according to living democracy, what is the main role of interest groups in elections

Interest Groups and Lobbying

Interest Groups equally Political Participation

Learning Objectives

By the terminate of this section, you volition be able to:

• Clarify how interest groups provide a means for political participation
• Discuss recent changes to involvement groups and the way they operate in the United States
• Explain why lower socioeconomic status citizens are non well represented by involvement groups
• Place the barriers to interest group participation in the United States

Involvement groups offer individuals an important artery for political participation. Tea Party protests, for example, gave individuals all over the country the opportunity to voice their opposition to government deportment and control. Likewise, the Occupy Wall Street motion also gave a vocalization to those individuals frustrated with economic inequality and the influence of large corporations on the public sector. Individually, the protestors would likely have received little notice, but by joining with others, they drew substantial attention in the media and from lawmakers ((Figure)). While the Tea Political party motion might not see the definition of interest groups presented earlier, its aims have been promoted by established interest groups. Other opportunities for participation that interest groups offer or encourage include voting, campaigning, contacting lawmakers, and informing the public almost causes.

In 2011, an Occupy Wall Street protestor highlights that the concerns of individual citizens are non e'er heard by those in the seats of power. (credit: Timothy Krause)

Group PARTICIPATION AS CIVIC Appointment

Joining interest groups can help facilitate civic engagement, which allows people to feel more than connected to the political and social community. Some interest groups develop as grassroots movement s, which often begin from the bottom up amongst a minor number of people at the local level. Involvement groups tin amplify the voices of such individuals through proper system and permit them to participate in ways that would be less effective or even impossible lonely or in modest numbers. The Tea Party is an example of a and then-called astroturf movement, because it is not, strictly speaking, a grassroots move. Many trace the party's origins to groups that champion the interests of the wealthy such as Americans for Prosperity and Citizens for a Sound Economy. Although many ordinary citizens support the Tea Party considering of its opposition to tax increases, it attracts a great deal of back up from aristocracy and wealthy sponsors, some of whom are active in lobbying. The FreedomWorks political action committee (PAC), for example, is a conservative advocacy group that has supported the Tea Party motility. FreedomWorks is an offshoot of the interest group Citizens for a Audio Economy, which was founded by billionaire industrialists David H. and Charles Grand. Koch in 1984.

According to political scientists Jeffrey Drupe and Clyde Wilcox, involvement groups provide a means of representing people and serve equally a link betwixt them and regime.

Run across in general Jeffrey M. Berry and Clyde Wilcox. 2008. The Involvement Group Lodge. fifth ed. New York: Routledge.

Involvement groups too allow people to actively work on an issue in an effort to influence public policy. Another function of interest groups is to assist educate the public. Someone concerned well-nigh the environment may not demand to know what an adequate level of sulfur dioxide is in the air, but by joining an ecology interest grouping, he or she can remain informed when air quality is poor or threatened past legislative action. A number of didactics-related interests accept been very active post-obit cuts to education spending in many states, including N Carolina, Mississippi, and Wisconsin, to name a few.

Involvement groups also help frame issues, normally in a way that best benefits their crusade. Abortion rights advocates often use the term "pro-choice" to frame abortion as an individual's private option to exist made costless of government interference, while an anti-abortion grouping might apply the term "pro-life" to frame its position as protecting the life of the unborn. "Pro-life" groups ofttimes label their opponents equally "pro-abortion," rather than "pro-choice," a stardom that can bear upon the fashion the public perceives the issue. Similarly, scientists and others who believe that deed has had a negative effect on the world'southward temperature and weather patterns attribute such phenomena as the increasing frequency and severity of storms to "climate modify." Industrialists and their supporters refer to alterations in the world'southward climate equally "global warming." Those who dispute that such a modify is taking place can thus point to blizzards and low temperatures as evidence that the earth is not becoming warmer.

Interest groups besides try to get problems on the government calendar and to monitor a variety of government programs. Post-obit the passage of the ACA, numerous involvement groups have been monitoring the implementation of the law, hoping to use successes and failures to justify their positions for and confronting the legislation. Those opposed take utilized the court system to effort to alter or eliminate the law, or have lobbied executive agencies or departments that take a role in the police'southward implementation. Similarly, teachers' unions, parent-teacher organizations, and other instruction-related interests take monitored implementation of the No Child Left Backside Human action promoted and signed into police past President George W. Bush.

