1. U2, C9: Interest Groups

2. Role of Interest Groups
Interest group: private organization that tries to persuade public officials to respond to shared attitudes of its members
“pressure groups”
“special interests”
“organized interests”
Seeks to influence the making and content of public policy – all of the goals that a government pursues in the many areas of human affairs in which it is involved
Function at every level of government

3. Difference Between Interest Groups and Political Parties
1. Making of nominations
Interest groups try to affect the outcomes of primaries and other nominating contests, but do not themselves pick a candidate
Primary focus
Political parties: winning elections and controlling government
Interest groups: controlling or influencing the policies of government
Scope of their interests
Political parties: concerned with whole range of public affairs
Interest groups: concentrate only on those issues that most directly affect the interests of their members

4. Functions and Criticisms of Interest Groups
Stimulate interest in public affairs: issues and events that concern the people at large
Interest groups represent their members on the basis of shared attitudes
Provide useful, specialized, and detailed information to government
Vehicles for political participation
Add another element to the checks-and-balances feature of the political process
Regularly compete with each other in the public arena
Some interest groups have an influence far out of proportion to their size or their importance or contribution to the public good
Hard to tell just who or how many people a group really represents
Many groups do not in fact represent the views of all the people for whom they claim to speak
Some groups use tactics that, if they were to become widespread, would undermine whole political system

5. Groups Based on economic interests
Business Groups
Government to protect and promote interests
Trade associations: segments of business company have own interest groups
Labor Unions
Organization of workers who share the same type of job or who work in the same industry
Agricultural Groups
Professional Groups
Professions: those occupations that require extensive and specialized training

6. Other interest groups Groups that promote causes
Exist to promote cause or idea
Oppose certain causes
Organizations that promote the welfare of certain groups of people
Religious organization
Public-interest groups
Seek public policies of special benefit to their members
Work for “public good”
Institute certain public policies of benefit to all or most people in this country, whether or not they belong or support that organization

7. Interest Groups at Work
Influencing public opinion
Supply public with information an organization thinks people should have
Build a positive image for a group
Promote particular public policy
Propaganda: technique of persuasion aimed at influencing individual or group behaviors
Influencing parties and elections
Lobbying: those activities by which group pressures are brought to bear on legislators and the legislative process
Grassroots: of or from the people, the average voters
Regulation

8. Group Work
Purpose: Design a brochure for an interest group Activity: Each pair will develop a list of goals and a statement of the policies for an interest group. In addition, you will need to design a symbol that expresses the interest group’s goals and values. Brochure should also include examples (pictures and description) of your interest group at work (see reading for ideas). You can find a list of interest groups for a particular policy at: x.php