Actas de congresos
The Political Inequality of Capital. Species of Capital and Entry Barriers to Political Fields
Fecha
2015Institución
Resumen
How do agents access the political field for the first time obtaining their first elected or
appointed position? Is it a matter merely of the recruitment and selection of skillful
and virtuous individuals? Do the institutional mechanisms that lead to a first election
or appointment fully explain access to the political field? In a bid to answer these
questions, this article is based on the sociological premise that the agents themselves
matter as well as the social resources they bring with them when entering the field. To
this end, the article examines theoretically the notion of "capital" and some species of
capital that are relevant for breaching the entry barriers to the political field. It is
through acts of investment - which are not, by a long way, a mere reductionist result of
utilitarian or strategic calculations - that certain agents enter the field and seek to
remain in it. In addition, the article includes an empirical analysis of Chilean politicians
who benefitted for the first time from elections or government appointments,
examining their initial stock of capital. For this purpose, the author uses data from a
survey of 386 members of the Chilean political elite who entered the political field
between 1990 and 2010.