POLITICAL RESPECT IN THE LEGISLATURE

The legislature is a collective decision-making body in which patterns of interpersonal esteem or mutual respect provide a foundation for purposive action. We map the networks of legislators' choices of respected members among their colleagues, and then we elaborate and test a model of interpersonal respect. The coefficients in the model are estimated from data drawn from interviews in 1965 with Iowa state legislators. We demonstrate that respect rests largely upon performance, achievement, and formal position, that the bases of respect differ from those of political friendship in important ways, that Democrats and Republicans accord colleagues respect on the basis of different criteria, and that freshman and veteran members respond to different forces in nominating respected members.