WHO ADVOCATES FOR THE DISADVANTAGED? REPUTATION AND THE REPRESENTATION OF GROUP INTERESTS

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dc.contributor.advisorLee, Francesen_US
dc.contributor.authorMcNally, Katrinaen_US
dc.contributor.departmentGovernment and Politicsen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2018-07-17T06:10:17Z
dc.date.available2018-07-17T06:10:17Z
dc.date.issued2018en_US
dc.description.abstractA central component of evaluating the legitimacy of a representative democracy has to rest in determining the quality of representation received by the various segments of its residents and citizenry. The question of adequate representation for disadvantaged and marginalized groups is particularly relevant, as these are groups that are already subject to additional societal barriers. This project is devoted to explaining why certain members of the U.S. Congress choose to build their legislative reputation around advocating for disadvantaged groups in society, and what sets them apart from their colleagues. Members of Congress work to build reputations for themselves that speak to what their focus is within the legislature, and on whose behalf they are committed to working. But legislators have a finite amount of time and resources, and must make specific choices about the topics on which they develop their expertise and the groups which they champion. Disadvantaged groups, though frequently requiring greater levels of government assistance or protection, tend to have lower levels of political involvement and political capital. Understanding why members of Congress choose to build reputations around advocating for disadvantaged groups offers critical insight into how and when the needs of these group members are prioritized and represented. I argue that group size within a state or district couples with the general feelings regarding a group to determine the amount of advocacy on behalf of a disadvantaged group that would conceivably be tolerated within a district. Within this “advocacy window,” discretion of the individual member becomes vitally important. To evaluate what drives members to form reputations as group advocates, I use an original dataset of all members of the House and Senate from a sampling over Congresses from the last forty years featuring an innovative variable measuring the extent to which a member’s reputation is rooted in advocating for the disadvantaged. This dissertation offers an important contribution to our understanding of when and by whom representation of the disadvantaged occurs, and also provides broader insight into how members balance personal, partisan, institutional, and electoral concerns in their legislative choices as a representative.en_US
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/M2JD4PS58
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/20954
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledPolitical scienceen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledCongressen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledDisadvantaged Groupsen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledRepresentationen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledReputationen_US
dc.titleWHO ADVOCATES FOR THE DISADVANTAGED? REPUTATION AND THE REPRESENTATION OF GROUP INTERESTSen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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