Democracy's Politicians: an Occupation Like No Other

The usual criteria in the studies of work and leisure fail to define the remunerated regional and national (high-level) democratic politician. What does this worker, who in census terminology is 'not elsewhere classified,' mean to the conscientious voter? High-level politicians are not amateurs, for they are paid enough to earn a substantial part, if not all, of a livelihood. Second, these politicians are not liberal professionals. They are paid; they are professional only as all other paid workers are. Weber holds that high-level politicians are guided by one of two ethics: the ethic of responsibility and that of conviction.
Author(s): Robert A. Stebbins [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) grid.22072.35, 0000 0004 1936 7697, Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, , Calgary, Canada As a sociologist with a long-standing interest in [...]