Interest Groups as a Response to Riots

The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) movement owes a great deal to the gay rights motion of the 1960s and 1970s, and in particular to the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York's Greenwich Village. These were a series of vehement responses to a police raid on the bar, a pop gathering place for members of the LGBT community. The riots culminated in a number of arrests but likewise raised awareness of the struggles faced by members of the gay and lesbian community.

David Carter. 2010. Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution. New York: St. Martin's Griffin.

The Stonewall Inn has recently been granted landmark status past New York Metropolis's Landmarks Preservation Commission ((Figure)).

The Stonewall Inn in New York City's Greenwich Village was the site of arrests and riots in 1969 that, like the building itself, became an important landmark in the LGBT movement. (credit: Steven Damron)

The Castro district in San Francisco, California, was also home to a meaning LGBT customs during the same time menses. In 1978, the customs was shocked when Harvey Milk, a gay local activist and sitting member of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, was assassinated by a former city supervisor due to political differences.

http://milkfoundation.org/about/harvey-milk-biography/ (November 8, 2015).

This resulted in protests in San Francisco and other cities across the country and the mobilization of interests concerned virtually gay and lesbian rights.

Today, advancement interest organizations like Human Rights Picket and the Human Rights Council are at the forefront in supporting members of the LGBT community and popularizing a number of relevant problems. They played an active part in the effort to legalize aforementioned-sex marriage in individual states and later nationwide. Now that aforementioned-sex marriage is legal, these organizations and others are dealing with problems related to continuing discrimination against members of this community. One current debate centers around whether an individual'southward religious freedom allows him or her to deny services to members of the LGBT customs.

What do you lot feel are lingering issues for the LGBT community? What approaches could you lot take to help increment attention and back up for gay and lesbian rights? Exercise y'all call up someone's religious behavior should allow them the freedom to discriminate against members of the LGBT customs? Why or why not?

TRENDS IN PUBLIC Involvement GROUP Germination AND ACTIVITY

A number of changes in interest groups have taken place over the concluding iii or four decades in the United States. The most significant modify is the tremendous increase in both the number and blazon of groups.

Clive S. Thomas and Ronald J. Hrebenar. 1990. "Interest Groups in united states." In Politics in the American States: A Comparative Analysis, fifth ed., eds. Virginia Grey, Herbert Jacob, and Robert B. Albritton. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 123–158; Clive South. Thomas and Ronald J. Hrebenar. 1991. "Nationalization of Involvement Groups and Lobbying in the States." In Interest Grouping Politics, 3d ed., eds. Allan J. Cigler and Burdett A. Loomis. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 63–80; Clive Due south. Thomas and Ronald J. Hrebenar. 1996. "Interest Groups in the States." In Politics in the American States: A Comparative Analysis, 6th ed., eds. Virginia Gray, and Herbert Jacob. Washington, DC: CQ Printing, 122–158; Clive S. Thomas and Ronald J. Hrebenar. 1999. "Involvement Groups in united states." In Politics in the American States: A Comparative Analysis, 7th ed., eds. Virginia Gray, Russell Fifty. Hanson, and Herbert Jacob. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 113–143; Clive S. Thomas and Ronald J. Hrebenar. 2004. "Interest Groups in united states of america." In Politics in the American States: A Comparative Assay, 8th ed., eds. Virginia Greyness and Russell 50. Hanson. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 100–128.

Political scientists often examine the diverseness of registered groups, in part to determine how well they reverberate the variety of interests in social club. Some areas may be dominated by certain industries, while others may reverberate a multitude of interests. Some interests announced to have increased at greater rates than others. For case, the number of institutions and corporate interests has increased both in Washington and in u.s.. Telecommunication companies like Verizon and AT&T will anteroom Congress for laws beneficial to their businesses, but they as well target the states considering state legislatures make laws that can benefit or harm their activities. In that location has also been an increment in the number of public involvement groups that represent the public equally opposed to economic interests. U.S. PIRG is a public interest group that represents the public on issues including public health, the environment, and consumer protection.

http://www.uspirg.org/ (November i, 2015).

