The Concept of ‘Professional’ Politician: A Sociological Dimension of the Professionalisation of Political Leaders

The terms ‘professionalisation’ and ‘professional’ are widely used in political studies to describe changes in the sociodemographic backgrounds of aspiring candidates and MPs and examine the ways in which politicians have tailored their behaviour in order to succeed in their politics-related goals. On the one hand, the terms are used as labels to capture emerging tendencies in campaigning and changes in political communication (e.g. Negirne & Lilleker, 2002; Mancini, 1999). On the other hand, the concept of ‘professional’ politician has been widely used by scholars studying the changing characteristics of candidates and MPs to demonstrate the shift from the amateur to the career politician (e.g. King, 1981; Borchert, 2003). Whilst the wide use of the term ‘professional’ and its derivatives indicate that most of these studies have assumed that politicians constitute a profession, there has been no attempt to defend this assertion, compare the occupation of elected politicians with existing professions, and demonstrate that politicians have now in fact, achieved professional status. The only exception comes from the sociological literature where scholars have questioned whether it is meaningful to talk about a ‘political profession’ (e.g. Brante, 1990; Black, 1970). Yet these studies failed to consider the changing characteristics of the new political class and the new roles and conduct of politicians. By drawing upon extant literature on the sociology of professions and the professionalisation of political elites, campaigning and communication, this paper comes to fill the gap in the existing research of professionalisation of MPs. The aim is threefold. First drawing upon the sociology of professions literature, I address the question ‘do politicians constitute a profession?’. Second, I provide an all-embracing definition of the ‘professional’ politician taking into consideration characteristics that have been neglected by previous research. And third, I operationalise and measure the degree of ‘professionalism’ of the British MPs. The ‘professionalism’ scores of MPs are examined and variation among parties analysed. The paper concludes by discussing the impact of professionalism on the composition and relations of political elites. References: Brante, Thomas. 1990. ‘Professional types as a strategy of analysis’. in M. Burrange and R. Torstendahl (eds.), Professionals in Theory and History: Rethinking the Study of the Professions, Newbury Park, CA and London: Sage Publications. Black, Gordon S. 1970. “A THEORY OF PROFESSIONALIZATION IN POLITICS *.” American Political Science Review LXIV: 865–78. Borchert, Jens, and Jurgen Zeiss. 2005. “Professional Politicians: Towards a Comparative Perspective.” The Political Class in Advanced Democracies: A Comparative Handbook, no. October 2015: 1–440. King, Anthony. 1979. “The Rise of the Career Politician in Britain - And Its Consequences,” no. 1970: 249–85. Negrine, R., and D. G. Lilleker. 2002. “The Professionalization of Political Communication: Continuities and Change in Media Practices.” European Journal of Communication 17 (3): 305–23. Mancini, Paolo. 1999. “New Frontiers in Political Professionalism.” Political Communication 16 (3): 231–45.