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Future party leaders or burned out? A mixed methods study of the leading members of the youth organizations of political parties in Sweden

Fjellman, Elin LU (2019) STVM25 20191
Department of Political Science
Abstract
While career-related motives are not given much attention in studies on party membership, there are strong reasons to believe that such professional factors are important for young party members. This study is the first comprehensive investigation of how career-related motives impact the willingness of Swedish leading young party members to become politicians in the future. A unique survey among the national board members of the youth organizations confirms that career-related motives make a positive impact. However, those who experienced more internal stress were unexpectedly found to be more willing to become politicians in the future. Interestingly, the factor that made the strongest impact on the willingness was the integration between... (More)
While career-related motives are not given much attention in studies on party membership, there are strong reasons to believe that such professional factors are important for young party members. This study is the first comprehensive investigation of how career-related motives impact the willingness of Swedish leading young party members to become politicians in the future. A unique survey among the national board members of the youth organizations confirms that career-related motives make a positive impact. However, those who experienced more internal stress were unexpectedly found to be more willing to become politicians in the future. Interestingly, the factor that made the strongest impact on the willingness was the integration between the youth organization and its mother party.
Another important goal was to develop an understanding of the meaning of career-related motives for young party members. Using a set of 25 in-depth interviews with members of the youth organizations, this study identifies a sense among the members that holding a high position within a political party could imply professional reputational costs because some employers would not hire a person who is “labelled as a politician”. This notation of reputational costs contributes importantly to the literature that seeks to explain party membership. (Less)
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author
Fjellman, Elin LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVM25 20191
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Sweden, youth organizations, political recruitment, career-related motives, reputational costs, stress, party integration
language
English
id
8973031
date added to LUP
2019-05-22 14:00:56
date last changed
2019-05-22 14:00:56
@misc{8973031,
  abstract     = {{While career-related motives are not given much attention in studies on party membership, there are strong reasons to believe that such professional factors are important for young party members. This study is the first comprehensive investigation of how career-related motives impact the willingness of Swedish leading young party members to become politicians in the future. A unique survey among the national board members of the youth organizations confirms that career-related motives make a positive impact. However, those who experienced more internal stress were unexpectedly found to be more willing to become politicians in the future. Interestingly, the factor that made the strongest impact on the willingness was the integration between the youth organization and its mother party.
Another important goal was to develop an understanding of the meaning of career-related motives for young party members. Using a set of 25 in-depth interviews with members of the youth organizations, this study identifies a sense among the members that holding a high position within a political party could imply professional reputational costs because some employers would not hire a person who is “labelled as a politician”. This notation of reputational costs contributes importantly to the literature that seeks to explain party membership.}},
  author       = {{Fjellman, Elin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Future party leaders or burned out? A mixed methods study of the leading members of the youth organizations of political parties in Sweden}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}