The Growth of the Seniority System in the U. S. House of Representatives
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7255253 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nelson W Polsby (University of California, Berkeley), Miriam Gallaher, Barry Spencer Rundquist |
| Year | 1969 |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 787-807 |
| Publication date | 1969-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1954429 |
| OpenAlex | W4252945170 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 27 |
| References cited | 15 |
Popular discussions of the internal management of the U.S. House of Representatives in the present era generally give great weight to the ubiquity and arbitrariness of the seniority system as a significant determinant of outcomes there. Careful attention to the scholarly literature, however, should long since have modified this view. For it appears that except for relatively unimportant matters such as the allocation of office space on Capitol Hill, the criterion of seniority is generally intermingled in House decision-making with a great many other crite ria of choice, and the business of choosing is not automatic, but remains in the hands of persons having some considerable discretion. This, apparently, is the case with respect to such decisions as the allocation of Capitol Hill patronage, the initial assignment of Representatives to committees, the distribution of responsibilities within committees, and the choice of party leaders. The one important area in which seniority seems to play a role of overwhelming significance is in the matter of succession to the chairmanship of committees; this is in turn governed by the custom (not a formal rule) of seniority that guarantees members reappointment to committees at the opening of each new Congress, in rank order of committee service. It is the growth of this method of selecting committee chairmen in the House that is the subject of this paper
Arbitrariness · Business · Democracy · Discretion · Economics · House of Representatives · Legislature · Lower house · Order (exchange · Political science · Politics · Seniority · Service (business · Finance · Law · Marketing · Political and Economic history of UK and US
Political Change and the Character of the Contemporary Congress
Distributive Politics
Nelson W. Polsby. 1968. “The Institutionalization of the U.S. House of Representatives.” American Political Science Review 62 (March)
The Strategic Value of Compromise
Redistributive Preferences and Indicators of Social Mobility
The Great Convergence
Deputies of the State Duma of the VI Convocation
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
Congressional Careers, Committee Assignments, and Seniority Randomization in the US House of Representatives
Term Limits
Do Powerful Politicians Cause Corporate Downsizing
Use of ‘Dear Colleague’ Letters in the US House of Representatives
Report allocation in the European Parliament after eastern enlargement
Voluntary Retirements from the House in the Twentieth Century
Reflections on the Practice of Theorizing
The Theory of Legislative Institutionalization and the California Assembly
Trading Places
Seniority and Committee Transfers
Suggested Guidelines for Periodization
Upending the New Deal Regulatory Regime
Congressional Party Defection in American History
House Party Switchers and Committee Assignments
First Steps Toward a History of Congress
James R. Mann's Apprenticeship in the House of Representatives, 1897-1908
The Electoral Connection and the Decline of Partisanship in the 20th Century House of Representatives
Landmarks in Thestudy Ofcongress Since1945
Partisan Patterns of House Leadership Change, 1789-1977
New perspectives on the House of Representatives.
Congressional Government
History and Procedure of the House of Representatives
The Seniority Rule in Congress
Joseph G. Cannon and Howard W. Smith
Japanese People and Politics
The Congressional Caucus of Today
Changing Membership Patterns in House Committees
Party Leadership Change in the United States House of Representatives
The Seniority System in Congress
Parliament and Parliamentarians in Japan
| Unique citing works | 27 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,55 |
| Citation span | 1977 - 2026 (50) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 27 |