“Class Representation and the Professionalization of Politics: Career Trajectories and Political Inequality in Comparative Perspective” (ClassRep) is the title of the research group led by Lea Elsässer, who is an assistant professor of political science with a focus on comparative democracy research in the European multi-level system at Goethe University.
“The social backgrounds of legislators have changed significantly: people with working-class backgrounds are underrepresented, while at the same time, there is an increasing number of ‘career politicians’ with little professional experience outside of politics-related jobs,” says Lea Elsässer. She emphasizes that it is urgent to clarify what consequences this may have for political representation in contemporary democracies. “Especially in light of widespread dissatisfaction with politics, we need to better understand how this narrowing of professional backgrounds is affecting political decisions and processes,” Elsässer adds. Recent studies have shown that the class background of members of parliament shapes their behavior.
Together with her newly established Emmy Noether research group, Lea Elsässer will explore which “class experiences” shape the paths into parliament and the behavior of political elites—including the different experiences of men and women.
Rather than focusing on MPs' degrees or their last job before parliament, the project investigates their entire pre-parliamentary careers. This approach allows us to understand how different educational and occupational trajectories shape both opportunities to access political power and legislative behavior in parliament.
In a second step, the project will investigate how all of this affects political decisions. The project will run until May 2032. In addition to project management by Lea Elsässer, the group includes two doctoral positions and two positions for student assistants. Funding for the full duration of the project amounts to 777,660 euros.
The Emmy Noether Program of the German Research Foundation offers outstanding early-career researchers the opportunity to qualify for a full professorship by independently managing a research group for six years. Postdocs and professors in fixed-term positions at an early stage of their academic careers are eligible to apply. The program is designed for a total of six years, with an application for extension required after three years. The award is named after the Bavarian mathematician Amalie Emmy Noether (1882–1935), who made fundamental contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics.

A portrait for download: www.uni-frankfurt.de/189063966

Image caption: Prof. Lea Elsässer and her Emmy Noether research group will be investigating how representative our parliaments really are. (Photo: Uwe Dettmar)