What is an Interest Group?

An interest group (also referred to as advocacy groups) is an organization organized by a special set of people with specific skills to lobby for or against a specific interest to benefit their cause. They usually lobby for one or more shared concerns to manipulate public policy and opinion especially in the U. S. Congress to benefit their cause, supporters, or one segment of society. They include a vast array of organizations such as: charitable organizations, civil right groups, corporations, professional and trade organizations, etc. Their main goal is to publicly or discreetly promoting and creating an advantage for its cause.

Different types of Interest Groups There are a variety of interest groups such as business/trade organization, agricultural groups, professional groups, labor groups, promote causes groups, promote the welfare groups, religious groups and last but definitely not leads public interest groups. A business/trade organization is created by merchants, business personal’s or owner’s and commercial organizations to represent both small and large business groups. An ideal example of these groups are the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, American Bankers Association, National Association of Manufacturers or N. A. M. (www. srvhs. org. Aug 26th, 2012). The sole objective of an agricultural group is to sort and look after the interest of farmers and farming policy. They represent a variety of farmers in the agricultural sector in the work force who specialize in diary, grain, fruit, livestock etc. Anything pertaining to farming and their specialized products. Arguable the most known agricultural groups are the National Farmers Union, The National Grange, and the National Farmers Bureau. Professional groups are classified as occupations that require extensive training through a certificate or higher education such as education, medicine and law.

They are created to promote and protect their member’s occupational interests and safety. Examples include The American Medical Association or AMA, The American Bar Associate (ABA) , and The National Education Association (NEA). One of the well known interest groups is labor unions. It is an organization of workers who share the same type of jobs or work in the same industry. (www. srvhs. org. Aug 26th, 2012). They press the government to formulate policies that will be beneficial to their members.

The largest and most well known labor union is the AFL-CIO (The American Federation of Labor Congress of Industrial Organizations). Organized labor unions usually advocate with one voice on issues ranging from welfare to Social Security, employment and wages, etc. Promote causes groups are a large number of groups that either promote or advocate against a specific their members demand to be voiced upon. Examples include and not excluding the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), The National Right-to-Life Committee, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), Planned Parent and the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Promote the welfare groups are defined as interest groups seeking promote interest of a certain segment of the population and its welfare like minority groups. They include the American Legion, Vetarens of Foreign Wars, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Religious groups are interest that try to persuade policy in the favor of religious matters. Examples include the National Council of Churches, the Christian Coalition, the National Catholic Welfare Council, the American Jewish Congress, and the Anti-Defamation League.