U.S. GovernmentUnit G: Interest Groups

Chapter 9 / Section 2Types of Interest Groups

Types of Interest Groups

How has the American tradition of joining organizations resulted in a wide range of interest groups?

What are the four categories of groups based on economic interests?

What are the reasons other interest groups have formed?

What is the purpose of public-interest groups?

Reasons for Interest Groups

Most interest groups have been founded on the basis of an economic interest, especially business, labor, agricultural, and professional interests.

Some are grounded in geographic area.Some are based on a cause or idea, such as

environmental protection.Some promote the welfare of certain groups of

people, such as retired citizens.Some are run by religious organizations.

Membership in Labor Unions

Biblical Response to Labor Unions as an Interest Group

The business owner is sovereign in his domain, and we are to respect that God-given right.

The purpose of unions and strikes is to extort by compulsion some concession from the employer

Therefore picketing, boycotting, sit-down strikes and other forms of coercion are all means of violence and used for intimidating the employer and is a sinfully rebellious means to accomplish our material gain.

Public-Interest Groups

A public-interest group is an interest group that seeks to

institute certain public policies that will benefit all or most of the people in the country, whether or

not they belong to that organization.

Public-Interest Groups

Some public interest groups are religious and have Christian goals, others are anti-Christian and have sinful goals.

See if you can find some of each kind and explain how both kinds demonstrate some of the biblical themes and principles for this course

World Council of Churches tries to bring all churches together in a strong ecumenical movement.

Why doesn’t the PRC join in these broader church affiliations? Should we?

Public-Interest Groups

Your job now is to find a well known public interest group and prepare a report.

Make sure to find out:

the mission statement of the group, how many members it claims to have and what initiatives it is working on.Any other interesting facts about its goals and

how it goes about trying to accomplish them.