Advocacy group
Encyclopedia
Advocacy groups use various forms of advocacy
to influence public opinion
and/or policy; they have played and continue to play an important part in the development of political and social systems. Groups vary considerably in size, influence and motive; some have wide ranging long term social purposes, others are focused and are a response to an immediate issue or concern.
Motives for action may be based on a shared political, faith
, moral
or commercial
position. Groups use varied methods to try to achieve their aims including lobbying
, media campaigns, publicity stunts, polls, research and policy briefings. Some groups are supported by powerful business or political interests and exert considerable influence on the political process, others have few such resources.
Some have developed into important social, political institutions or social movements. Some powerful Lobby groups have been accused of manipulating the democratic system for narrow commercial
gain and in some instances have been found guilty of corruption
, fraud
, bribery
and other serious crimes; lobbying has become increasingly regulated as a result. Some groups, generally ones with less financial resources, may use direct action
and civil disobedience
and in some cases are accused of being a threat to the social order or 'domestic extremists'.
s, Professional associations, Trade association
s and Trade union
s.
, it refers to the difficulty of obtaining members of a particular interest group when the benefits are already reaped without membership. For instance, an interest group dedicated to improving farming standards will fight for the general goal of improving farming for every farmer, even those who are not members of that particular interest group. So there is no real incentive to join an interest group and pay dues if they will receive that benefit anyway. Interest groups must receive dues and contributions from its members in order to accomplish its agenda. While every individual in the world would benefit from a cleaner environment, that Environmental protection interest group does not, in turn, receive monetary help from every individual in the world.
Selective material benefits are benefits that are usually given in monetary benefits. For instance, if an interest group gives a material benefit to their member, they could give them travel discounts, free meals at certain restaurants, or free subscriptions to magazines, newspapers, or journals. Many trade and professional interest groups tend to give these types of benefits to their members. A selective solidary benefit is another type of benefit offered to members or prospective members of an interest group. These incentives involve benefits like "socializing congeniality, the sense of group membership and identification, the status resulting from membership, fun and conviviality, the maintenance of social distinctions, and so on. A solidary incentive is when the rewards for participation are socially derived and created out of the act of association.
An expressive incentive is another basic type of incentive or benefit offered to being a member of an interest group. People who join an interest group because of expressive benefits likely joined to express an ideological or moral value that they believe in. Some include free speech, civil rights, economic justice, or political equality. To obtain these types of benefits, members would simply pay dues, donate their time or money to get a feeling of satisfaction from expressing a political value. Also, it would not matter if the interest group achieved their goal, but these members would be able to say they helped out in the process of trying to obtain these goals, which is the expressive incentive that they got in the first place. The types of interest groups that rely on expressive benefits or incentives would be environmental groups and groups who claim to be lobbying for the public interest.
Some public policy interests are not recognized or addressed by a group at all, and these interests are labeled latent interest.
The field is dominated by numerous differing schools of thought:
1. Pluralism: this is based upon the understanding that pressure groups operate in competition with one another and play a key role in the political system through acting as a counterweight to undue concentrations of power
2. Neo-Pluralism: this is based on the concept of political communities in that pressure groups and other such bodies are organised around a government department and its network of client groups that then co-operate together to during the policy making process
3. Corporatism
Advocacy
Advocacy is a political process by an individual or a large group which normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an...
to influence public opinion
Public opinion
Public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population. Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views....
and/or policy; they have played and continue to play an important part in the development of political and social systems. Groups vary considerably in size, influence and motive; some have wide ranging long term social purposes, others are focused and are a response to an immediate issue or concern.
Motives for action may be based on a shared political, faith
Faith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
, moral
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
or commercial
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
position. Groups use varied methods to try to achieve their aims including lobbying
Lobbying
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
, media campaigns, publicity stunts, polls, research and policy briefings. Some groups are supported by powerful business or political interests and exert considerable influence on the political process, others have few such resources.
Some have developed into important social, political institutions or social movements. Some powerful Lobby groups have been accused of manipulating the democratic system for narrow commercial
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
gain and in some instances have been found guilty of corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
, fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
and other serious crimes; lobbying has become increasingly regulated as a result. Some groups, generally ones with less financial resources, may use direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
and civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
and in some cases are accused of being a threat to the social order or 'domestic extremists'.
