Interest Groups??

2010-12-02T17:43:00.001-08:00

Interest Groups

Social Groupings and Organized Groups

What do Interest Groups Do?

Direct Lobbying

Lobbying is the process of
persuading public officials to take actions favorable to a given organized
group. Lobbyists are usually paid employees or hired hands for an
interest group. They have access
to public officials and present the concerns, agenda, and needs of the
interest group. Access is the most important advantage which lobbyists
have over ordinary people. Lobbyists build up rapport with public
officials over years, often decades. Having the elected official as a
college buddy, former business associate, or family member certainly helps.

Having Congress take no action be a successful strategy for an interest
group. Thus taking no action is in effect taking an action. It
is to keep things as they are. Lobbying takes place with all branches
of government.

Lobbying with the judicial branch of government is called lobbying by
litigation.

Indirect Lobbying

	Electioneering is the process of helping a public official get re-elected. Giving money to some campaign is the most effective way in which interest groups can reward politicians who have voted favorably on that interest group's policy agenda.
	Propagandizing is the effort by an interest group to pursuade the general public that the interest group is protecting the general interest in its policy agenda. As long as a group, doctors for example, have a favorable image with the general public, it is difficult to pass legislation that seems to be harmful to that group.

Types of Human Organizations

    Traditional

        Families

        Clans

        Tribes

        Nations

    Formal Organizations

        Voluntary Associations

        Bureaucratic Organizations

Types of Organized Interest Groups

Economic Groups

Farm Groups

	National Farm Bureau Federation
	National Grange
	National Farmers Union
	National Cattlemen's Association

Business Groups

	National Chamber of Commerce
	National Federation of Independent Business
	National Association of Manufacturers
	Business Roundtable
	Committee on Economic Development
	American Petroleum Institute

Labor Groups

	American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
	United Automobile Workers Union (UAW)
	American Federation of State and Municipal Employees (AFSME)
	American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
	National Education Association (NEA)
	Teamsters Union

Professional Associations

	American Medical Association
	American Bar Association
	Association of Trial Lawyers of America
	National Association of Realtors

Non-Economic Groups

Religious Groups

Ethnic and National Origin

Veterans

Women

Environmentalists

Fraternal

Single Issue Interest Groups

	National Rifle Association
	National Right to Life Committee

Fortune Magazine "Power 25 Survey for
2001"

The Top 25 Interest Groups

October 2, 2002

Fortune Magazine
periodically produces a list of the most influential interest groups in
Washington, D.C. This is called the Fortune Power 25 Survey.
The top 25 interest groups on its Survey for 2001 is listed below .
You can find that WEB page at: http://www.fortune.com/lists/power25/index.html

1. National Rifle Association

2. American Association of Retired People (AARP)

3. National Federation of Independent Business

4. American Israel Foreign Affairs Committee

5. Association of Trial Lawyers of America

6. AFL-CIO

7. Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America

8. National Beer Wholesalers of America

9. National Association of Realtors

10. National Association of Manufacturers

11. National Association of Homebuilders of the United States

12. American Medical Association

13. American Hospital Association

14. National Education Association of the United States

15. American Farm Bureau Federation

16. Motion Picture Association of America

17. National Association of Broadcasters

18. National Right to Life Committee

19. Health Insurance Association of America

20. National Restaurant Association

21. National Governors' Association

22. Recording Industry Association of America

23. American Bankers Association

24. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

25. International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Researching
Interest Groups

In
researching an interest group, you would
want to tell me about the organization you picked.
Why did you pick it? What interests does it represent? Many
interest groups are trade associations.
They represent an entire group (or groups) of businesses, many of which are very
powerful corporations by themselves. For example,
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), at their WEB
site http://www.mpaa.org/home.htm
, tells
you the following: ?/span>The
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and its international counterpart,
the Motion Picture Association (MPA) serve as the voice and advocate of the
American motion picture, home video and television industries, domestically
through the MPAA and internationally through the MPA. ?span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
(http://www.mpaa.org/about/)
The MPAA has many members.
They only list a few, but as you can see by the list, these are huge
corporations.

?/span>These members
include:

Walt Disney Company;

Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc.;

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.;

Paramount Pictures Corporation;

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.;

Universal Studios, Inc.; and

Warner Bros. "

On the 2001 Fortune
Magazine Power 25 Survey, they are listed as Number 16 in the amount of money
(read dollars, $$$) they spend on Congress to lobby for their interests.
Each of the Power 25 organizations is an interest group, which lobbies.
Most interest groups that
lobby have set up Political Action Committees (PACs).

Model Outline

Title: Name of
the Organization

Statement of Purpose:
Two or three sentences about the main theme or purpose of your paper.

I: General Information

    1.
Name of Organization

    2. When Founded

    3. Purpose of Organization

    4. Membership

        a. who are members (individuals
or other organizations or both?)

        b. how many members

        c. what are the membership dues
per year

    5. Organizational Structure

        a. Local and State Chapters

        b. Annual Meeting

        c. Executive Committee

        d. Officers

            i.
President

            ii.
Secretary-Treasurer

        e. Paid Staff or Secretariat

            i.
General Secretary

            ii. how
many staff members

        f. Headquarters

    6. Budget of the Organization

II: Issues

    1.
Current Issues of Concern Before Congress

    2. Recent Legislative Victories

    3. Recent Legislative Defeats

III: Lobbying and
Money

    1.
Name of Your Organization's Political Action Committee

    2. How much Money Do they Raise and How

    3. Who gets their Campaign Contributions?

        a. Money given to Republicans

        b. Money given to Democrats

        c. What Standing Committees of
Congress are those who get money on?

    4. Who is their chief lobbyist?

    5. Evaluation of their Lobbying activities

IV: Conclusion

Bibliography: Do at
least 5 entries using the Turabian format.