Sociability v. Structure as a Path to Legislative Success

Legislatures are institutions comprised of multiple individual political actors, and as such are distinct as objects of political and organizational analysis.  Lacking the pure hierarchy of executive political offices, they are both social and structural in their organization and functioning, and previous research has shown that either or both may predominate in practice.  This project uses individual-level member data to examine whether members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives succeed more by sociability or positional advantage, with the goal of providing institutional context for analysis of legislative policymaking in the commonwealth.  Regression analysis of relevant variables and comparison of means of legislative effectiveness are used to illustrate, to a statistically significant degree, the limitations of sociability and the power of position in the Pennsylvania House.  Even accounting for general partisan advantages for the majority as a procedural cartel, majority members in leadership positions and minority committee chairs enjoy significantly greater success than rank-and-file members.  The results have implications for understanding state-level lawmaking and further discussions of the legitimacy of the General Assembly as a whole.