| Since the early 1970s, the House of Representatives appeared to be demonstrating signs of becoming less of an institution. This recent trend would be a reversal of a trend detected by Polsby in 1968. He found that the House was becoming more institutionalized. This deinstitutionalization has contributed to the problems which the House has faced in conducting its business, dealing with the Executive branch, and relating to the public.;In order to demonstrate the trend of deinstitutionalization, the author employed many of the same indicators of institutionalization as Polsby. This required the collection of aggregate data on various aspects of Congress from 1953 to 1981. Also, a survey of retired Congressmen (retired from the 94th, 95th, and 96th Congresses) was conducted to acquire information on the reasons for the rise of voluntary departures from the House.;The study concluded that the trend in deinstitutionalization is genuine, and that it will continue into the foreseeable future. More importantly, the House can anticipate further problems in internal operations as a consequence of this trend.;The author hypothesized that a significant factor in initiating the deinstitutionalization was the reform passed in the early 1970s. Utilizing historical accounts of the period, the details of the reforms are presented as well as their relation to the current ills of the House. |
