1. Interest Groups Incentives to join…
1. Solidary incentives (pleasure, status, companionship)
- national org. create small local units and recruit new members
- encouraged by strong local gov. in US
- ie: NAACP, PTA, League of Women Voters (LWV)
2. Material incentives (money, things, services)
- to increase benefits for members, org. may try to influence how laws
are administered
- ie: farm bureaus, AARP (American Assoc. of Retired People)
3. Purposive incentives (appeal based on org. goals)
- people join because they are passionate about the goals, have a
strong sense of civic duty and the cost of joining is low

2. - can be ideological, public interest groups, research groups designed
to challenge laws and bring about lawsuits
- publicity is important because membership is based on the public
mood of the times- they may do best when the government is hostile
to their agenda
Problem of free-riders…
* these are people in the public who benefit from the efforts of the org.
without actually joining
* cause org. to lose money because undermines incentive to join
Interest groups often rise out of social movements (a widely shared demand for
change in the social/political order- can be liberal or conservative)
1. Environmental movement
- this movement developed in 3 distinct eras:
s: conservation became an issue, Sierra Club
founded (John Muir), first national parks

3. 2. 1930s: Wilderness Society and National Wildlife Federation
founded
s: conservation became popular again, Environmental
Defense Fund and Environmental Action founded
2. Feminist Movement
- 3 kinds of organizations
1. Solidary: League of Women Voters (LWV), Business and
Professional Women’s Federation
* mostly middle class women
* avoids issues that might divide membership
2. Purposive: National Organization for Women (NOW)
* highly activist org. that take strong positions on divisive
issues
* internal controversy is common
* local org. highly independent from national org.

4. 3. Material: Women’s Equity Action League (WEAL), National
Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC)
* addresses specific issues of material benefit
3. Labor Movement
- labor unions have continued their activism after their social
movement has died, but keeping members is difficult
- economic changes haven’t worked toward unions’ benefit
- public approval of unions is low
- but still have tremendous political power