The document discusses what interest groups are, including that they are organized groups that attempt to influence policymakers without governance or responsibility. It also examines the different types of interest groups and their goals, as well as how they attempt to influence elections and policy through lobbying and other techniques. The document also explores some problems that can arise with interest groups, such as potential bias or issues with truly representing their stated constituencies.

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)