Government in America:
Edwards & Wattenberg
th
16 edition – Updated Fall 2015
Chapter 10

How did the idea of the soda tax affect the
American Beverage Association? What did
they do in response? What other groups
joined with them in their efforts?

What was the end result of their efforts?

Do interest groups help or hinder our society?

Interest group: an organization of people
with shared policy goals entering the policy
process at several points to try to achieve
those goals
 How are interest groups similar to political
parties?
 How are they different?
 What has happened to the number of interest
groups in recent years?

Pluralist Theory
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Elite Theory
◦ Politics is mainly a competition among groups,
each one pressing for its own preferred policies.
◦ Societies are divided along class lines and an
upper-class elite rules, regardless of the formal
niceties of governmental organization.

Hyperpluralist Theory
◦ Groups are so strong that government is
weakened.

Pluralism and Group Theory
◦ Groups provide a key “link” between the
people and the government.
◦ Groups compete and no one group will
become too dominant.
◦ Groups play by the “rules of the game.”
◦ Groups weak in one resource may use
another.
◦ Lobbying is open to all so is not problematic.
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Elites and the Denial of Pluralism
◦ Real power is held by the relatively few.
◦ The largest corporations hold the most power.
◦ Elite power is fortified by a system of interlocking
directorates of these corporations and other
institutions.
◦ Other groups may win many minor policy battles,
but elites prevail when it comes to big policy
decisions.
◦ Lobbying is a problem because it benefits the few
at the expense of the many.

Hyperpluralism is critical of pluralism.
Theodore Lowi coined the phrase “interest
group liberalism” to explain that the
government is too deferential to groups, and
virtually all group demands are seen as
legitimate. The government is busy trying to
advance all these demands.
 Why is this a bad thing?

Hyperpluralism and Interest Group
Liberalism
◦ Subgovernments consist of a network of groups
that exercise a great deal of control over specific
policy areas.
 They have added to the problem of interest group
liberalism.
 Also known as iron triangles
 Consist of interest groups, government agency, and
congressional committees that handle particular
policies
 The goal of these subgovernments is protecting
their self-interest.
 Example? Education (page 318 at the bottom)

The Surprising Ineffectiveness of Large
Groups
◦ Potential group: all the people who might be
interest group members because they share a
common interest
◦ Actual group: the part of the potential group
consisting of members who actually join
◦ Collective good: something of value that cannot be
withheld from a group member
◦ Free-Rider problem: Some people don’t join
interest groups because they benefit from the
group’s activities without officially joining.
 Bigger the group, larger the problem
 Large groups are difficult to organize
◦ Olson’s law of large groups:
 “The larger the group, the further it will fall short of
providing an optimal amount of a collective good.”
 Overcome the problem by providing selective benefits:
Goods that a group can restrict to those who pay their
annual dues

Intensity
◦ Single-Issue groups: groups that focus on a narrow
interest, dislike compromise, and often draw
membership from people new to politics
◦ Groups may focus on an emotional issue, providing
them with a psychological advantage.
◦ Intensity encourages non-conventional means of
participation. I.e.- protests
◦ What is Virginia 21 and how do they fit into this
scenario?

Financial Resources
◦ Not all groups have equal amounts of money.
◦ Monetary donations usually translate into access to
the politicians, such as a phone call, meeting, or
support for policy.
◦ Wealthier groups have more resources—and
presumably more access—but they do not always
win on policy.

Lobbying
◦ “communication by someone other than a citizen
acting on his own behalf, directed to a
governmental decisionmaker with the hope of
influencing his decision” (Lester Milbrath)
◦ Two basic types of lobbyists:
 Regular, paid employees of a group
 Temporary hires

Lobbying
◦ Lobbyists:
 are a source of information
 help politicians plan political strategies for legislation
 help politicians plan political strategies for reelection
campaigns
 are a source of ideas and innovations
◦ Mixed evidence as to whether lobbying works
 Some groups are EXTREMELY effective (NRA)

Electioneering
◦ Direct group involvement in the election process
 Groups can help fund campaigns, provide testimony, and
get members to work for candidates; some form PACs.
◦ Political Action Committee (PAC): Political funding
vehicles created by 1974 campaign finance
reforms, PACs are used by interest groups to
donate money to candidates.
 PACs help pay the bill for increasing campaign costs.
 Most PAC money goes to incumbents. Why?

Litigation
◦ If an interest group fails in one arena, the courts
may be able to provide a remedy.
◦ Interest groups can file amicus curiae briefs to
influence a court’s decision.
 amicus curiae: briefs submitted by a “friend of the court”
to raise additional points of view and present information
not contained in the briefs of the formal parties
◦ Class Action lawsuits permit a small number of
people to sue on behalf of all other people similar
situated.

Going Public
◦ Because public opinion makes its way to
policymakers, groups try to:
 cultivate a good public image to build a reservoir of
goodwill with the public
 use marketing strategies to influence public opinion of
the group and its issues
 advertise to motivate and inform the public about an
issue

Economic Interests
◦ Labor
 Unions are the main groups that represent the labor
interests in America. They fight for higher wages and
better working conditions
 Union shops: requires a business’ employees to join
the union and stay in as long as they are employed
there. Supported by labor unions
 Right-to-work laws: outlaw union membership as a
condition of employment. Supported by business
groups. Allowed by the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947.
 1956 saw the peak of union membership, 33% of
nonagricultural workers. It’s been declining ever since.

Business
◦ Business is organized for political action
◦ Chamber of Commerce lobbies on behalf of
business interests
◦ Business PACs have increased at a higher rate than
any other category of PACs
◦ Both Democrats and Republicans receive business
PAC money

Environmental
◦ Sierra Club and Audubon Society have been around
since the 19th Century
◦ High population of US citizens belong to an
environmental interest group (World Wildlife Fund,
Nature Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation, etc.)
◦ Work to control pollution, combat global warming,
protect wildlife, preserve endangered species, and
opposing nuclear power plants, strip mining, etc.

Some interest groups have made equal rights
their main goal
◦ NAACP: National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People – argued and won Brown v Board
which led to desegregated schools
◦ NOW: National Organization for Women – lobbied
for an end to discrimination against women, tried to
pass the ERA
◦ Human Rights Campaign: America's largest civil
rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender equality.

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Public Interest Lobbies: groups that seek a
collective good (safer consumer products, for
example), which doesn’t materially or
selectively benefit their own members
Consumer movement was led by Ralph Nader
Consumer Product Safety Commission
regulates all consumer products and bans
products that are dangerous
These groups also benefit children, the
mentally ill and others who can’t speak for
themselves

Interest Groups and Democracy
◦ James Madison’s solution to the problems posed
by interest groups was to create a wide-open
system in which groups compete.
◦ Pluralists believe that the public interest would
prevail from this competition.
◦ Elite theorists point to the proliferation of
business PACs as evidence of interest group
corruption.
◦ Hyperpluralists maintain that group influence has
led to policy gridlock.

Interest Groups and the Scope of Government
◦ Interest groups seek to maintain policies and
programs that benefit them.
◦ Interest groups continue to pressure government to
do more things.
◦ As the government does more, does this cause the
formation of more groups?



Group theories: pluralism, elitism, and
hyperpluralism
A number of factors influence a group’s
success. I.e., being small
Interest groups affect policy process through
lobbying, electioneering, litigation, and going
public.