Pressure Groups

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Pressure Groups

• A group that tries to influence the decisions of
  the government or a business. They use a variety
  of methods to achieve this.

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Pressure Group vs Political Party

• Pressure groups are different from political
  parties. Pressure groups do not put forward
  candidates in elections. They only have detailed
  policies (ideas) in one particular area.
• Pressure groups are trying to influence people
  who are in power. Political parties want to be
  the ones who are in power!

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There are different types of pressure group
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(1) Single Cause Pressure Group
examples
Single cause pressure groups focus their
attention on a specific issue.

• Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Attempt to
  reduce smoking.
• RSPB Seek to promote care and protection of
  birds
• London Cycling Campaign Seek to promote use of
  bikes in London and the provision of safe cycle
  lanes and routes

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(2) Multi-Cause Pressure Group
These pressure groups focus their attention on a
wider range of similar issues.

• Amnesty International campaigns on a wide range
  of human rights issues
• Friends of the Earth try to influence decision
  making on wide range of environmental issues

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(3) Protective Pressure Groups
They campaign to protect the interests of their
members.

• AA they try to influence decisions so that they
  will benefit car owners.

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It can get a bit confusing

• Some pressure groups are also charities so
  they raise money for certain causes as well as
  try to influence the government or businesses. A
  good example is Oxfam. They raise money for
  people in poverty in the UK and abroad but also
  conduct research and campaign for changes to
  benefit the poor. One of the ways that they try
  to put pressure on the government is by asking
  people to write to their MPs about issues.

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There are 2 different types of action pressure
groups can take
Direct Action
Indirect Action

• Lobbying
• Protest
• Boycotts
• Civil disobedience
• Illegal action

• Publicity
• Petitions
• Providing research

Do you know what these words mean? Go to slide
show and click here if you dont!
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Illegal Direct Action

• Protest groups can take illegal direct action.
  In 2007 animal rights activists planted a bomb in
  an Oxford University college to protest against a
  new animal testing laboratory.

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Examples of Publicity
These images have recently been installed in
London as a way of shocking people into realising
the horrific reality of the sex trade. Pressure
groups sometimes use shock tactics to bring their
issues to the public.
The protest group Fathers 4 Justice have staged
numerous humorous stunts, including scaling the
walls of Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman and
Robin, in order to bring attention to the
difficulties that they say divorced/separated
fathers face when trying to maintain contact with
their children.
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Boycotting Nestle

• There has been a longstanding boycott of Nestle
  products because of the way that they market
  their products in other countries.
• This Russian advert suggests that chocolate helps
  to boost intelligence by helping children with
  hard exam questions.

Another boycott
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Boycotting Coke because of the way they treat
workers in other countries
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Examples of Civil Disobedience
On the 1st December 1955 Rosa Parks refused to
give up her bus seat to a white passenger as was
required by law. She was arrested but her
actions began a boycott of the buses that lasted
382 days and was one of the most important
moments in the history of the protest against
poor treatment of non-whites in the Southern
states of the USA.
In 2006 Erica Loynes, a 78 year old pensioner
from East Sussex vowed to go to jail rather than
pay her council tax bill which she said was
ridiculous. This example of civil disobedience
has been copied by others who consider their
bills to be excessive.
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Definitions

• Lobbying Trying to influence someone to take a
  particular action.
• Boycott Refusing to buy, use or communicate with
  a person or organisation because you disagree
  with what they were doing.
• Protest Taking action, such as going on a march,
  because you disapprove of something.
• Civil disobedience Refusing to obey certain laws
  because you disagree with them. Civil
  disobedience is usually a non-violent way of
  protesting.

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