A Note on the Pre-Nomination Role Socialization of Freshmen Members of Parliament

Abstract

IntroductionAt present, little is known about the role socialization of Canadian legislators, that is, the processes by which incumbents of legislative positions acquire “a set of values, skills, loyalties and cognitive maps.” Defined in this way, legislative role socialization involves not only the acquisition of role orientations in the narrow sense of “a pattern of norms making up a particular role,” but also the development of the total set of cognitions and evaluations which, in their entirety, constitute a legislator's image of his job. To the extent that existing research is relevant for understanding the development of these job images, the normal procedure has been simply to examine relationships between narrowly defined role orientation variables (for example, representational role style or focus) and a set of socio-demographic and political characteristics the potential theoretical significance of which is often left unarticulated. Not surprisingly, these inquiries have shed little light on the role socialization of Canadian legislators.