1. Chapter Seven:
Interest Groups

2. Learning Objectives
Define interest groups, explain why interest groups form, and describe their functions.
Give three reasons why people participate in interest groups.
Identify the major categories of interest groups, and name examples of the primary interest groups associated with the business, agricultural, and labor sectors.

3. Learning Objectives
Explain the significance of professional interest groups, public interest pressure groups, single-interest groups, environmental groups, and how foreign governments act as interest groups.
Specify some of the factors that make an interest group powerful.
Identify and explain the direct tactics used by interest groups, including lobbying, rating systems, building alliances, and campaign assistance.

4. Learning Objectives
Identify and explain the indirect tactics used by interest groups, including public pressure and using constituents as lobbyists.
Describe benefits and drawbacks of unconventional tactics such as demonstrations and boycotts.
Describe regulations on lobbyists in place today and explain why lobbying as an activity is so difficult to regulate within the U.S. political system.

5. Interest Groups: A Natural Phenomena
Americans have joined groups to influence government throughout our history.
Interest groups often are spawned by mass social movements.
The Constitution encourages Americans to form groups and to express their opinions to the government or to their elected representatives as members of a group.

6. Why Do Americans Join Interest Groups?
Benefits of joining an interest group:
Solidarity
Material gain
Purposive incentives
Societal incentives

7. Types of Interest Groups
Economic Interest Groups:
Business
Agricultural
Labor
Public Employee Unions
Interest Groups of Professionals
Unorganized Poor

8. Types of Interest Groups

9. Types of Interest Groups9 9

10. Types of Interest Groups

11. Types of Interest Groups

12. Types of Interest Groups
Environmental Groups
Public Interest Groups
Single Issue Interest Groups
Foreign Governments

13. What Makes an Interest Group Powerful?
Size
Resources
Leadership
Cohesiveness

14. What Makes an Interest Group Powerful?
Interest Group Techniques: Direct
Lobbying
Publicizing ratings of legislative behavior
Building coalitions
Providing campaign assistance

15. What Makes an Interest Group Powerful?
Lobbying
Holding private meetings with public officials where lobbyists often furnish needed information.
Testifying before Congressional committees.
Testifying before executive rule-making committees.
Assisting legislators or bureaucrats in drafting legislation or prospective regulations.

16. What Makes an Interest Group Powerful?
Lobbying (Continued)
Inviting legislators to social occasions.
Providing political information to legislators and other government officials.
Supplying nominations for federal appointments to the executive branch.

17. Interest Group Strategies
Strategies: Indirect
Generating Public Pressure
Using Constituents as Lobbyists
Holding Marches or Rallies
Promoting boycotts

18. Regulating Lobbyists The Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act (1946):
The Act was ineffective, however, as only full-time lobbyists had to register.

19. Regulating Lobbyists
The Reforms of 1995: In 1995, Congress overhauled the lobbying legislation. The new legislation included the following provisions:
A lobbyist is a person who spends 20 percent of the time or more lobbying Congress or the executive branch.
Lobbyists who earn $5,000 or more must register within 45 days of making contact with a member of Congress.

20. Regulating Lobbyists The Reforms of 1995 (Continued)
Detailed reports must disclose the nature of the lobbying business twice a year.
Subsidiaries of foreign companies based in the United States must register as lobbyists.
Tax-exempt organizations and religious organizations are exempt from these requirements.

21. Interest Groups and Representative Democracy
Interest Groups: Elitist or Pluralist?
Existence of interest groups is an argument in favor of pluralism. However, they are often led by upper-class individuals, which argues for elite theory.
Interest Group Influence
Even the most powerful groups do not always succeed in their demands.

22. Web Links
Center for Responsive Politics: nonpartisan guide to money’s influence on U.S. elections and public policy with data derived from Federal Election Commission report:
The Center for Public Integrity: nonprofit organization dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern; tracks lobbyists and their expenditures: .

23. What If…Retired Government Employees Could Not Work for Interest Groups?
Interest groups value lobbyists who “know their way around Washington,” and former government employees and elected officials can make effective lobbyists.
While former government employees or representatives with expert knowledge can help clients with law making, they can also lobby for lucrative benefits for their clients.

24. What If…Retired Government Employees Could Not Work for Interest Groups?
A government career may be more attractive if it ends with a few years of highly paid, comfortable employment.
Banning such employment might make government service less appealing to some, possibly resulting in fewer well-qualified individuals choosing to enter government and politics as a lifelong career.

25. You Can Make a Difference: The Gun Control Issue
Should possession of handguns be regulated or banned?
There are 1 million gun incidents occurring in the United States each year—murders, suicides, assaults, accidents, and robberies in which guns are involved.

26. You Can Make a Difference: The Gun Control Issue
Research conducted by the National School Safety Center shows that more than 300 students have died in school shootings in the past 15 years.

27. You Can Make a Difference: The Gun Control Issue
What are the options?
Be more aware of others’ behavior.
Some want to carry concealed weapons.
Some want a reinstatement of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.

28. You Can Make a Difference: The Gun Control Issue
To find out more about the National Rifle Association and their positions:
To learn about positions of gun-control advocates, contact the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence: