What are interest groups? 343Types of Interest Groups
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10.1Scholars often divide interest groups into categories based on who their members are or the number or kinds of things they lobby for.- Institutional interest groups are formed by nonprofits such as
universities, think tanks, or museums. For example, the Big Ten
Academic Alliance is a group of universities that prepares research
to help individual universities make the case for continued federal
support. - Businesses are for-profit enterprises that aim to influence policy in
ways that will increase profits or satisfy other goals. Many corpora-
tions, such as Google, Exxon, Boeing, Facebook, Citibank, and Sallie
Mae, have lobbying operations that petition government for contracts
or favorable regulations of their firm or industry. - Trade or peak associations are groups of businesses (often in the
same industry) that band together to lobby for policies that benefit all of
them. For example, the National Beer Wholesalers Association, a nation-
wide group of local businesses that buy beer from brewers and resell
it to stores and restaurants, lobbies to require intermediaries between
beer producers and the stores, bars, and restaurants that sell beer to
consumers.- Professional associations represent individuals who have a common
interest in a profession; for example, the American Society of Civil
Engineers, National Education Association, American Medical
Association, and American Bar Association. - Labor organizations lobby for regulations that make it easy for
workers to form labor unions, as well as for a range of other policies.
The largest of these is the American Federation of Labor and
Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). - Citizen groups range from those with mass membership (such as
the Sierra Club) to those that have no members but claim to speak
for particular segments of the population. One such group is the
Family Research Council (FRC), which describes itself as “promot-
ing the Judeo-Christian worldview as the basis for a just, free, and
stable society.” FRC Action (the lobbying arm of the organization)
promotes a range of policies, from legislation that defines marriage
as between a man and a woman to legislation that would eliminate
estate taxes.
- Professional associations represent individuals who have a common
Some interest groups have primarily political motives and goals. One such group is
Public Citizen, which conducts research projects, lobbies legislators and bureaucrats,
and tries to rally public opinion on a range of environmental, health, and energy issues.
In other cases, lobbying is only one part of what an organization does. The NR A, for
example, endorses candidates, contributes to campaigns, and lobbies elected officials,
but it also runs gun safety classes, holds competitions, and sells gun accessories to
its members. Interest group activity is almost hidden within other organizations.
For example, most drivers know that AAA (formerly the American Automobile
Association) provides emergency roadside service and maps, but many people are not
aware that AAA is also an interest group that lobbies for policies such as limiting new
drivers to daylight-only hours.
As these descriptions suggest, interest groups and lobbying are ubiquitous in
American politics. You may think that you don’t belong to a group that lobbies the
federal government, but the odds are that you do. In fact, one important view of
American politics, pluralism, identifies interest groups as America’s fundamental
political actors.^2 Pluralists argue that most Americans participate in politics through
their membership in interest groups like Public Citizen, the NR A, or even AAA.
These groups lobby, try to elect candidates who share their views, and negotiate
among themselves to encourage legislators to pursue policies that benefit their
members. Pluralists see interest groups as important and appropriate participants
in the democratic process. Others see interest groups in a more negative light,
describing America as an interest group state, meaning that these groups are
involved whenever policy is made, but in a self-interested way that can undermine the
collective good.^3 More recent perspectives on interest group pluralism, such as Frank
Baumgartner and coauthors’ study of lobbying,^4 note that interest groups’ influence
is contextual and depends on a number of factors, but their importance in the political
system is clear.interest group state
A government in which most policy
decisions are determined by the
influence of interest groups.Full_11_APT_64431_ch10_340-373.indd 343 16/11/18 10:25 AM