Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Do Most Politicians Come From Money? Here's What The Research Says

press.uchicago.edu

Nicholas Carnes is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Duke University and author of "White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making” (University of Chicago Press/2013).

Carnes speaks with Frank Stasio on Tuesday January 7, 2014 about money and politics.

"No one on the Supreme Court was a blue-collar worker. The average member of Congress spent less than 2 percent of his or her pre-congressional career in working-class jobs. At least since World War II, no one from the working class has gone on to become President. The average state legislature is less than 5 percent working class. Even at the local level, workers make up less than 10 percent of the vast majority of local governments. And these patterns have been around for as long as we have data on them. That was a big surprise to me, and part of the reason that I wanted to write this book." - Nicholas Carnes as reported by blogger Deborah Kalb

 

 

Stay Connected
Carol Jackson has been with WUNC since 2006. As Digital News Editor, she writes stories for wunc.org, and helps reporters and hosts make digital versions of their radio stories. She is also responsible for sharing stories on social media. Previously, Carol spent eight years with WUNC's nationally syndicated show The Story with Dick Gordon, serving as Managing Editor and Interim Senior Producer.