Role of interest groups in United States politics

What do interest groups do? What are their main goals? How do they positively and negatively impact our society?

An interest group is usually a formally organized association that seeks to influence public policy

Public policy is the ultimate output of a political system and influencing policy is the main intent of interest groups. Yet interest group scholars have had difficulty consistently demonstrating

interest group influence on policy.

All interest groups share a desire to affect government policy to benefit themselves or their causes. Their goal could be a policy that exclusively benefits group members or one segment of society (e.g., government subsidies for farmers) or a policy that advances a broader public purpose (e.g., improving air quality). They attempt to achieve their goals by lobbying —that is, by attempting to bring pressure to bear on policy makers to gain policy outcomes in their favor.

In their nonpolitical role, interest groups may have several functions, but, when they become enmeshed in the political sphere, they have one overriding goal: to gain favorable outcomes from public policy decisions. In the political realm, interest groups perform important functions, particularly in a democracy but also in an authoritarian regime. In the United States the development of political action committees (PACs) after World War II was geared to providing money to candidates running for public office.

“The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence - See more at: http://journalistsresource.org/studies/politics/finance-lobbying/the-influence-of-elites-interest-groups-and-average-voters-on-american-politics#sthash.39EJy7Y2.dpuf