Public Interest Research Groups

Public interest research groups (PIRGs) have increased in recent years, and many now exist nationally and at the state level. PIRGs represent the public in a multitude of issue areas, ranging from consumer protection to the environs, and similar other interests, they provide opportunities for people to make a departure in the political process. PIRGs try to promote the mutual or public good, and about problems they favor bear upon many or even all citizens. Educatee PIRGs focus on issues that are of import to students, including tuition costs, textbook costs, new voter registration, sustainable universities, and homelessness. Consider the cost of a college educational activity. You may desire to research how education costs have increased over fourth dimension. Are cost increases similar across universities and colleges? Are they similar beyond states? What might explain similarities and differences in tuition costs? What solutions might assist accost the ascent costs of college education?

How can you get involved in the bulldoze for affordable college education? Consider why students might become engaged in it and why they might non practise then. A number of countries have made tuition gratuitous or well-nigh free.

Rick Noack, "7 countries where Americans can study at universities, in English, for free (or about free)," Washington Mail, 29 October 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/x/29/7-countries-where-americans-can-written report-at-universities-in-english-for-costless-or-well-nigh-gratis/.

Is this viable or desirable in the United States? Why or why not?

Accept a look at the website for Student PIRGs. What issues does this involvement grouping address? Are these issues of import to you lot? How tin y'all get involved? Visit this section of their site to larn more near their position on financing higher education.

What are the reasons for the increase in the number of interest groups? In some cases, information technology only reflects new interests in society. Forty years ago, stalk cell research was non an issue on the regime agenda, only as science and technology advanced, its techniques and possibilities became known to the media and the public, and a number of interests began lobbying for and confronting this type of research. Medical research firms and medical associations will lobby in favor of greater spending and increased research on stem prison cell research, while some religious organizations and anti-abortion groups will oppose it. Equally societal attitudes change and new issues develop, and as the public becomes aware of them, we can expect to see the rise of interests addressing them.

The devolution of power also explains some of the increase in the number and type of interests, at least at the state level. As power and responsibility shifted to land governments in the 1980s, united states of america began to handle responsibilities that had been under the jurisdiction of the federal government. A number of federal welfare programs, for example, are generally administered at the state level. This ways interests might be better served targeting their lobbying efforts in Albany, Raleigh, Austin, or Sacramento, rather than only in Washington, DC. As the states have become more active in more policy areas, they have become prime targets for interests wanting to influence policy in their favor.

Thomas and Hrebenar, "Nationalization of Involvement Groups and Lobbying in us;" Nownes and Newmark, "Interest Groups in u.s.a.."

We have as well seen increased specialization by some interests and fifty-fifty fragmentation of existing interests. While the American Medical Association may take a stand on stem prison cell research, the outcome is not critical to the everyday activities of many of its members. On the other paw, stem jail cell research is highly salient to members of the American Neurological Association, an interest organization that represents bookish neurologists and neuroscientists. Accordingly, different interests represent the more than specialized needs of different specialties inside the medical community, simply fragmentation tin can occur when a large interest like this has diverging needs. Such was also the case when several unions split up from the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations), the nation's largest federation of unions, in 2005.

Thomas and Hrebenar, "Involvement Groups in united states," 1991, 1996, 1999, 2004; Thomas and Hrebenar, "Nationalization of Interest Groups and Lobbying in the States."

Improved technology and the development of social media take made it easier for smaller groups to form and to concenter and communicate with members. The use of the Internet to raise money has as well made it possible for even small groups to receive funding.

None of this suggests that an unlimited number of interests tin can exist in society. The size of the economic system has a bearing on the number of interests, but only up to a sure point, later on which the number increases at a declining rate. As we will see below, the limit on the number of interests depends on the available resource and levels of competition.

Over the final few decades, we have also witnessed an increase in professionalization in lobbying and in the sophistication of lobbying techniques. This was not always the case, because lobbying was not considered a serious profession in the mid-twentieth century. Over the past 3 decades, there has been an increase in the number of contract lobbying firms. These firms are often constructive because they bring meaning resource to the table, their lobbyists are knowledgeable virtually the problems on which they lobby, and they may take existing relationships with lawmakers. In fact, relationships betwixt lobbyists and legislators are ofttimes ongoing, and these are critical if lobbyists want access to lawmakers. However, not every interest can afford to hire loftier-priced contract lobbyists to represent information technology. As (Figure) suggests, a great deal of money is spent on lobbying activities.

