Who Enters Politics and Why? Basic Human Values in the UK Parliament James Weinberg, Bristol, Bristol University Press, 2020. 232 p. £ 75.00

Abstract

Contrary to the prevailing narrative that all politicians are nothing more than privileged idlers, the decision to enter politics today is a very challenging, dare I say almost heroic, one. In fact, career politicians are obliged to operate in an anti-political climate that generates constant popular disdain and hostility towards political representatives and those holding institutional office. This being the case, then it is natural to wonder who those attracted to a political career are. What individual qualities do they possess, and what reasons do they have for undertaking such an uncertain, tough, and at the end of the day somewhat unrewarding, career? Political science and political sociology scholars who have investigated this topic have tended to focus their attention, however, on the socio-demographic characteristics and the political and institutional features of political representatives. What has been developed to a far lesser extent, on the other hand, is the exploration of the individual motivations and underlying values of those individuals who decide to embark on a career in politics and who attain significant positions of power within the political sphere. Any such studies have generally been of a biographical (or on occasion auto-biographical) nature, or in any case of a qualitative character. There is a lack of more systematic studies conducted using quantitative methods. In his work Who enters politics and why? Basic human values in the UK parliament, James Weinberg has tried to fill this gap. The most original aspect of Weinberg’s work, and one that I personally consider appreciable, is his contribution to political science and political sociology from a different perspective, that of political psychology. There are basically three research questions that the author tries to answer in this work, namely: