Three Main Theories Of Interest Groups Analysis

Improved Essays
The three main theories of interest groups such as, pluralism, hyper pluralism, and elitism are all very important components when talking about the effect they can have in implementing new policies or even changing some older policies we have as a nation. Each theory states what it believes to be the way the democracy is like or what should be like in a nation. Pluralism is the belief that the government power is distributed among many groups of people. These people would have coalitions with the others who think the same as they do themself. These groups of like-minded people will then run the government as whole. The groups would then compete against the others to try and push their ideas out and create policies. This will create a line of conflict amongst the groups making harder for people to find a compromise. The groups will fight to between each other to gain more power. Most people against pluralistic views argue that “pluralist theories must balance values between groups when they compete. Balancing, they believe, is too problematic without means to balance it.” ( Burton) Without means to balance it power might often not represented throughout all the groups. …show more content…
The elite theory states that the power should be held by a small group of wealthy individuals. In this theory the Elites, the leaders of big organizations inevitably dominate all large-scale societies, including the United States ( Domhoff ). These wealthy individuals will also think alike and hold most of the power in what happens in a nation. Most people in opposition to this think “ It is the interaction of class and organizational imperatives at the top of all American organizations, including government institutions, that leads to class domination in the United States.” (Domhoff). Some of the citizens voices might not be heard and this could problematic in this style of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    What types of interest groups choose what types of tactics, and why? In order to achieve a certain goal within the law, interest groups have to find a manner to get the government to know the issue they want to change. Consequently, they use several strategies gain influence with policymakers. The strategies they apply depend upon the type of group they are.…

    • 1828 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Interest groups affiliated with both the law enforcement agencies consist Maryland Law enforcement officers, Inc. to promote enforcement of law and order to improve the individual and collective proficiency in their member’s performance of required duties. Anthoer interest group was The Fraternal Order of Police which serves over twenty thousand active and retired law enforcement officers from agencies throughout the state. “ The objectives of this association shall be to secure a closer official and personal relationship among the law enforcement officers throughout the state of Maryland , to consider and discuss methods of preventing and combating crime, secure by all proper and legal methods, legislative and governmental action for the general,…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The differences between the power elite model and pluralist model is that in elite model, the stress on material representation of power. It stated that only successful individuals who have proven may enter political system. Government is comprised of a single mind type that creates polices. In pluralist model, there is stress n immaterial power. Th interest of an individuals will be protected by interest group if they cannot keep the politics.…

    • 195 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Most Americans, when asked, would probably say that we live in a democracy of some variety. In a 2003 Gallup poll that surveyed 1008 Americans, 70% said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the way democracy words in the country (Gallup 2003). Historically, apart from the multi-decade interlude known as the Gilded Age, the system of governance in the United States could most aptly be described as a democratic republic. Under a democratic republic, ordinary citizens elect representatives to support their interests in government. But is that still the case?…

    • 1579 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Multiculturalism, the view that cultures, races, and ethnicities, particularly those of minority groups, deserve special acknowledgement of their differences within a dominant political culture. That acknowledgement can take the forms of recognition of contributions to the cultural life of the political community as a whole, a demand for special protection under the law for certain cultural groups, or autonomous rights of governance for certain cultures. Multiculturalism is both a response to the fact of cultural pluralism in modern democracies and a way of compensating cultural groups for past exclusion, discrimination, and oppression. Most modern democracies comprise members with diverse cultural viewpoints, practices, and contributions.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The individualism of a person is defined within his/her social class. In the book Brave New World, Aldous Huxley creates a utopian society that is constructed within social classes that gives an individual all the power or none at all. Huxley then presents the theory of Marxism, where the class struggle is nothing less, but the backbone of an individual’s social status and where they stand in society. Huxley’s text clearly is based on the realism of social class structure and ideology where the value of a human life comes based on the access to political power and material resources. Donald E Hall writes in his text “Literary and Cultural Theory”, “Thus Marxist and materialist critics focus not only on the bare facts and figures related to an individual’s economic status…on the wide variety of social meanings” (Hall76).…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Within Pluralism individuals can ban together with issues and push them through the necessary government actions. Since the interests of Americans are diver, many interest groups form. In Hyperpluralism has the same format as pluralism except the interest groups have become crippling to the successful function of government. A somewhat recent example of this would be the government shutdown. Elitism is the concept that the top money makers control the direction of this nation.…

    • 301 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    1. What is meant by a pluralist organization? Is a place that emphasizes diversity of the individual and group interests. Managing conflict to be constructive; recognition of multiple stakeholders and interest. An example is any factory workers job that has a labor union that is an example of pluralist organization.…

    • 229 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Upon looking at the United States as well as many different cultures studied during this course, it is clear to see that social hierarchies are created to benefit those in power, rather than the “common” individual. 7.2 Why do social and economic…

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    A flaw in pluralism theory is the fact that the interest group system is unrepresentative because some interests are far better organized and more powerful than…

    • 1568 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In today’s modern democracy, political parties and interest groups play a huge projecting role in the United States government and it is rising quickly. Political parties and interest groups are organized groups of people who work towards specific goals within the government, promoting politicians and raising money to help accomplish certain needs. While yes, both groups are working towards similar goals they often times serve different purposes within the country’s political system. The real question is whether or not either of these groups are helping improve America or if they are helping to diminish the American political system. The most familiar group known amongst people around the country is the idea of political parties.…

    • 1078 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    t’s common to ask questions when it comes to the American Politics, such questions as who governs?Who really rules? among others. To come to a easier way answer these questions, they divided into four categories:Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic Elite Domination, subdivided into two types of interest group pluralism, Majoritarian Pluralism,and, Biased Pluralism. Majoritarian Pluralism refers a traditional political philosophy in which people’s right are somewhat represented and sometimes the society makes the decision either positive or negative. And Biased Pluralism, means exactly as it is.…

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Interest Groups

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Indeed, in this huge population of the country there is more than one such interest groups. Hence, coexisting of more than one groups, factions, in a society is actually the pluralist society. An interest group influences government to make changes in policy so that they have some benefits. Likewise, we have a group who want a…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Direct Democracy

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In federal government students learn the different types of democracy and the different kinds of democracy. I will discuss the major features between the two types of democracy,irect democracy and representative democracy. I will also describe majoritarianism, elite theory, and pluralism. Direct democracy was an Athenian system of government in ancient Greece. Direct Democracy is defined as a system of government in which political decisions are made by the people directly, rather than by their elected representatives.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Managerial Elite Theory

    • 1192 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The managerial-elite theory argues that the domain of power in society is controlled by a managerial elite. These managerial elite are few in numbers compared to the much larger mass which they have control over. The managerial elite are made up of three distinct groups, corporate elite, government elites, and the military elite. The president as well as top members of government are viewed as managerial elite. CEOs and board members are considered corporate managerial elite.…

    • 1192 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays