Lobbying is an integral part of the political reality of the European Union and a highly competitive and dynamic field of interest groups. This book takes a systematic look at lobbyists in order to broaden our understanding of the staff entrusted with the responsibility of influencing European politics. Who are the European lobbyists? What are their professional backgrounds, career patterns, practices, and beliefs? The study uses a sociological framework to explore the professionalisation and professionalism of the field across national proveniences, policy fields and interest groups, and develops a systematic analysis that considers three different dimensions: occupational patterns, shared knowledge and common convictions. Based on original research that combines in- depth interviews with survey data, European Lobbying demonstrates that European lobbying is a firmly established and highly professionalised métier. In an organisational field characterised by growth, pluralisation and increasing competition, the professional staff contributes to the homogenisation of European lobbying and the marginalisation of other, non- professionalised forms of interest representation. It will therefore appeal to scholars and students of sociology and politics with interest in European studies, European Union politics and the sociology of the professions.
Author(s): Christian Lahusen
Series: Routledge Studies in Political Sociology
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 328
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Figures
Tables
Acknowledgements
1 Introduction
1.1 European Lobbyists: a Fruitful Object of Study
1.2 European Lobbying: a Challenging Research Phenomenon
1.3 The Focus On Lobbyists: Research Approach and Structure of the Book
2 Lobbyists in the Crosshairs of Research: Evidence, Assumptions, and Data
2.1 European Lobbying as an Organisational Field
2.1.1 Development and Structure of the Organisational Field
2.1.2 The Specificity of the European Arena
2.1.3 The Organisational Field and Its Implications
2.2 European Lobbying as an Occupational Field
2.2.1 The Changing Context of Professional Work
2.2.2 Occupational Groups and Strategies of Professionalisation
2.2.3 Transnational Expert Groups
2.3 Analytical Concepts and Research Assumptions
2.3.1 The Conceptual Framework: Professional Work as Occupational Field
2.3.2 Mapping the Field – Research Questions and Assumptions (I)
2.3.3 Identifying Drivers – Research Questions and Assumptions (II)
2.4 The Empirical Research Design: Methods and Data
3 The Genesis of the Field of Work: Internal Views
3.1 The Great Upheaval: a Field in the Making
3.2 The Big Shift: Current Dynamics and Alterations of the Field
3.3 The Qualitative Transformation of Lobbying: Towards Professionalism
3.4 A Retrospective: the Genesis of a Field of Professional Activity
4 The Lobbying Staff: Structures, Profiles, Self-Images
4.1 The EU Affairs Professionals: Contours and Structures of the Staff
4.1.1 Estimates of the Size of the Staff
4.1.2 The Socio-Demographic Profile of EU Affairs Professionals
4.1.3 High Diversity of Personal and Professional Backgrounds
4.1.4 The World of EU Affairs: Brussels and Beyond?
4.2 EU Affairs and Lobbying: Focus of Activities and Self-Images
4.2.1 Main Areas of Activity
4.2.2 Professional Self-Images
4.3 The Field of Activity of EU Affairs: Task Diversity and Multitasking
4.3.1 Precarious Demarcations
4.3.2 Task and Activity Profiles of a Complex Field of Work
Core Activity of “Pure” Lobbying
Coordination: the Backstage of Lobbying
Information and Communication Work
4.4 Conclusion: a Field of Work With Fraying Edges
Notes
5 The Occupationalisation of Lobbying: The Constitution of a Specialised Labour Market
5.1 EU Affairs as a Labour Market: Employment Forms and Sectoral Permeability
5.1.1 European Affairs as Full-Time Job
5.1.2. The Sectoral Permeability of the Occupational Field: an Integrated Labour Market?
5.1.3. The Revolving Door Effect: the Importance of Insider Experience
5.2 Labour Market Inequalities: Positional Hierarchies and Income Distribution
5.2.1 Salaried Employment and Professional Autonomy
5.2.2 Income Inequalities and Non-Monetary Incentives
5.3 Standardised Careers: Getting Started in an Established Field
5.3.1 The Diversity of Career Paths
5.3.2 Common and Typical Career Paths
5.3.3 Normal and Standardised Careers
5.4 The World of EU Affairs: Professional Ambitions and Careers
5.5 Conclusion: the Standardising Force of the Occupational Field
Note
6 The Professionalisation of Lobbying: The Constitution of Specialised Knowledge
6.1 The Academisation of the Professional Field: Displacement Processes
6.1.1 Academisation and Specialisation
6.1.2 Academic Career Entries: Displacing Career Changers
6.2 The Canonisation of Knowledge: Specialised Expertise
6.3 The Closure of the Professional Field: Professional Practice as Accumulation of Capital
6.3.1 The Professional Consecrations: the Three Stages of Enlightenment
6.3.2 The Professional Capital of European Lobbying
Contact Networks and Relationship Capital
Information and Relevant Arguments
Insider Knowledge and the Right Intuition
Organisational Resources and Presence
6.4 Professional Distinction: Accesses to Power
6.4.1 The Symbolic Added Value of a Professional Approach
6.4.2 Making a Name for Yourself: Reputation and Standing
6.4.3 Being One of Us: Belonging
6.5 Conclusion: the Professional Closure of a Heterogeneous Occupational Field
7 The Legitimacy of European Lobbying: Divisions and Conflicts of a Political Field
7.1 The Professionalist Ethos: a Common Mission?
7.2. Professional Recognition: External and Internal Legitimacy
7.3. EU Lobbying as a Contested Field: Legitimisation and Delegitimisation
7.3.1. Lobbying and Democracy: Generalised Recognition
7.3.2 The Struggle for Recognition: Mutual Delegitimisation
Particularist Legitimacy
Universalist Legitimacy
Legitimatory Relativisations
7.4. Conclusion: Lobbying Between Professionalism and Activism
8 European Lobbying: Findings and Implications
8.1 Lobbying as an Occupational Field
8.2. Lobbyists, Interest Groups, and Institutions
8.3. Implications
References
Index