This table lists the acme twenty U.S. lobbying firms in 2014 equally determined by full lobbying income.

https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?showYear=2014&indexType=l (March 1, 2016).

Top Lobbying Firms in 2014
Lobbying Firm	Total Lobbying Annual Income
Alike, Gump et al.	$35,550,000
Squire Patton Boggs	$31,540,000
Podesta Group	$25,070,000
Brownstein, Hyatt et al.	$23,400,000
Van Scoyoc Assoc.	$21,420,000
Holland & Knight	$19,250,000
Capitol Counsel	$17,930,000
Thousand&L Gates	$17,420,000
Williams & Jensen	$xvi,430,000
BGR Group	$15,470,000
Peck Madigan Jones	$13,395,000
Cornerstone Government Affairs	$13,380,000
Ernst & Young	$12,440,000
Hogan Lovells	$12,410,000
Capitol Tax Partners	$12,390,000
Cassidy & Assoc.	$12,090,000
Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock	$11,970,000
Covington & Burling	$11,537,000
Mehlman, Castagnetti et al.	$11,180,000
Alpine Group	$10,950,00

We have also seen greater limits on inside lobbying activities. In the by, many lobbyists were described equally "expert ol' boys" who ofttimes provided gifts or other favors in exchange for political admission or other considerations. Today, restrictions limit the types of gifts and benefits lobbyists can bequeath on lawmakers. There are certainly fewer "good ol' boy" lobbyists, and many lobbyists are at present full-time professionals. The regulation of lobbying is addressed in greater detail below.

HOW REPRESENTATIVE IS THE INTEREST GROUP System?

Participation in the United States has never been equal; wealth and education, components of socioeconomic status, are strong predictors of political engagement.

Sidney Verba, Kay Lehmnn Schlozman, and Henry Brady. 1995. Voice and Equality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Printing.

We already discussed how wealth can help overcome collective action problems, but lack of wealth also serves as a barrier to participation more by and large. These types of barriers pose challenges, making it less likely for some groups than others to participate.

Steven J. Rosenstone and John Mark Hansen. 2003. Mobilization, Participation, and Commonwealth in America. New York: Longman.

Some institutions, including big corporations, are more than likely to participate in the political process than others, simply because they accept tremendous resources. And with these resources, they can write a check to a political campaign or hire a lobbyist to correspond their system. Writing a check and hiring a lobbyist are unlikely options for a disadvantaged group ((Figure)).

A protestor at an Occupy Times Square rally in October 2011. (credit: Geoff Stearns)

Individually, the poor may non take the same opportunities to bring together groups.

Verba et al., Voice and Equality; Mark J. Rozell, Clyde Wilcox, and Michael G. Franz. 2012. Involvement Groups in American Campaigns: The New Face of Electioneering. Oxford University Printing: New York.

They may work two jobs to make ends run across and lack the costless time necessary to participate in politics. Further, there are often financial barriers to participation. For someone who punches a time-clock, spending time with political groups may be costly and paying ante may be a hardship. Certainly, the poor are unable to hire expensive lobbying firms to represent them. Structural barriers like voter identification laws may likewise disproportionately affect people with low socioeconomic condition, although the effects of these laws may non be fully understood for some fourth dimension.

The poor may also have low levels of efficacy, which refers to the conviction that you tin make a difference or that government cares about y'all and your views. People with depression levels of efficacy are less likely to participate in politics, including voting and joining interest groups. Therefore, they are oftentimes underrepresented in the political arena.

Minorities may also participate less often than the bulk population, although when we control for wealth and instruction levels, we see fewer differences in participation rates. Still, in that location is a bias in participation and representation, and this bias extends to interest groups also. For example, when fast food workers across the United States went on strike to demand an increase in their wages, they could exercise little more than than take to the streets begetting signs, similar the protestors shown in (Effigy). Their opponents, the owners of restaurant chains and others who pay their employees minimum wage, could hire groups such as the Employment Policies Institute, which paid for billboard ads in Times Square in New York City. The billboards implied that raising the minimum wage was an insult to people who worked hard and discouraged people from getting an education to better their lives.

