Public Policy-All of those things a government decides to do

Interest Groups-Private organizations that try to influence public policy

Positive aspects of interest groups is they help to stimulate interest in public affairs (events and issues that concern the public at large). They are most interested in influencing specific public policies, and they keep close watch on public officials

Negative aspects of interests groups are that it is difficult to tell how many people they represent, they have an influence far greater than their size and they don’t necessarily represent the people they claim to.

Business groups – National Association of Manufacturers, National Association of Retail Grocers, American Trucking Association, etc.

Labor groups – labor unions – organization of workers who share the same type of job or who work in the same industry (AFL-CIO, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, American Federation of Musicians)

Agricultural groups – National Farmers UnionProfessional groups – American Medical Association,

American Bar Association, National Education AssociationVarious other groups that promote causes and the welfare

of certain groups – the American Civil Liberties Union, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Association of Retired Persons

Work for the public good. They seek to institute certain public policies that will benefit all or most people, whether they belong to or support and organization. Cleaner air and water, women’s issues, etc

 

Interest groups try to create the public attitudes they want by using propaganda ( a technique of persuasion aimed at influencing public opinion to create a particular popular belief)

Propaganda techniques – plain folks, bandwagon, name calling, glittering generalities, transfer, testimonial, card stacking

Interest groups use lobbying to influence policy. They use grass-roots pressure. The groups they speak for can mount campaigns by letter, phone, and telegrams from the “folks back home”. They bring the word of “the average voter”. Lobbying is applied to all aspects of the public policy-making process.