Riksdagsarbetet ett yrke eller förtroendeuppdrag

Författare

• Jan Sundberg
• Susanna Sinda

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to discuss to what extent the legislative work in the Finnish Parliament has shifted from amateur engagement towards professional involvement. Following Max Weber’s argumentation a professional parliamentarian lives from politics and the most qualified of them live for politics. Our data shows that from 1956 when their salary was bound to the higher state employees wage standard the parliamentarians could live from politics. As the workload increased and the MPs became better paid, more highly educated candidates were elected to the Parliament. Similarly in the 1970s, more high status white-collar workers were elected of which the most were public employees. In addition personal secretaries have been employed to give them assistance. As a result the parliamentarian of today is more professional and more formally skilled than before. However, the political work in Parliament is not a profession as it is connected with uncertainty in times of election. This is especially true in Finland where candidates are individually elected from non-ranked party lists.