Doctoral Dissertation Research: Mechanisms of Advancement in a Semi-Profession

michael HoutDaniel laurison加州大学伯克利分校这项研究研究的是专业竞选工作人员和顾问在美国选举中所扮演的角色。政治工作人员制作选民看到的广告和传单，精心制作选民听到的演讲，编写他们接到的电话和访问的脚本，并确定这些通信将针对哪些选民。他们塑造候选人？信息，他们的自我展示，以及他们的日常安排。虽然候选人可能有最终决定权，但绝大多数竞选策略是由竞选工作人员和顾问决定和实施的。然而，学者们对那些在塑造美国政治格局中扮演如此重要角色的人却知之甚少。具体来说，这个项目着眼于进入政治领域的途径和进步。研究的第一部分包括创建和分析一个数据库，其中包含2003年至2008年期间在总统或参议院竞选中承担决策责任的所有工作人员和顾问的职业道路。该项目的第二部分是基于对华盛顿特区和全国各地政治专业人士的深入采访。本论文的智力贡献是理解社会学兴趣的一个研究不足的领域，政治工作世界，既没有被工作和专业学者调查，也没有被政治社会学家调查。更广泛的影响本研究有可能通过揭示在历史上一直由白人和男性主导的领域成功的机制而产生更广泛的影响。研究结果将在社会学领域以及更广泛的公众中促进对美国政治运动过程的理解。

SES-1003809Michael HoutDaniel LaurisonUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe research studies the role professional campaign staffers and consultants play in American elections. Political operatives create the advertisements and flyers voters see, craft the speeches voters hear, script the phone calls and visits they receive, and determine which voters will be targeted with each of these communications. They shape candidates? messages, their self-presentations, and their daily schedules. Although candidates may have final say, the vast majority of campaign strategies are decided upon and implemented by campaign staff and consultants. And yet scholars know remarkably little about the people who play such an important role in shaping the American political landscape. Specifically, this project looks at the paths to entry and advancement within the political field. The first part of the research involves the creation and analysis of a database containing the career paths of all staffers and consultants who held decision-making responsibilities in Presidential or Senate campaigns between 2003 and 2008. The second part of the project is based on in-depth interviews with a subset of these political professionals in Washington, D.C. and around the country. The intellectual contributions of this dissertation is to understand an understudied area of sociological interest, political work world, that has been investigated neither by scholars of work and professions nor by political sociologistsBroader ImpactsThis research has the potential to have broader impacts through shedding light on the mechanisms that govern success in a field that has been historically white and male-dominated. Research findings will advance understanding of the processes American political campaigns within both the field of sociology as well as among the public more broadly.