1. Interest Groups: Good Outcomes with Few Resources
Chapter 13

2. Interest Groups and Their Functions
Interest (pressure) groups:
Organizations whose members act together to influence public policy and promote their common interests
Justification for African American development of interest groups
See “Our Voices: Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862–1931)”

3. A Group-Based View of American Politics
Federalist No. 10: James Madison
Factions can be dangerous to democracy
Numerous interests and movement in and out of factions would make them less dangerous in America

4. A Group-Based View of American Politics
Pluralism
A theory of politics that contends that power is group based and that political outcomes are the result of competition among groups
Dahl’s (1961) six assumptions of pluralism

5. A Group-Based View of American Politics
Criticisms of pluralism
Schattschneider
Majority of Americans do not have interest group representation
Lowi
Many Americans are shut out of the policy-making process
Iron triangle

6. Interest Group Formation
Logic of collective action (Olson)
Free rider
Collective goods

7. Types of Interest Groups
Mahood
Economic interest groups
Noneconomic interest groups

9. Types of Interest Groups
Economic interest groups
Agriculture
Business
Protect the ability of businesses to remain profitable
Labor
Protect workers and unions
Professions
See “Evaluating Equality: The AMA Apologizes to Black Physicians”

10. Types of Interest Groups
Noneconomic interest groups
Civil rights
Equal opportunity, voting rights, civil liberties, and race and gender discrimination
Government
State and local organizations
Ideology
Organizations based on belief systems

11. Types of Interest Groups
Noneconomic interest groups (cont.)
Public interest
Consumers, environmentalists, and political reformers
Single issue
Examples: Abortion, gun control, drunk driving
Religion
Organizations that represent a particular denomination or coalition of denominations

12. Techniques of Interest Groups
Lobbying: The process by which an individual, a group, or an organization seeks to influence government policymakers
Direct versus indirect

13. Techniques of Interest Groups
Electioneering: Working actively on behalf of a political candidate or political party
Endorsement
Donations
Federal Campaign Act (1971)
PACs
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002)
Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee (2010) and Super PACs

15. Techniques of Interest Groups
Education
Litigation
Amicus curiae briefs
NAACP LDF
Educate judges, lawyers, etc.
Media campaigns

16. Techniques of Interest Groups
Factors that make interest groups effective
The size, wealth, and cohesion of the group and the amount of information and services it can provide the legislator
The importance and reliability of the group as perceived by the legislator
The type of interests that the group represents, with legislators more likely to give more credence to business and economic interest groups than to consumer groups

17. Techniques of Interest Groups
Factors that make interest groups effective (cont.)
The interest group’s position on pending legislation
Lobbyists are often more successful at preventing legislation than at pushing a bill through the legislative maze
The strength and cohesion of the political parties within a legislator’s state or within Congress on the issue in question
The degree of competition among the interest groups on either side of the issue

18. Political and Financial Inequalities
Problems with pluralism
Race complicates this theory
Groups do not all have equal access to the political system
All resources are not equal or held equally