CHAPTER 12 – GROUPS, INTERESTS AND MOVEMENTS
GROUP POLITICS
- Major linkages between government and the governed in modern societies
- Interest groups have more distinct and clear-cut position
- Cleavage → social division that creates a collective identity on both sides of the
divide
- Start – Britain and The Anti-Corn Law League in 1839
o Later Society for Women’s Rights in France in 1866
- Association → a group formed by voluntary action, reflecting a recognition of shared
interests or common concerns
Types of groups
- Are we concerned with groups or with interests?
- Do groups have to have a certain level of cohesion and organization or is it just
people with the same interest?
- Interest → that which benefits an individual or group: interests are usually
understood to be objective or real
- Alexis de Tocqueville
o French politician, theorist, and historian
o Democracy in America
o Critique of US democracy with its equality of opportunity – tyranny of the
majority
Communal groups
- Embedded in social fabric, membership is based on birth rather than recruitment
o Families, tribes, ethnic groups
o Found on the basis of shares heritage, traditional bonds and loyalties
o Africa
- But also continue to survive in advanced industrial states – Catholic groups in Italy
and Ireland
Institutional groups
- Part of the machinery of government – attempt to exert influence through that
- Enjoy no measure of independence
- Example: bureaucracies and military
- Authoritarian regimes – USSR and heavy industry economic interests
- Now: military-industrial complex
- Interest group → (pressure group) organized association that aims to influence the
policies or actions of government, they differ from political parties because:
o They seek to influence from outside
o They typically have narrow focus
o They seldom have broader programmes features
, Associational groups
- Formed by people who come together to pursue shared but limited goals
o Voluntary, common interests
- Increasingly important in industrial societies
o Local, national, and international
o Anti-constitutional and paramilitary groups excluded
- Direct action → political action taken outside the constitutional and legal framework;
direct action may range from passive resistance to terrorism
- Two most common classifications:
- Sectional and proportional groups
o Sectional groups → exist to advance or protect the interests of their members
▪ Trade unions, business corporations, trade associations, professional
bodies
▪ Functional groups – groups engaged in production, distribution and
exchange of goods and services
o Promotional groups → set to advance shared values, ideals, or principles
▪ Pro-life/pro-choice
▪ Public interest groups
▪ Save the Whale, National Association for the Advancement of
Coloured People
- Non-governmental organizations → private, non-commercial group or body which
seeks to achieve its ends through non-violent means (usually international politics)
- Insider and outsider groups
o Insider groups → enjoy regular, privileged and usually institutionalised access
to government
▪ Compatible in the government
o Outsider groups → not consulted by the government or only irregularly and
not on senior level
▪ Lacking support from government
▪ Have to ‘go public’
▪ Radical and protest groups
Models of group politics
- The role of groups reflects the political culture, party system or institutional
arrangements
Pluralist model
- Most positive image of group politics
o Defending individual from the government and promoting democratic
responsiveness
- Political power is fragmented and dispersed
o A. Bentley – The Process of Government
- All groups have potential to access the government
GROUP POLITICS
- Major linkages between government and the governed in modern societies
- Interest groups have more distinct and clear-cut position
- Cleavage → social division that creates a collective identity on both sides of the
divide
- Start – Britain and The Anti-Corn Law League in 1839
o Later Society for Women’s Rights in France in 1866
- Association → a group formed by voluntary action, reflecting a recognition of shared
interests or common concerns
Types of groups
- Are we concerned with groups or with interests?
- Do groups have to have a certain level of cohesion and organization or is it just
people with the same interest?
- Interest → that which benefits an individual or group: interests are usually
understood to be objective or real
- Alexis de Tocqueville
o French politician, theorist, and historian
o Democracy in America
o Critique of US democracy with its equality of opportunity – tyranny of the
majority
Communal groups
- Embedded in social fabric, membership is based on birth rather than recruitment
o Families, tribes, ethnic groups
o Found on the basis of shares heritage, traditional bonds and loyalties
o Africa
- But also continue to survive in advanced industrial states – Catholic groups in Italy
and Ireland
Institutional groups
- Part of the machinery of government – attempt to exert influence through that
- Enjoy no measure of independence
- Example: bureaucracies and military
- Authoritarian regimes – USSR and heavy industry economic interests
- Now: military-industrial complex
- Interest group → (pressure group) organized association that aims to influence the
policies or actions of government, they differ from political parties because:
o They seek to influence from outside
o They typically have narrow focus
o They seldom have broader programmes features
, Associational groups
- Formed by people who come together to pursue shared but limited goals
o Voluntary, common interests
- Increasingly important in industrial societies
o Local, national, and international
o Anti-constitutional and paramilitary groups excluded
- Direct action → political action taken outside the constitutional and legal framework;
direct action may range from passive resistance to terrorism
- Two most common classifications:
- Sectional and proportional groups
o Sectional groups → exist to advance or protect the interests of their members
▪ Trade unions, business corporations, trade associations, professional
bodies
▪ Functional groups – groups engaged in production, distribution and
exchange of goods and services
o Promotional groups → set to advance shared values, ideals, or principles
▪ Pro-life/pro-choice
▪ Public interest groups
▪ Save the Whale, National Association for the Advancement of
Coloured People
- Non-governmental organizations → private, non-commercial group or body which
seeks to achieve its ends through non-violent means (usually international politics)
- Insider and outsider groups
o Insider groups → enjoy regular, privileged and usually institutionalised access
to government
▪ Compatible in the government
o Outsider groups → not consulted by the government or only irregularly and
not on senior level
▪ Lacking support from government
▪ Have to ‘go public’
▪ Radical and protest groups
Models of group politics
- The role of groups reflects the political culture, party system or institutional
arrangements
Pluralist model
- Most positive image of group politics
o Defending individual from the government and promoting democratic
responsiveness
- Political power is fragmented and dispersed
o A. Bentley – The Process of Government
- All groups have potential to access the government
