5 Written Questions

1. selective benefits of group membership that emphasize friendship, networking, and consciousness-raising
2. The problem faced by unions and other groups when people do not join because they can benefit from the group's activities without officially joining. The bigger the group, the more serious the problem.
3. Groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics. These features distinguish them from traditional interest groups.
4. All the people who might be interest group members because they share some common interest. It is almost always larger than an actual group.
5. A theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization.

5 Matching Questions

1. political action committees (PACs)
2. amicus curiae briefs
3. collective good
4. interest group
5. actual group

1. a That part of the potential group consisting of members who actually join.
2. b Legal briefs submitted by a "friend of the court" for the purpose of raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties. These attempt to influence a court's decision.
3. c An organization of people with shared policy goals entering the policy process at several points to try to achieve those goals. They pursue their goals in many arenas.
4. d Political funding vehicles created by the 1974 campaign finance reforms. A corporation, union, or some other interest group can create one of these and register it with the Federal Election Commission, which will meticulously monitor its expenditures.
5. e Something of value (money, a tax write-off, prestige, clean air, and so on) that cannot be withheld from a group member.

5 Multiple Choice Questions

1. special goods, services, or money provided to members of groups to entice others to join
   1. Solidary benefits
   2. selective benefits
   3. Purposive benefits
   4. Material benefits
2. Lawsuits permitting a small number of people to sue on behalf of all other people similarly situated.
   1. class action suits
   2. Material benefits
   3. collective good
   4. electioneering
3. Goods (such as information publications, travel discounts, and group insurance rates) that a group can restrict to those who pay their annual dues.
   1. Purposive benefits
   2. Solidary benefits
   3. selective benefits
   4. Material benefits
4. According to Lester Milbrath, a "communication, by someone other than a citizen acting on his own behalf, directed to a governmental decision maker with the hope of influencing his decision."
   1. electioneering
   2. actual group
   3. lobbying
   4. iron triangles
5. A theory of government and politics emphasizing that politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies.
   1. elite theory
   2. interest group
   3. pluralist theory
   4. actual group

5 True/False Questions

1. electioneering → Goods (such as information publications, travel discounts, and group insurance rates) that a group can restrict to those who pay their annual dues.

   True        False

2. right-to-work law → A theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization.

   True        False

3. public interest lobbies → According to Jeffery Berry, organizations that seek "a collective good, the achievement of which will not selectively and materially benefit the membership of activities of the organization."

   True        False

4. iron triangles → According to Lester Milbrath, a "communication, by someone other than a citizen acting on his own behalf, directed to a governmental decision maker with the hope of influencing his decision."

   True        False

5. Purposive benefits → Goods (such as information publications, travel discounts, and group insurance rates) that a group can restrict to those who pay their annual dues.

   True        False