Description
Becoming a Candidate: Political Ambition and the Decision to Run for Office explores the factors that drive political ambition at the earliest stages. Using data from a comprehensive survey of thousands of eligible candidates, Jennifer L. Lawless systematically investigates what compels certain citizens to pursue elective positions and others to recoil at the notion. Lawless assesses personal factors, such as race, gender and family dynamics, that affect an eligible candidate's likelihood of considering a run for office. She also focuses on eligible candidates' professional lives and attitudes toward the political system.
Table of Contents
1. Mudslinging, money-grubbing, and mayhem: who would ever run for office?; 2. The decision to run for office: the theoretical and methodological approach; 3. Political ambition in the candidate eligibility pool; 4. Barack Obama and 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling: sex, race, and political ambition; 5. You could be president someday! Early socialization, the role of family, and political ambition; 6. On-the-job training: professional circumstances and the decision to run for office; 7. You think I should run for office? Political parties, political recruitment, and political ambition; 8. Biting the bullet: deciding to run for office; 9. Future patterns of candidate emergence and studies of political ambition.
