Interest Groups

Question 1

organizations of people sharing a common interest; interest groups (lobbies) make policy-related appeals to the government

Answer 1

interest groups

Question 2

individuals, organizations, or offices representing other interest group organizations; they are generally not open to broad public membership (e.g. Ford, Amazon, the NFL)

Answer 2

institutional interest groups

Question 3

organizations open to public membership that allow members to gather to engage in civil or political action (e.g. AARP, ACLU, NAACP)

Answer 3

membership interest group

Question 4

benefits for both interest group members and non-members

Answer 4

public goods

Question 5

groups seeking to provide benefits (public goods) for the broader public beyond just the group’s members

Answer 5

public-interest groups

Question 6

when people reap the benefits of interest group action but without participating in the group

Answer 6

free riding

Question 7

money, services, or things with monetary value (e.g. discounts)

Answer 7

material incentives

Question 8

benefits for an individual to obtain or spread knowledge

Answer 8

informational incentives

Question 9

social rewards such as networking, friendships, or increased status

Answer 9

solidary incentives

Question 10

character benefits gained from serving a cause or principle or emotions felt about a group’s cause

Answer 10

purposive incentives

Question 11

interest group activity that involves influencing legislators to either approve or reject bills by providing them with specialist information

Answer 11

direct lobbying

Question 12

interest group activity that involves establishing close relationships with legislators and public officials; it highlights the “revolving door” in politics, when legislators and public officials leave office to become lobbyists (and vice versa)

Answer 12

obtaining access

Question 13

an interest group activity that involves filling or supporting lawsuits in the courts; examples include providing funding for individuals/groups and providing amicus curiae briefs for legal cases

Answer 13

litigation

Question 14

interest group activities including voter mobilization, initiatives such as petitions and ballot measures, and campaign financing (e.g. political action committees)

Answer 14

electoral interest group processes

Question 15

interest group activities that include organizing and/or supporting protests, marches, boycotts, and civil disobedience

Answer 15

public appeals

Question 16

sociologist who proposed the theory of elitism in his 1956 book The Power Elite that only a small group of political, business, and military elites ultimately influence government and policymaking; ordinary people generally lack power and do not exert significant influence on the government; Mills asserted that the “power elite” are financially wealthy, hold the top positions in the most powerful sectors of society, are highly educated, graduate from prestigious universities, and are members of exclusive university social clubs

Answer 16

C. Wright Mills

Question 17

political scientist who supported the interest group theory of pluralism, in which many groups are in political competition to influence the government and policymaking; influence is ultimately shared between many groups; Dahl emphasized bottom-up political processes and their influence on government in New Haven, Connecticut in his 1961 study Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City

Answer 17

Robert Dahl

Question 18

political scientist who described the concept of interest-group liberalism in his 1969 book The End of Liberalism; Lowi argued that interest-group liberalism has largely resulted in the general public being shut out of government since the 1930s establishment and subsequent growth of the administrative state, along with increasing ties between resource-rich interest groups and the federal government

Answer 18

Theodore Lowi