Chapter Four

Interest Articulation
 Learning Objectives
• 4.1 Define interest articulation, and provide some examples of
interest articulation in different societies.
• 4.2 Explain three ways in which individuals can participate in the
political system.
• 4.3 List four types of interest groups and give examples.
• 4.4 Describe the characteristics and benefits of a civil society.
• 4.5 Identify and describe the three main types of interest group
systems, and give examples of nations where each is prevalent.
• 4.6 Compare and contrast legitimate and coercive channels of
political access.
• 4.7 Describe the factors that contribute to the creation of interest
groups.

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 Interest Articulation
• Process of expressing interests, needs,
demands by people and social groups
• As societies become more complex and
scope of government grows, quantity and
methods to articulate public interests have
grown
• Formal institutionalized interest groups
develop to represent labor, farmers,
businesses, social

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 Citizen Action
• One dimension of interest articulation -
what individual citizens do:
• Voting is most common activity
• Working with others in community
• Direct contact with government
• Protests or other contentious action
• Political consumerism

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© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
 How Citizens Participate
• Activity beyond elections:
• Many activities identified with middle-class
participation in affluent societies
• Frequent activity found in advanced industrial
democracies
• Direct action most expressive and visible form of
citizen action
• Research shows better-educated and higher social class
individuals more likely to use opportunities for
participation
• Those more active in articulating interests are more likely
to have interests addressed by policymakers

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© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Interest Groups
• Interest articulation can occur through action
of social or political groups that represent
groups of people
• Anomic Groups: spontaneous group
• Nonassociational Groups: common
interests, rarely well- organized, activity is
episodic
• Institutional Groups: formally organized,
political parties, business corporations,
bureaucracies,Mosques
• Associational Groups: trade unions,
chambers of commerce, ethnic
associations
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 Civil Society
• A society in which people are involved in social
and political interactions free of state control or
regulation
• Access to free communication and information
• Global civil society associated with
interconnectedness

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 Interest Group Systems
• Relationship between interest groups and
government policymaking institutions is
important feature of political process
• Three major groupings:
• Pluralist
• Democratic Corporatist
• Controlled

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 Pluralist Interest Group Systems
• Multiple groups represent single interest
• Group membership is voluntary, limited
• Often have loose or decentralized
organizational structure
• Clear separation between interest groups
and the government

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© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Democratic Neo-Corporatist Interest
Group Systems
• Single peak association represents each
interest
• Membership is often compulsory and
universal
• Centrally organized and directs actions of
members
• Groups are systematically involved in
making, implementing policy

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 Controlled Interest Group Systems
• Single group for each social sector
• Membership is often compulsory
• Each group is hierarchically
organized
• Groups are controlled by government
to mobilize support for government
policy

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 Access to the Influential
• Interest groups must reach key
policymakers through channels of
political access
• Legitimate, constitutional channels of
access
• Illegitimate, coercive channels of access

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 Legitimate Access Channels
• Personal Connections:
effective means of shaping
attitudes and conveying
messages
• Mass Media: mobilize support
• Political Parties: represent
interests
• Legislatures: lobby target
• Government Bureaucracies:
policymaking authority

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 Coercive Access Channels and Tactics
• Feelings of relative deprivation motivate people
to act aggressively
• Frustration, discontent, anger yields greater
probability of collective violence
• Riots (spontaneous)
• Strikes/Obstructions (coordinated)
• Political Terror Tactics (assassination,
armed attacks, mass bloodshed)
• More likely to have negative
consequences

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 Groups and Channels
• To understand policy formulation, need to know
which groups articulate interests, their policy
preferences, channels of influence used

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 Interest Group Development
• Diversity of interest groups is a consequence of
modernization
• Successful democratic development leads to emergence
of complex interest group systems
• Not an automatic process - many problems involved:
• Level of trust shared among members of society
• Authoritarian parties/bureaucracies may suppress
autonomous interest groups
• Bias within interest group system
• Levels of participation in associational groups
declining
• Change in how citizens organize, express interests

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