1. Interest Groups
Chapter 7

2. What Are Interest Groups
 Interest Groups – An organized group of individuals sharing
common objectives who actively attempt to influence
policymakers
 Influence without governance
 Influence without responsibility
 Interest groups are often spawned by social movements
 A movement that represents the demands of a large segment of
the public for political, economic, or social change

3. What Are Interest Groups
 Public vs. Private Interests
 Private Interests
 Examples: National Association of Manufacturers, Amateur Radio
Relay League, American Farm Bureau Federation
 Public Interests
 Examples: American League to Abolish Capital Punishment, National
Child Labor Committee

4. Why Are Interest Groups
Important?
 A reason to be concerned: Deleterious effects on democracy
 Interest Groups act as unelected elites
 Interest Groups act as factions
 Madison, Federalist #10 – “The latent cause of faction are thus sown
into the nature of man”
 “the regulation of these various and interfering interests [is] the principle
task of modern legislation”

5. What Do Interest Groups Do?
 Attempt to Influence Elections
 Endorsements
 Rate Candidates
 Give money through Political Action Committees
 Attempt to bring people to the polls
 (the Christian Coalition in the 1980s)

6. What Do Interest Groups Do?
 Lobby (attempt to influence policy)
 Distributive lobbying (a.k.a. “pork”)
 Iron triangles
 Revolving-door hypothesis
 Regulators with prior employment in the industry they are regulating (FCC)
 Informational lobbying
 Issue networks
 Revolving-door hypothesis
 Interest groups are best informed about policy

7. Where Do Interest Groups Come
From?
 Why are there Interest Groups at all?
 Collective action; the free-rider problem
 The difficulty interest groups face in recruiting members when the
benefits they achieve can be gained without joining the group
 Ex. AARP and senior citizens’ groups
 Interest Groups can be crippling
 Business and industry associations were long plagued by free-riding off
of pro-business lobbying
 Easy to think about lots of potential groups that do not exist at all
because of this problem

8. Where Do Interest Groups Come
From?
 Reasons for Interest Group Formation
 Disturbance Theory
 Interest groups form and grow in response to perceived threats (NRA grew
as a result of the Brady Bill)
 Groups form in response to opposition groups (Handgun Control, Inc. vs.
NRA)
 Entrepreneurship; patrons and financiers
 People who have money, time, and an agenda
 “for the public interest”
 Best interests of the overall community; the national good rather than the
narrow interests of a particular group

9. Where Do Interest Groups Come
From?
 Reasons for Interest Group Formation
 Selective Benefits
 Solidary Incentives – reason/motive that flows from the desire to
associate with others and to share with others a particular interest or
hobby (ARRL)
 Material Incentives – reason/motive based on the desire to enjoy
certain economic benefits or opportunities (AARP)
 Purposive Incentives – reason for supporting/participating in the
activities of a group based on agreement with the goals of the group
 Someone who really cares about environmental conservation might join the
Sierra Club

10. Interest Group Lobbying
 Lobbyist
 An organization/individual who attempts to influence legislation
and the administrative decisions of the government
 Interest group lobbying attempt to influence legislation
through:
 Direct Techniques – interest group activity that involves
interaction with government officials to further the group’s goals

11. Interest Group Lobbying
 Interest group lobbying attempt to influence legislation
through:
 Indirect Techniques – strategy employed by interest groups that
uses third parties to influence government officials
 Also use climate control to improve an industry’s public image
 Use of public relations techniques to create favorable public opinions toward an
interest group, industry, or corporation
 Boycotting is another unconventional form of pressure typically used
against those who oppose an interest group’s goals
 Form of pressure or protest – an organized refusal to purchase a particular
product or deal with a particular business
 Could the American Revolutionaries be considered an interest group?

12. Problems With Interest Groups
 Bias and organizational politics
 Do labor unions and their PACs really represent workers and the
Labor Movement?
 Economic and political expression of working-class interests; politically, the
organization of working-class interests
 Does the NRA really represent gun owners, or gun makers?
 Upper-class Bias
 Those with more resources ($$) join interest groups
 Business and professional groups more numerous and better
financed
 (American Medical Association, American Association for Justice)