The Role of Interest Groups
LO 11.1: Describe the role of interest groups
in American politics.
• Interest Group
• An organization of people with shared
policy goals entering the policy process at
several points to try to achieve those goals.
• Interest groups pursue their goals in many
arenas.
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LO 11.1
The Role of Interest Groups
• Interest groups are distinct from
political parties.
• Political parties fight election battles;
interest groups do not field candidates for
office but may choose sides.
• Interest groups are policy specialists;
political parties are policy generalists.
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Theories of Interest Group Politics
LO 11.2
• Pluralist Theory
• Competition among groups trying to get
their preferred policies.
• Elite Theory
• Upper-class elite holds most of the power
and run government.
• Hyperpluralist Theory
• Groups are so strong that government is
weakened.
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Theories of Interest Group Politics
LO 11.2
• Pluralism
• Groups provide a link between the people
and the government.
• Groups compete and no one group will
become too dominant.
• Groups play by “rules the game.”
• Groups weak in one resource may use
another.
• Lobbying is open to all groups.
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Theories of Interest Group Politics
LO 11.2
• Elitism
• Groups are unequal in power.
• Awesome power is held by the largest
corporations.
• Power of a few is fortified by interlocking
directorates.
• Other groups win minor policy battles, but
corporate elites win the big decisions.
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LO 11.2
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Theories of Interest Group Politics
LO 11.2
• Hyperpluralism
• Groups have become too powerful as
government tries to appease every
conceivable interest.
• Interest group liberalism is aggravated by
numerous iron triangles.
• Trying to please every group results in
contradictory and confusing policy.
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LO 11.3
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What Makes an Interest Group
Successful
LO 11.3
• Surprising Ineffectiveness of Large
Groups
• Potential group – People who might be
group members because they share some
common interest.
• Actual group – Potential group members
who actually join group.
• Collective good – Something of value that
cannot be withheld from a potential group
member.
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What Makes an Interest Group
Successful
LO 11.3
• Surprising Ineffectiveness of Large
Groups (cont.)
• Free-rider problem – Problem of people
not joining because they can benefit from
the group’s activities without joining.
• Selective benefits – Goods that a group
can restrict to those who actually join.
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LO 11.3
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What Makes an Interest Group
Successful
LO 11.3
• Intensity
• A large potential group may be mobilized
through an issue that people feel intensely
about.
• Politicians are more likely to listen a group
that shows it cares deeply about an issue.
• Single-issue groups – Narrow interest,
dislike compromise, and members are new
to politics.
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What Makes an Interest Group
Successful
LO 11.3
• Financial Resources
• Not all groups have equal amounts of
money.
• Monetary donations translate into access
to the politicians, such as a phone call,
meeting, or support for policy.
• Wealthier groups have more resources and
access, but they do not always win on
policy.
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How Groups Try to Shape Policy
LO 11.4
• Lobbying
• Communication to a governmental decision
maker with the hope of influencing his or
her decision.
• Lobbyists are (1) a source of information;
(2) helping to get legislation passed; (3)
helping to formulate campaign strategy;
and (4) a source of ideas and innovations.
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LO 11.4
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LO 11.4
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How Groups Try to Shape Policy
LO 11.4
• Electioneering
• Direct group involvement in the electoral
process by helping to fund campaigns,
getting members to work for candidates,
and forming political action committees
(PACs).
• PACs are political funding vehicles created
by the 1974 campaign finance reforms.
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How Groups Try to Shape Policy
LO 11.4
• Litigation
• Amicus curiae briefs – Written arguments
submitted to the courts in support of one
side of a case.
• Class action lawsuits – Enable a group of
people in a similar situation to combine
their common grievances into a single suit.
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How Groups Try to Shape Policy
LO 11.4
• Going Public
• Groups try to (1) cultivate a good public
image; (2) build a reservoir of goodwill with
the public; (3) use marketing strategies to
influence public opinion of the group and
its issues; and (4) advertise to motivate
and inform the public about an issue.
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LO 11.4
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Types of Interest Groups
LO 11.5
• Economic Interests
• Labor – Union organizations press for
policies to ensure better working conditions
and higher wages.
• Business – Interests generally unified
when it comes to promoting greater profits
but are often fragmented when policy
choices have to be made.
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LO 11.5
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LO 11.5
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Types of Interest Groups
LO 11.5
• Environmental Interests
• Environmental groups promote policies to
control pollution and to combat global
warming, wilderness protection, and
species preservation.
• They oppose supersonic aircraft, nuclear
power plants, drilling in Alaska’s Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge, and strip mining.
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LO 11.5
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Types of Interest Groups
LO 11.5
• Equality Interests
• Two sets of interest groups, representing
minorities and women, have made equal
rights their main policy goal.
• Equality groups press for equality at the
polls, in housing, on the job, in education,
and in all other facets of American life.
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Types of Interest Groups
LO 11.5
• Consumer and Other Public Interest
Lobbies
• Public interest lobbies – Groups that
seek a collective good, and the
achievement of which will not selectively
and materially benefit the membership or
activists of the organization.
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Types of Interest Groups
LO 11.5
• Consumer and Other Public Interest
Lobbies (cont.)
• Consumer groups – In 1973, Congress
responded to consumer advocacy by
creating the Consumer Product Safety
Commission, which it authorized to
regulate all consumer products and to ban
products that were dangerous.
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Understanding Interest Groups
LO 11.6
• Interest Groups and Democracy
• James Madison wanted a wide-open
system in which groups compete.
• Pluralists – Public interest prevails from
this competition.
• Elite theorists – Proliferation of business
PACs is evidence of interest group
corruption.
• Hyperpluralists – Influence of groups lead
to policy gridlock.
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Understanding Interest Groups
LO 11.6
• Interest Groups and the Scope of
Government
• Interest groups seek to maintain policies
and programs that benefit them.
• Interest groups pressure government to do
more things.
• As the government does more, more
groups form to get more.
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LO 11.1
Summary
• The Role of Interest Groups
• Interest groups consist of groups that
participate in the political process in order to
promote the policy goals which members
share.
• They usually focus their efforts on one specific
issue area, unlike political parties, which have
to address all issues on the public agenda.
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