Aaron Smith, "Conservative Group'south Times Square Billboard Attacks a $15 Minimum Wage," 31 Baronial 2015, http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/31/news/economy/times-square-minimum-wage/.

Unlike their opponents, these minimum-wage workers in Minnesota have express ways to make their interests known to government. Even so, they were able to increase their political efficacy by joining fast food workers in a nationwide strike on April 15, 2015, to call for a $xv per hour minimum wage and improved working weather. (credit: "Fibonacci Blue"/Flickr)

Finally, people practice not often participate because they lack the political skill to do so or believe that it is impossible to influence government actions.

Robert Putnam. 2000. Bowling Alone. New York: Simon and Shuster; Rosenstone and Hansen, Mobilization, Participation and Democracy in America.

They might also lack involvement or could be apathetic. Participation commonly requires some cognition of the political organization, the candidates, or the issues. Younger people in item are frequently cynical about government'southward response to the needs of not-elites.

How do these observations translate into the way different interests are represented in the political system? Some pluralist scholars like David Truman suggest that people naturally bring together groups and that in that location will exist a great deal of contest for admission to determination-makers.

David B. Truman 1951. The Governmental Process: Political Interests and Public Opinion. New York: Knopf.

Scholars who subscribe to this pluralist view assume this contest among various interests is good for democracy. Political theorist Robert Dahl argued that "all agile and legitimate groups had the potential to make themselves heard."

Dahl, Robert A. 1956. A Preface to Democratic Theory. Chicago: Academy of Chicago Press; Dahl, Robert A. 1961. Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American Urban center. New Haven, CT: Yale University Printing.

In many ways, this is an optimistic assessment of representation in the United States.

Yet, not all scholars accept the premise that mobilization is natural and that all groups have the potential for access to decision-makers. The elite critique suggests that certain interests, typically businesses and the wealthy, are advantaged and that policies more than often reflect their wishes than anyone else'southward. Political scientist E. E. Schattschneider noted that "the flaw in the pluralist heaven is that the heavenly chorus sings with a potent upperclass accent."

East. Eastward. Schattschneider. 1960. The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Commonwealth in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 35.

A number of scholars have suggested that businesses and other wealthy interests are often overrepresented before government, and that poorer interests are at a comparative disadvantage.

Due west. G. Domhoff. 2009. Who rules America? Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall; K. Fifty. Schlozman, "What Accent the Heavenly choir? Political Equality and the American Pressure level System," Periodical of Politics 46, No. 2 (1984) 1006–1032; K. L. Schlozman, Southward. Verba, and H. E. Brady. 2012. The Unheavenly Chorus: Unequal Political Voice and the Broken Hope of American Republic. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

For example, as nosotros've seen, wealthy corporate interests have the means to hire in-house lobbyists or high-priced contract lobbyists to represent them. They tin can also beget to make financial contributions to politicians, which at least may grant them access. The ability to overcome collective action problems is not equally distributed across groups; as Mancur Olson noted, small groups and those with economic advantages were amend off in this regard.

Olson, Jr., The Logic of Collective Action.

Disadvantaged interests face many challenges including shortages of resources, time, and skills.

A written report of nearly eighteen hundred policy decisions made over a twenty-year catamenia revealed that the interests of the wealthy have much greater influence on the regime than those of average citizens. The approval or disapproval of proposed policy changes by average voters had relatively little outcome on whether the changes took place. When wealthy voters disapproved of a detail policy, information technology almost never was enacted. When wealthy voters favored a particular policy, the odds of the policy proposal's passing increased to more than 50 percent.

Kevin Pulsate, "Nobody Cares What You Think Unless You lot're Rich," Mother Jones, 8 April 2014, http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-pulsate/2014/04/nobody-cares-what-y'all-call up-unless-youre-rich.

Indeed, the preferences of those in the top ten per centum of the population in terms of income had an bear upon 15 times greater than those of average income. In terms of the effect of interest groups on policy, Gilens and Page found that business organisation involvement groups had twice the influence of public interest groups.

Larry Bartels, "Rich People Rule!" Washington Post, 8 Apr 2014, https://world wide web.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/04/08/rich-people-rule.