Overview
An advocacy group is a group or an organization which tries to influence the government but does not hold power in the government. A single-issue group may form in response to a particular issue area sometimes in response to a single event or threat. In some cases initiatives initially championed by advocacy groups later become institutionalized as important elements of civic life (for example universal education or regulation of doctors — see below for details). Groups representing broad interests of a group may be formed with the purpose of benefiting the group over an expended period of time and in many ways, example as Consumer organizationConsumer organization
Consumer organizations are advocacy groups that seek to protect people from corporate abuse like unsafe products, predatory lending, false advertising, astroturfing and pollution.Consumer organizations may operate via protests, campaigning or lobbying...
s, Professional associations, Trade association
Trade association
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry...
s and Trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s.
Activities
Advocacy groups exist in a wide variety of genres based upon their most pronounced activities.- Anti-defamation organizations issue responses or criticisms to real or supposed slights of any sort (including speech or violence) by an individual or group against a specific segment of the population which the organization exists to represent.
- Watchdog groups exist to provide oversight and rating of actions or media by various outlets, both government and corporate. They may also index personalities, organizations, products and activities in databases to provide coverage and rating of the value or viability of such entities to target demographics.
- Lobby groups LobbyLobbyingLobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
for a change to the law or the maintenance of a particular law and big businesses fund very considerable lobbying influence on legislators, for example in the USALobbying in the United StatesLobbying in the United States targets the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures. Lobbyists may also represent their clients' or organizations' interests in dealings with federal, state, or local executive branch agencies or the courts. Lobby...
and in the UKLobbying in the United KingdomLobbying in the United Kingdom plays a significant role in the formation of legislation and a wide variety of commercial organisations, lobby groups 'lobby' for particular policies and decisions by Parliament and other political organs at state and local levels. It is also possible, but less...
where lobbying first developed. Some Lobby groups have considerable financial resources at their disposal. Lobbying is regulated to stop the worst abuses which can develop into corruptionPolitical corruptionPolitical corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
. In the United States the Internal Revenue ServiceInternal Revenue ServiceThe Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
makes a clear distinction between lobbying and advocacy. - Legal defenseDefense (legal)In civil proceedings and criminal prosecutions under the common law, a defendant may raise a defense in an attempt to avoid criminal or civil liability...
funds provide funding for the legal defense for, or legal action against, individuals or groups related to their specific interests or target demographic. This is often accompanied by one of the above types of advocacy groups filing an Amicus curiaeAmicus curiaeAn amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...
if the cause at stake serves the interests of both the legal defense fund and the other advocacy groups.
Types
Organizations can be categorized along the lines of the three elements of commerce: business owners, workers, and consumers.- Employers' organizations represent the interests of a group of businesses in the same industry.
- Occupational, or labourLabour movementThe term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...
organizations promote the professional and economic interests of workers in a particular occupation, industry, or tradeTradesmanThis article is about the skilled manual worker meaning of the term; for other uses see Tradesperson .A tradesman is a skilled manual worker in a particular trade or craft. Economically and socially, a tradesman's status is considered between a laborer and a professional, with a high degree of both...
, through interaction with the government, and by preparing advertising and other promotional campaigns to the public. Such groups will also provide member services such as career support, training, and organized social activities. These goals are distinct from those of the regulatory body of a self-governing professionProfessionA profession is a vocation founded upon specialized educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain....
, which licenses and supervises its practitioners with the mission of serving the public interest. The advocacy organization does not interact directly with employers in the way a trade unionTrade unionA trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
does. - Consumer organizationConsumer organizationConsumer organizations are advocacy groups that seek to protect people from corporate abuse like unsafe products, predatory lending, false advertising, astroturfing and pollution.Consumer organizations may operate via protests, campaigning or lobbying...
s exist to protect people from corporate abuse, promote fair business practices, and enforce consumer rights.
