Special Interest Groups and Propaganda

Civics 11.3

Economic Interest Groups

• Interest group based on a monetary interest• Labor Unions: employees who work together

to achieve common goals.– Better Working Conditions– More Pay

• Chamber of Commerce

Social Interest Groups

• Many social Interest groups• Private Groups– Promote only special interests of its members– NRA, NAACP, AARP

• Public Interest Groups– Promote causes that affects the lives of Americans in

General– League of Women Voters– Nonpartisan - not affiliated with a particular party.

Interest Groups and the government

• #1 goal of interest groups is to influence public policy

• Concentrate on Courts, Elections, Lawmakers• Political Action Committees (PACs)- collect

money from members and donates it to a specific candidate

Lobbying

• Lobbyists – representatives of interest groups or Private company whose job is to contact law makers

• Provides law makers with facts that support their cause

• Interest Groups are protected by the 1st Amendment right to assembly

Regulations on Interest Groups

• Laws restrict how much money they can give a candidate

• Ex-Public Officials must wait to become lobbyists.

Interest Groups use of Propaganda

• Interest groups often use Propaganda to further their cause.

• There are 7 different types of propaganda1) The Bandwagon: join us and win2) Name-Calling3) Endorsement4) Stacked Cards5) Glittering Generality6) Just Plain Folk: Were just like you7) Transfer

Endorsement: Popular people publically support candidates

Name Calling: focusing on your opponents negative aspects

Transfer: associating patriotic symbols with a patriot

Glittering Generalities: The candidate will bring use peace and prosperity

Stacked Cards: showing two different takes one overly positive one overly negative