(Figure) shows contributions past interests from a multifariousness of different sectors. We can draw a few notable observations from the table. First, big sums of coin are spent by different interests. Second, many of these interests are business sectors, including the real estate sector, the insurance manufacture, businesses, and law firms.

The chart above shows the dollar amounts contributed from PACs, soft money (including direct from corporate and union treasuries), and individual donors to Autonomous (blue) and Republican (red) federal candidates and political parties during the 2015–2016 election cycle, as reported to the Federal Election Commission.

Interest group politics are oft characterized by whether the groups have admission to decision-makers and can participate in the policy-making process. The iron triangle is a hypothetical arrangement among three elements (the corners of the triangle): an interest group, a congressional committee member or chair, and an agency inside the bureaucracy.

Frank R. Baumgartner and Beth Fifty. Leech. 1998. Basic Interests: The Importance of Groups in Political Science. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Printing.

Each element has a symbiotic relationship with the other 2, and it is difficult for those outside the triangle to break into it. The congressional commission members, including the chair, rely on the interest group for entrada contributions and policy information, while the interest group needs the committee to consider laws favorable to its view. The involvement group and the committee demand the agency to implement the police, while the agency needs the involvement grouping for data and the committee for funding and autonomy in implementing the law.

Francis East. Rourke. 1984. Bureaucracy, Politics, and Public Policy, third ed. NY: Harper Collins.

An alternate caption of the arrangement of duties carried out in a given policy surface area by interest groups, legislators, and agency bureaucrats is that these actors are the experts in that given policy area. Hence, perchance they are the ones virtually qualified to process policy in the given expanse. Some view the fe triangle idea as outdated. Hugh Heclo of George Mason University has sketched a more open pattern he calls an outcome network that includes a number of different interests and political actors that work together in support of a single issue or policy.

Hugh Heclo. 1984. "Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment." In The New American Political Arrangement, ed. Anthony King. Washington DC: The American Enterprise Constitute, 87–124.

Some interest grouping scholars have studied the relationship among a multitude of involvement groups and political actors, including erstwhile elected officials, the way some interests form coalitions with other interests, and the style they compete for access to conclusion-makers.

V. Gray and D. Lowery, "To Lobby Lonely or in a Flock: Foraging Behavior among Organized Interests," American Politics Enquiry 26, No. i (1998): v–34; M. Hojnacki, "Interest Groups' Decisions to Join Alliances or Work Lone," American Journal of Political Scientific discipline 41, No. 1 (1997): 61–87; Kevin Due west. Hula. 1999. Lobbying Together: Involvement Group Coalitions in Legislative Politics. Washington DC: Georgetown Academy Printing.

Some coalitions are long-standing, while others are temporary. Joining coalitions does come with a price, because it can dilute preferences and split up potential benefits that the groups endeavour to accrue. Some interest groups will even align themselves with opposing interests if the alliance will attain their goals. For instance, left-leaning groups might oppose a state lottery arrangement because information technology unduly hurts the poor (who participate in this class of gambling at higher rates), while right-leaning groups might oppose it because they view gambling as a sinful activity. These opposing groups might actually join forces in an attempt to defeat the lottery.

While most scholars agree that some interests do take advantages, others have questioned the overwhelming say-so of sure interests. Additionally, neopluralist scholars debate that certainly some interests are in a privileged position, only these interests practice not always get what they want.

Virginia Grayness and David Lowery. 1996. The Population Ecology of Interest Representation: Lobbying Communities in the American States. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; Andrew S. McFarland. 2004. Neopluralism. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.

Instead, their influence depends on a number of factors in the political environment such as public opinion, political civilisation, competition for admission, and the relevance of the issue. Even wealthy interests do not always win if their position is at odds with the wish of an attentive public. And if the public cares about the issue, politicians may be reluctant to defy their constituents. If a prominent manufacturing firm wants fewer regulations on environmental pollutants, and environmental protection is a salient consequence to the public, the manufacturing firm may not win in every exchange, despite its resources reward. Nosotros as well know that when interests mobilize, opposing interests often counter-mobilize, which can reduce advantages of some interests. Thus, the conclusion that businesses, the wealthy, and elites win in every situation is overstated.