Influential advocacy groups
There are many significant advocacy groups through history, some of which could be considered to operate with different dynamics and could better be described as social movements. Here are some notable groups operating in different parts of the world:-- The American Israel Lobby (AIPAC) described by the New York Times as the 'Most influential Lobby impacting US relations with IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
'. - British Medical AssociationBritish Medical AssociationThe British Medical Association is the professional association and registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association’s headquarters are located in BMA House,...
formed at a meeting of 50 doctors in 1832 for the sharing of knowledge; lobbying led to the Medical Act 1858Medical Act 1858The Medical Act 1858 was a British Act of Parliament which created the General Medical Council to regulate doctors in the UK.Describing its purpose, the act notes that "it is expedient that Persons requiring Medical Aid should be enabled to distinguish qualified from unqualified Practitioners".The...
and the formation of the General Medical CouncilGeneral Medical CouncilThe General Medical Council registers and regulates doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It has the power to revoke or restrict a doctor's registration if it deems them unfit to practise...
which has registered and regulated doctors in the UK to this date. - Campaign for Nuclear DisarmamentCampaign for Nuclear DisarmamentThe Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is an anti-nuclear organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
non-proliferationNuclear Non-Proliferation TreatyThe Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to...
of nuclear weapons and unilateral nuclear disarmamentNuclear disarmamentNuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated....
in the UK since 1957 whose logo is now an international peace symbol. - Center for Auto SafetyCenter for Auto SafetyThe Center for Auto Safety was founded in 1970 by Consumers Union and Ralph Nader as a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group focused on the United States automotive industry.- Accomplishments :...
Formed in 1970 to give consumers a voice for auto safety and quality in the United States. - Drug Policy AllianceDrug Policy AllianceThe Drug Policy Alliance is a New York City-based non-profit organization, led by executive director Ethan Nadelmann, with the principal goal of ending the American "War on Drugs"...
(Drug law: USA) - Electronic Frontier FoundationElectronic Frontier FoundationThe Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
An international non-profitNon-profit organizationNonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
digital rightsDigital rightsThe term digital rights describes the permissions of individuals legitimately to perform actions involving the use of a computer, any electronic device, or a communications network...
advocacy and legal organization based in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. - Energy LobbyEnergy Lobby"Energy lobby" is the umbrella term used to name the paid representatives of large fossil fuel and electric utilities corporations who attempt to influence governmental policy...
An umbrella termUmbrella termAn umbrella term is a word that provides a superset or grouping of concepts that all fall under a single common category. Umbrella term is also called a hypernym. For example, cryptology is an umbrella term that encompasses cryptography and cryptanalysis, among other fields...
term for the representatives of large oil, gas, coal, and electric utilities corporations that attempt to influence governmental policy in the United States - GreenpeaceGreenpeaceGreenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
Formed in 1970 as the Don't Make a Wave CommitteeDon't Make a Wave CommitteeThe Don't Make a Wave Committee was the name of the anti-nuclear organization which later evolved into Greenpeace, a global environmental organization...
to stop Nuclear weapons testing in the United States. - National Rifle AssociationNational Rifle AssociationThe National Rifle Association of America is an American non-profit 501 civil rights organization which advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection...
Formed in New York in 1871 to protect the rights of gun-owners - OxfamOxfamOxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
Formed in 1942 in the UK as the 'OxfordOxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
Committee for Famine ReliefFamine reliefFamine relief is an organized effort to reduce starvation in a region in which there is famine. A famine is a phenomenon in which a large proportion of the population of a region or country are so undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common...
'. - Pennsylvania Abolition Society Formed in Philadelphia in 1775 with a view to abolish slaveryAbolitionismAbolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
in the United States. - People for the Ethical Treatment of AnimalsPeople for the Ethical Treatment of AnimalsPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
Animal rights - Royal Society for the Protection of BirdsRoyal Society for the Protection of BirdsBird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...
