pressure group

pressure group

a group of people who seek to exert pressure on legislators, public opinion, etc., in order to promote their own ideas or welfare

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

pressure group

(POLITICAL SCIENCE) any organized association of persons with the aim of influencing the policies and actions of governments or simply changing public opinion. In contrast with POLITICAL PARTIES, pressure groups do not seek to become the government, although in some cases organizations which begin as pressure groups may become political parties. The term interest group is mainly used interchangeably with pressure group.

A distinction can be drawn between:

1. groups which succeed, if only for a time, in establishing a continuing direct relationship with government (e.g. the National Farmers’ Union and the Ministry of Agriculture, the British Medical Association and the Ministry of Health);
2. attitudinal or promotional groups (e.g. Shelter or CND), which mostly attempt to influence governments more indirectly by seeking to alter the general climate of public opinion.

Groups in the former category are usually based on a clearly defined economic interest. Their ability to establish a continuing direct relationship with government appears to depend on: (i) the claim to represent a significant proportion of potentially eligible membership, and (ii) advantages which arise for government as well as the interest group from a sustained cooperative relationship (see Eckstein (1960)).

The existence of a multiplicity of pressure groups of varying types is often regarded as an important indicator of the extent of political pluralism within a society. This may be so, but should not disguise the fact that major differences exist in the capacity of individuals to engage in effective pressure-group activity. See also PLURALISM. CORPORATISM, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000