Hilde Van Liefferinge

What's in a name? Current effects of family politicization on legislative candidates’ career start in Belgium

Abstract In this article we measure the effect of inherited political capital in the form of family politicization on legislative candidates’ recruitment age and early careers. We differentiate the concept of family politicization between a narrow (i.e., party political) and a broad (i.e., non-party-political) interpretation. Results indicate that narrow family politicization is the only type that plays a role in speeding up political recruitment. However, only the route to candidacy is affected by family politicization, whereas for the route to power other factors absorb this effect, mainly the candidates’ pre-electoral party engagement. This implies that candidates from narrowly politicized families do not merely rely on inherited political capital to get elected, which rejects a popular opinion. On the other hand, the result that parental talking and brokerage professions speed up the candidates’ election, indicate that the home environment does not play a neutral role in the early career path either.