaining Candidate List Placement in Closed-List PR
Regulating Cross-border Higher Education
Party Elites and Women Candidates
Os "doutores" da federação
Explaining Variation in Political Leadership by Marginalized Groups
Electoral Systems and Candidate Selection
Practice and payment
The (De‐)Europeanization of the Political Class in the European Parliament
Measuring candidate selection mechanisms in European elections
Leadership and Politics
Os eleitos
Individual Ambition and Institutional Opportunity
Constituency Congruency and Candidate Competition in Primary Elections for the U.S. House
Does the Numerical Underrepresentation of the Working Class in Congress Matter
Legislative Careers
Recruitment and Retention in U. S. Legislatures
Institutional Determinants of Legislative Turnover in the German State Parliaments
A deterrent to diversity
Intersectionality and Engagement among the LGBTQ+ Community
Party animals, career changers and other pathways into parliament
Who governs? The disputed effects of regionalism on legislative career orientation in multilevel systems
Life before Congress
If Only They’d Ask
The Theory of Legislative Institutionalization and the California Assembly
Class and Representation in Latin America
Carreras legislativas discretas en contextos de débil institucionalización partidista
From Political Pathways to Legislative Folkways
The electoral connection in Australia
Legislative recruitment
Party organization and party proliferation in India
Determinants of Candidate Selection
A Means to an End and an End in Itself
Amateurs versus Professionals
Does Class Shape Legislators’ Approach to Inequality and Economic Policy? A Comparative View
What is a career politician? Theories, concepts, and measures
Lot and Democratic Representation
To Run or Not to Run for Office
Shared Class, Shared Opinion? Policy Preference Congruence Between Citizens and Legislators
Descriptive and Substantive Representation of Poor Citizens in Switzerland
Governed by Experience
Business Backgrounds and Congressional Behavior
Do Mayors Run for Higher Office? New Evidence on Progressive Ambition
Transformation with a small “T
Les conséquences parlementaires du capital politique
Legislative Turnover in Latin America
The political role of women.
Legislatures in comparative perspective
Woodrow Wilson and Colonel House
The Turkish Political Elite
The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III
Power and Personality, by Harold Dwight Lasswell
The Legislative Assembly of New South Wales, 1856–1900
The comparative study of elites
Politics and Power
Self‐other orientation and legislative behavior 1
Comparison of State Legislators with a Control Group on Maslow's “Security-Insecurity” Measure
The Decision to Run for the U. S. Congress
Membership Turnover in U. S. State Legislatures
Influence in Parliament
Patterns of deputy selection to local Soviets
The composition of the USSR Supreme Soviet 1958–66
Political recruitment and local government
Bureaucrats and Politicians in Western Democracies
Women in National Legislatures
Voluntary Retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives
The First Term
Recruitment and Legislative Role Conceptions
The Influence of Nominating Systems On the Political Experiences of State Legislators
Over His Dead Body
Parliamentary Candidates and Party Professionalism in Western Germany
Lawyers in Politics
Congress
American State Politics
Party and Opposition
The Analysis of Political Behaviour
The Selection of Parliamentary Candidates
The Interaction of Personality and Political System in Decisions to Run for Office
Power As a Compensatory Value for Political Leaders
Members of the House of Representatives and the Processes of Modernization, 1789-1960
Political Socialization and Leadership Selection
Tenure and Turnover of Legislative Personnel
Lawyers in Politics
The Selection of Parliamentary Candidates
Predicting Parliamentary Careers
Women Members of European Parliaments
Changing Patterns of Female Recruitment to the U. S. House of Representatives
Length of Incumbency and the Reelection Chances of U. S. Senators
Legislative Careers in the French Chamber and U. S. House, 1871-1940
The Influence of Recruitment on the Structure of Power in the U. S. House, 1870-1940
Politics as Vocation
Incentives for Political Participation
The Goldwater Phenomenon
The Lawyer as Decision-Maker in the American State Legislature
Women and Representation
The Political Socialization of National Legislative Elites in the United States and Canada
Social Bias in Leadership Selection, Political Recruitment, and Electoral Context
The Fault, Dear Brutus
Ambition and the Political Vocation
Philippine Legislators and Their Changing Universe
Ambition Theory and the Office of Congressmen
The Matrimonial Connection
Political Recruitment in Sarawak
The Recruitment of Parliamentary Nominees in Norway
Political Socialization and Political Roles
Power Motivation and the Political Personality
United States Senators and the Class Structure
When Women Run Against Men
Legislative Turnover Reconsidered
Women State Legislators
Representative Democracy and Political Elites in Canada and the United States
Women in the Knesset
Legislative Recruitment and Political Change in Yugoslavia
Social Background vs. Motivational Determinants of Legislative Careers in the Netherlands
Evolution of a Minimal Parliament
Nominating Attractive Candidates for Parliament
The Changing Face of the British House of Commons in the 1970s
The Impact of Party Recruitment Activity upon Legislative Role Orientations
Patterns of Conflict in Colombia
Political Mobilization, Participation, and Leadership
Toward Understanding 19th Century Congressional Careers
Winners and Losers
Institutional Differences in the Recruitment Process
Risk-Bearing and Progressive Ambition
Turnover in State Legislatures
Lawyers and Politics Revisited
Political Recruitment and Dropout
The Electoral Consequences of Gender in Australia
Intraparty Democracy and the Selection of Parliamentary Candidates
The Rise of the Career Politician in Britain — And its Consequences
Candidate Selection in the Labour Party
Party Organization and the Recruitment of Councillors
The Changing Social Structure of the British Political Elite, 1886-1935
Beyond the Ruling Class
Political Leadership in Industrialized Societies
Personality, Power and Politics
Social Background in Elite Analysis
The Social Background of Political Decision-Makers
House Turnover and the Principle of Rotation
The Aging of the House
Who Makes Our Laws
Voluntary Retirement, Incumbency, and the Modern House
Women in Congress
Leadership in a New Nation; Political Development in Israel
Certain Personality Factors of State Legislators in South Carolina
The Personnel of the Seventy-seventh Congress
| Unique citing works | 62 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,68 |
| Citation span | 1989 - 2025 (37) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 62 |