Mark A. Smith. 2000. American Business organisation and Political Power: Public Stance, Elections, and Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Printing; F. R. Baumgartner, J. M. Berry, M. Hojnacki, D. C. Kimball, and B. L. Leech. 2009, Lobbying and Policy Change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

A good example is the recent dispute between fast food bondage and their employees. During the bound of 2015, workers at McDonald's restaurants across the country went on strike and marched in protestation of the low wages the fast nutrient giant paid its employees. Despite the opposition of eatery chains and claims past the National Eatery Clan that increasing the minimum wage would result in the loss of jobs, in September 2015, the country of New York raised the minimum wage for fast food employees to $15 per hour, an amount to exist phased in over fourth dimension. Buoyed past this success, fast food workers in other cities continued to campaign for a pay increase, and many depression-paid workers accept promised to vote for politicians who plan to boost the federal minimum wage.

Patrick McGeehan, "New York Plans $15-an-60 minutes Minimum Wage for Fast Food Workers," New York Times, 22 July 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/nyregion/new-york-minimum-wage-fast-food-workers.html; Paul Davidson, "Fast-Food Workers Strike, Seeing $fifteen Wage, Political Musculus," USA Today, x November 2015 http://www.usatoday.com/story/coin/2015/11/10/fast-nutrient-strikes-begin/75482782/.

Visit the websites for the California or Michigan secretary of country, state boards of elections, or relevant governmental entity and ideals websites where lobbyists and involvement groups must annals. Several examples are provided only experience costless to examine the comparable web folio in your own state. Spend some time looking over the lists of interest groups registered in these states. Practice the registered interests announced to reverberate the important interests inside us? Are at that place patterns in the types of interests registered? Are certain interests over- or underrepresented?

Summary

Interest groups beget people the opportunity to become more than civically engaged. Socioeconomic status is an of import predictor of who will likely bring together groups. The number and types of groups actively lobbying to get what they want from government have been increasing rapidly. Many business organization and public involvement groups have arisen, and many new interests take developed due to technological advances, increased specialization of industry, and fragmentation of interests. Lobbying has as well go more than sophisticated in contempo years, and many interests now rent lobbying firms to stand for them.

Some scholars assume that groups will compete for admission to decision-makers and that near groups take the potential to be heard. Critics propose that some groups are advantaged past their admission to economic resources. Yet others acknowledge these resource advantages but suggest that the political environment is as of import in determining who gets heard.

What changes have occurred in the lobbying surroundings over the by 3 or four decades?

1. There is more professional lobbying.
2. Many interests lobby both the national government and the states.
3. A fragmentation of interests has taken place.
4. all the above

Which of the following is an attribute of atomic number 26 triangles?

1. fluid participation among interests
2. a nifty bargain of competition for access to decision-makers
3. a symbiotic human relationship among Congressional committees, executive agencies, and interest groups
4. three interest groups that have formed a coalition

What does group participation provide to citizens?

By joining interest groups, individuals can participate in ways that go beyond unproblematic voting. They tin collaborate with others with similar views. They tin can become civically engaged by becoming more connected to their communities, they tin participate in protests and letter-writing campaigns, and they tin inform others about the issues.

Why don't lower-income groups participate more in the interest group system?

What are some barriers to participation?

Numerous barriers foreclose people from participating in politics. Some people lack time or other resources to participate. Lower-income individuals and groups may lack the necessary borough skills to participate effectively. Institutional barriers like voter identification laws may disproportionately affect some people more others.

Glossary

astroturf movement

a political movement that resembles a grassroots movement but is ofttimes supported or facilitated by wealthy interests and/or elites

efficacy

the belief that you lot make a difference and that government cares about you and your views

elite critique

the proposition that wealthy and elite interests are advantaged over those without resources

fragmentation

the effect when a large interest group develops diverging needs

grassroots movement

a political movement that frequently begins from the bottom upwards, inspired by average citizens concerned well-nigh a given issue

iron triangle

three-way relationship among congressional committees, interests groups, and the bureaucracy

issue network

a group of interest groups and people who work together to support a particular result or policy

neopluralist

a person who suggests that all groups' access and influence depend on the political environment

pluralist

a person who believes many groups healthily compete for access to determination-makers

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Source: https://opentextbc.ca/americangovernment2eopenstax/chapter/interest-groups-as-political-participation/

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