Interest groups in American politics: pluralist versus critical perspectives

Political Science

Interest Groups in American Politics

The role of interest groups in American politics is long and varied, and there are two main policies that govern these groups, the pluralists, and the critics. It seems in a perfect world, the pluralists would present the more accurate and convincing view of interest groups, but in reality, it seems the pluralist view is overly optimistic, while the critical view is more realistic and representative of how interest groups currently operate within American politics.

Simply put, the pluralist view of interest groups believes in the balanced, fair, and desirable affects of the theory on policy outcomes. In this theory, the pluralists believe that the members of the interest group represent their own ideas and ideas, and the leaders present these ideas as a representation of the membership's wants and needs.

The problems with the pluralist views are numerous. First, even the pluralists agree that their system encourages, even thrives, on competition. Thus, whenever one interest group is organized, another will organize that is opposed to it and these two or more groups will then compete to create and influence the policies their members want them to create and influence. They will also both interact with the government, trying to urge the government to recognize their wants and needs while ignoring those of competing groups. Pluralists believe this provides a fair and balanced outcome because both sides can offer claims and evidence. There is a balance of political force behind each competitor, and larger interest groups will prevail over smaller, less influential interest groups, which will provide the desired outcome for the greatest number of people. However, not all of these assumptions are always the case, as the critics note in their theory. In general, do the pluralists or the critics present more accurate and convincing view about the role of interest groups in American politics?

The critical approach to interest groups involves the altering and assessment of society as a whole, and interest groups in particular. Essentially the theory examines interest groups and creates limits for these groups, based on the power of the group and its use of knowledge and concepts. In addition, the critical approach requires both knowledge and reflection to come to an understanding of the interest group and its needs. Thus, the critical theory can provide a more balanced view of interest groups and what they really want. For example, in the pluralist theory, a major drug company winning Congressional support for its policies may be seen as representing the needs of all drug companies, and thus representing the needs of the people served by that drug company, and assume the competition was not as valuable or representative. However, the critical view would look at what the drug company really wants by altering policies, and if the decisions will enhance service and research, or really only enhance the company and its value to shareholders.