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Listening and Representation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Rebekah Herrick
Rebekah Herrick*
Affiliation:
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, USA
*
Rebekah Herrick, Oklahoma State University, 218 Murray Stillwater, OK 74078, USA Email: rebekah.herrick@okstate.edu
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Abstract

Policy representation requires legislators to advance the interests of their constituents. As a consequence, much research on representation examines the congruence between constituents' preferences and legislators' behaviors. This article argues it is more realistic to think of policy representation as listening—a process—than congruence—an outcome. Listening involves legislators monitoring constituent interests and using that information in making decisions. Using data from a survey of state legislators in 26 states, this research finds that monitoring contributes to using constituent information and offers a measure of listening based on these two behaviors. Furthermore, it finds that compared with the decisions of others, the decisions (measured as cosponsoring gay, lesbian, and bisexual [GLB] issue legislation) of legislators who listen are more strongly influenced by district preferences (measured as district votes on same-sex marriage ballot initiatives). This suggests that listening contributes to representation.

Keywords

representationstate legislatorsgay and lesbian politicsbill cosponsorshipsmonitoring
Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , March 2013 , pp. 88 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2012

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