Pluralism In America Research Paper

What form of government is America using today? A democracy. A democracy is a system of government where power is granted to the citizens. The people can rule directly or by electing representatives. In order for authority to be given to the people in a democracy, a majority of the people has to agree with one another. For example, the public gets heard through the people and government interprets “by the people” by the majority of the people. This sounds extremely similar to the majoritarianism model of democracy. The definition of majoritarianism is rule by a majority, especially the belief that those constituting a simple majority should make the rules for all members of a group, nation, etc. (Dictionary). As a result of America being mostly …show more content…
The pluralist model requires all of the requirements of the majoritarian model, hence why the democracy now leans toward the majoritarian model. Despite that, the biggest factor in the pluralist model is that it does not require all citizens to be active or knowledgeable, which highly contrasts with the majoritarian model. Pluralism requires activity and knowledge for those who are concerned about certain issues and desire participate through organized groups. The significant terms for pluralism are divided power, fragmentation, and open …show more content…
The people argue that interest groups conflicts with democracy due to the fact that they only focus on benefits for the minority people instead of for the majority of the people. For example, the National Rifle Association has blocked new gun control legislation even though a majority of Americans desire stricter gun laws. People believe that the interest group system is only effective to economic interest groups, which are wealthier. Approximately, two-thirds of lobbyists in Washington represent economic groups. Interest groups often ignore the poor and favor the middle and upper-class Americans, who has more time and money to contribute. According to pluralism's critics, political scientist, E. E. Schattschneider stated: "The flaw in the pluralist heaven is that the heavenly chorus sings with a strong upper-class accent." Meaning, groups are more concerned with the wealthy and powerful members of society. The poverty is on the bottom and has much less resources to work with. As a result, if success in the political arena depends on obtaining resources, the less fortunate groups will always be at an unequal