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Rethinking congressional careers: Career paths and their consequences in the United States House of Representatives, 1955--1980
Abstract
The modern congressional career can perhaps best be described by a single word--careerism. Despite the trend toward careerism in Congress, little time has been spent examining the contours of congressional careers. Previous investigations have analyzed individual Congresses and individual members, compared specific Congresses, and focused on particular classes, but rarely have longitudinal data been employed to investigate congressional careers. Moreover, previous studies have tended to generalize to the "typical" career without acknowledging the different career options available to the member of the modern Congress. This dissertation attempts to rectify this shortcoming by pursuing two goals. First, it offers an examination of different career patterns and the individuals likely to pursue each career type. Using longitudinal data on members serving in the 84th-96th Congresses members are found to follow four career paths--higher office paths, leadership position paths, extended service paths, and truncated career paths. Second, this project examines the consequences of pursuing particular career paths. The findings reveal support for the hypothesis that career path selection affects the behavior of members of Congress. Career path selection is found to influence electoral performance, the level of legislative workload, and attention paid to constituents. These findings indicate that congressional scholars should rethink their approach to examining congressional careers. Future investigations of congressional behavior should account for the influence that the members' career goals have on their behavior. Additionally, these findings offer insight into proposed reforms which would alter the career options currently available to members. Finally, the findings suggest that valuable insight into congressional careers can be gained from future research on the role political ambition and opportunity structures play in shaping careers.
Subject Area
Political science
Recommended Citation
Moore, Michael Keith, "Rethinking congressional careers: Career paths and their consequences in the United States House of Representatives, 1955--1980" (1993). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9333978.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9333978