Drawing on interview and survey data, this book provides a systematic look at the lobbyists active in influencing policy-making in the European Union, asking whether we are witnessing the emergence of an integrated occupational field and considering implications of this process of professionalisation for the representation of interests.

Christian Lahusen is Professor of Sociology at the University of Siegen, Germany. He is the author of Political Attitudes of Divided European Citizens and the co-author of Solidarity in the Media and Public Contention over Refugees in Europe and Young People and Long-Term Unemployment.

List of figures

List of tables

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

2 Lobbyists in the crosshairs of research: evidence, assumptions, and data

3 The genesis of the field of work: internal views

4 The lobbying staff: structures, profiles, self-images

5 The occupationalisation of lobbying: the constitution of a specialised labour market

6 The professionalisation of lobbying: the constitution of specialised knowledge

7 The legitimacy of European lobbying: divisions and conflicts of a political field

8 European lobbying: findings and implications

References

Index