Founded in ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
in 1889 to campaign against the 'barbarous trade in plumes for women's hats'. - Sierra ClubSierra ClubThe Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
Formed in 1892 to help protect the Sierra Nevada. - Stop the War CoalitionStop the War CoalitionThe Stop the War Coalition is a United Kingdom group set up on 21 September 2001 that campaigns against what it believes are unjust wars....
against the War on TerrorismWar on TerrorismThe War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
which included a march of between 750,000 and 2,000,000 people in London in 2003. - SuffragetteSuffragette"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
s Voting rights for women after direct actionDirect actionDirect action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
and hunger strikes from 1865-1928 in the United Kingdom - The Affiliated Residential Park Residents AssociationAffiliated Residential Park Residents AssociationThe Affiliated Residential Park Residents Association Incorporated is an incorporated non-profit association with a registered office in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia....
Incorporated (ARPRA)Established in 1986 to represent residents of residential parks in New South Wales, Australia. - Sunday School movementSunday schoolSunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
Formed in about 1751 to promoting universal schooling in the UKHistory of education in EnglandThe history of education in England can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon settlement of England, or even back to the Roman occupation. During the Middle Ages schools were established to teach Latin grammar, while apprenticeship was the main way to enter practical occupations. Two universities were... - Tories Formed in 1678 to fight the British Exclusion BillExclusion BillThe Exclusion Crisis ran from 1678 through 1681 in the reign of Charles II of England. The Exclusion Bill sought to exclude the king's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland because he was Roman Catholic...
; it developed into one of the first political partiesPolitical partyA political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
, now known as the Conservative PartyConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
.
Corruption and illegal activity
In some instances Advocacy groups are convicted of illegal activity. Major examples include:- Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandalJack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandalThe Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal is a United States political scandal relating to the work performed by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff, Ralph E. Reed, Jr., Grover Norquist and Michael Scanlon on Indian casino gambling interests for an estimated $85 million in fees. Abramoff and Scanlon...
Corrupt and fraudulent lobbying in relation to Native American gambling enterprisesNative American gambling enterprisesNative American gaming enterprises are gaming businesses operated on Indian reservations or tribal land in the United States. Indian tribes have limited sovereignty over these businesses and therefore are granted the ability to establish gambling enterprises outside of direct state... - Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement between the Attorneys General of 46 states and the four largest US tobacco companies who agreed to pay $206 billion over the first twenty-five years of the agreement.
Adversarial groupings
On some controversial issues there are a number of competing advocacy groups, sometimes with very different resources available to them:- Pro-choice movementPro-choiceSupport for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....
vs Pro-life movement (abortionAbortionAbortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
policy in the United States) - SPEAK campaign vs Pro-TestPro-TestPro-Test is a British group that promotes and supports animal testing in medical research. It was founded on January 29, 2006 to counter SPEAK, an animal-rights campaign opposing the construction by Oxford University of a biomedical and animal-research facility, which SPEAK believes may include a...
(animal testingAnimal testingAnimal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...
in United Kingdom) - The Automobile AssociationThe Automobile AssociationThe Automobile Association , a British motoring association founded in 1905 was demutualised in 1999 to become a private limited company which currently provides car insurance, driving lessons, breakdown cover, loans and motoring advice, and other services...
vs Pedestrians' Association (now 'Living Streets') (road safety in the United Kingdom since 1929) - Tobacco InstituteTobacco InstituteThe Tobacco Institute, Inc. was a United States tobacco industry trade group, founded in 1958 by the American tobacco industry.It was dissolved in 1998 as part of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.-Founding:...
vs Action on Smoking and HealthAction on Smoking and HealthAction on Smoking and Health is the name of a number of autonomous pressure groups/charities throughout the world which seek to publicize the risks associated with tobacco smoking and campaigns for greater restrictions on cigarette and tobacco sales....
(tobacco legislation) - Flying MattersFlying MattersFlying Matters was a pro-aviation coalition in the United Kingdom. Members included tourist organisations, airlines, aerospace manufacturers, trade associations, airport operators, growers and others. Formed in June 2007, they have issued briefings, press releases, lobbied Members of Parliament and...
vs Plane StupidPlane StupidPlane Stupid is a UK-focused group of environmental protesters who state their aim as wanting to see an end to airport expansion for what it sees as "unnecessary and unsustainable" flights. The organisation has no formal hierarchy, leader, or media figurehead. It is a loose association of...
