This article examines processes of political specialization, careers and profile of federal representatives in two Brazilian states (Rio Grande do Sul and Maranhão) between 1945 and 2006, identifying connections between political professionalization and social hierarchy. We examine the combinations of social bases, trajectories and conceptions of politics that point to differentiated modalities of political assertion and reproduction. In this way we are able to compare the dynamics of diversification of the "political elite" in each state, as well as factors that condition political ascent, strategies through which social bases are converted into electoral bases and the redefinition of mechanisms that legitimate political roles over time and within regional configurations. Biographies, memoirs and in-depth interviews make up the privileged sources for our research.
elites; political specialization; recruitment; careers
