Interest groups 5.4 Flashcards
What are interests groups
groups of people who seek to influence public policies or decisions without seeking to gain political power themselves
What is pluralism
a system or belief that recognises the coexistence of different cultures or perspectives within a society
What is elitism
the belief or practice that certain people or groups, often considered to have superior qualities like wealth, education, intelligence, or power, are more deserving of influence, privilege, or authority than others.
What are the two types of pressure groups
Sectional groups = close links with government people and with this influence can impact the state of legislature more easily
Casual groups = pressure groups which do not obtain government links, henceforth, making it harder for the group to be influential
What do pressure groups provide for society
- amplify public opinion/voices
- influence policies
- Raise awareness
- Offer representation
- Gave help and advice in regulating and sharing expertise
how does ‘influence policies’ help society when it comes to pressure groups
influence political leaders and legislature to get on board with their agenda :
- abortion
- BLM (wanted the police to be completely defunded)
whats an example of raising awareness when it came to pressure groups
- Iraq war was the biggest protest in the UK ( 1 million people in one place)
how is ‘offer representation’ different in the UK and US when it comes to pressure groups
US = governor, state reps, senators, executive office, judiciary ( muslim ban, NAACP and brown vs board of education)
UK= limited access points (only MPs)
what sort of tactics do pressure groups employ to get their points across
- lobbying
- public protests
- media engagement
- Candidates and Celebrity endorsements
- lawsuits
what have bee some extremely potent protests recently
- university campuses
- poll tax riots
- pro palestine
how has money played an enormous part of pressure groups and congress
- PACs and Super-PACs
- Donate money to these congress people for re-election to gain more support when in office
what are two very controversial ways of getting a member of congress’ attention
- PHONE FRENZIE = bombarding emails for congress people
- VOTING CUES/ SCORECARDS = influencing senators and representatives to make sure that previous engagement is not backstabbed
what has the glasgow media group found out about riots/protests
strikes are more negatively portrayed by the british media (just stop oil and the media coverage of it all)
what could be something which counters the arguement of glasgow media group
Depends what the strike is about (nurse strike/ doctor’s strike and the fire brigade strikes perception was different compared to the just-stop-oil)
whats a risk congress men and women are tking when trusting a pressure group with their information
you could lose a lot of influence and power as well