(aviation policy in the United Kingdom since 2007)
Benefits and incentives
The general theory is that individuals must be enticed with some type of benefit to join an interest group. Known as the Free Rider ProblemFree rider problem
In economics, collective bargaining, psychology, and political science, a free rider is someone who consumes a resource without paying for it, or pays less than the full cost. The free rider problem is the question of how to limit free riding...
, it refers to the difficulty of obtaining members of a particular interest group when the benefits are already reaped without membership. For instance, an interest group dedicated to improving farming standards will fight for the general goal of improving farming for every farmer, even those who are not members of that particular interest group. So there is no real incentive to join an interest group and pay dues if they will receive that benefit anyway. Interest groups must receive dues and contributions from its members in order to accomplish its agenda. While every individual in the world would benefit from a cleaner environment, that Environmental protection interest group does not, in turn, receive monetary help from every individual in the world.
Selective material benefits are benefits that are usually given in monetary benefits. For instance, if an interest group gives a material benefit to their member, they could give them travel discounts, free meals at certain restaurants, or free subscriptions to magazines, newspapers, or journals. Many trade and professional interest groups tend to give these types of benefits to their members. A selective solidary benefit is another type of benefit offered to members or prospective members of an interest group. These incentives involve benefits like "socializing congeniality, the sense of group membership and identification, the status resulting from membership, fun and conviviality, the maintenance of social distinctions, and so on. A solidary incentive is when the rewards for participation are socially derived and created out of the act of association.
An expressive incentive is another basic type of incentive or benefit offered to being a member of an interest group. People who join an interest group because of expressive benefits likely joined to express an ideological or moral value that they believe in. Some include free speech, civil rights, economic justice, or political equality. To obtain these types of benefits, members would simply pay dues, donate their time or money to get a feeling of satisfaction from expressing a political value. Also, it would not matter if the interest group achieved their goal, but these members would be able to say they helped out in the process of trying to obtain these goals, which is the expressive incentive that they got in the first place. The types of interest groups that rely on expressive benefits or incentives would be environmental groups and groups who claim to be lobbying for the public interest.
Some public policy interests are not recognized or addressed by a group at all, and these interests are labeled latent interest.
Theoretical perspectives
Much work has been undertaken by academics in trying to categorise how pressures groups operate, particularly in relation to governmental policy creation.The field is dominated by numerous differing schools of thought:
1. Pluralism: this is based upon the understanding that pressure groups operate in competition with one another and play a key role in the political system through acting as a counterweight to undue concentrations of power
- However this pluralist theory (formed primarily by American academics) reflects a more open and fragmented political system similar to that in countries such as America. Therefore under neo-pluralism the concept of political communities developed that is more similar to the British form of government
2. Neo-Pluralism: this is based on the concept of political communities in that pressure groups and other such bodies are organised around a government department and its network of client groups that then co-operate together to during the policy making process
3. Corporatism
See also
- Client politicsClient politicsClient politics is the type of politics when an organized minority or interest group benefits at the expense of the public. Client politics may have a strong interaction with the dynamics of identity politics....
- Identity politicsIdentity politicsIdentity politics are political arguments that focus upon the self interest and perspectives of self-identified social interest groups and ways in which people's politics may be shaped by aspects of their identity through race, class, religion, sexual orientation or traditional dominance...
- Lobbying in the United StatesLobbying in the United StatesLobbying in the United States targets the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures. Lobbyists may also represent their clients' or organizations' interests in dealings with federal, state, or local executive branch agencies or the courts. Lobby...
- Pressure groups in the United KingdomPressure groups in the United KingdomThis is a list of pressure groups in the United Kingdom. These pressure groups, based on their relationship with United Kingdom policy makers, can be divided into insider groups, who have high degree of involvement and influence and outsider groups, who have little or no direct involvement or...
Further reading
- David WallsDavid Walls (academic)David Walls is an activist and academic who has made significant contributions to Appalachian studies and to the popular understanding of social movements...
, The Activist's Almanac: The Concerned Citizen's Guide to the Leading Advocacy Organizations in America (Simon & Schuster/Fireside, 1993). ISBN 0-671-74634-0