2. Types of Pressure Groups

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about how we might categorise different types of pressure groups, focusing in particular on: (i) why we might like to group pressure groups into different categories; (ii) the traditional categorisation of pressure groups into ‘sectional’ and ‘cause’ groups, and the strengths and weaknesses of this model; (iii) the categorisation of pressure groups in ‘insiders’ and ‘outsider’, and the strengths and weaknesses of this model; (iv) some misconceptions about the insider-outsider model, in particular the relationship between ‘insiders’, ‘outsiders’ and the mass media; and (v) one weakness of the insider-outsider model; and (vi) the influence of the internet and (especially) social media on the operation and success of different types of pressure group.

Course

In this course, Professor Wyn Grant (University of Warwick) explores the importance of pressure groups and lobbying in the UK political system. In the first module, we think about the history of pressure groups and how they have changed over time, starting with the Anti-Corn Law League of the early 19th century and going all the way through the Extinction Rebellion in the present day. In the second module, we think about how we might categorise different kinds of pressure groups, before turning in the third module to a specific where a pressure group has set out to achieve a particular goal – and achieved it. In the fourth module, we think about the role of commercial lobbyists, i.e. groups that are paid to lobby on behalf of business interests, before turning in the fifth and final module consider whether pressure groups and lobbyists strengthen or undermine modern democracy.

Lecturer

Wyn Grant is Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Warwick. In 2010 he was presented with the Diamond Jubilee Lifetime Achievement award of the Political Studies Association of the UK, and in 2011 he was elected an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences. His most recent publication is Lobbying: The Dark Side of Politics (2018).