what is interest articulation?
Interest articulation is the system that allows the people to express their needs and demands to the government. This has taken on multiple forms, in regards to citizen action, interest groups, civil society, and access to the influential. In the United States today, the people are guaranteed their First Amendment right to freedom of speech, and this freedom is what gives people a chance to articulate their interests.
VOTING
Citizens in the United States have a chance to vote every four years for their President and every two years for their governors and senators. Voting shows a cohesive decision on the government's leaders and its programs. The US in particular stands out because it has relatively low voter turnout rates. Although there was only a 49% turnout of all eligible voters, 74% of the people have discussed politics, showing that the people still have many opinions to articulate as to who they want to run their country.
interest groups
The United States is based around a pluralist interest group system: one where multiple groups can represent the same interest. For example, all labor unions are based around the tenets of helping workers with wages and working conditions, but underneath the labor sector lies the AFL-CIO, the US Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, and the IWW.
Anomic groups are formed spontaneously by people who have a collective response to a certain problem. This usually causes violence and riots throughout the US, such as the rioters of the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2010-2011, in which people gathered to protest against the richest 1% of America.
Nonassociational groups are also spontaneous, but they are usually formed by people who have common interests and a common identity. In the Occupy Wall Street movement, the nonassociational groups would be formed through common ethnicity (for example, Asian-Americans and African Americans) or through a common economic standing, where the people protesting represented the 99%.
Institutional groups are more formal than other groups, and have other political and/or social functions other than interest articulation. In the US, the military industrial complex is made of the Defense Department and defense industries, two institutional groups. Similarly, political parties are institutional groups because they not only express the parties' points of views to the government, they are also the ones that back presidential nominees during elections.
Associational groups represent the interests of a particular group and thus are more organized than anomic or nonassociational groups are. Debates about the healthcare issue in the US have led to mobilization from pressure groups, lobbyists, doctors, health organizations, and consumer groups that aim to provide healthcare for the people in an affordable and cost-effective way.
Anomic groups are formed spontaneously by people who have a collective response to a certain problem. This usually causes violence and riots throughout the US, such as the rioters of the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2010-2011, in which people gathered to protest against the richest 1% of America.
Nonassociational groups are also spontaneous, but they are usually formed by people who have common interests and a common identity. In the Occupy Wall Street movement, the nonassociational groups would be formed through common ethnicity (for example, Asian-Americans and African Americans) or through a common economic standing, where the people protesting represented the 99%.
Institutional groups are more formal than other groups, and have other political and/or social functions other than interest articulation. In the US, the military industrial complex is made of the Defense Department and defense industries, two institutional groups. Similarly, political parties are institutional groups because they not only express the parties' points of views to the government, they are also the ones that back presidential nominees during elections.
Associational groups represent the interests of a particular group and thus are more organized than anomic or nonassociational groups are. Debates about the healthcare issue in the US have led to mobilization from pressure groups, lobbyists, doctors, health organizations, and consumer groups that aim to provide healthcare for the people in an affordable and cost-effective way.
access to the people
The people can employ channels of political access in order to reach the politicians who have a real say in policymaking: the elites. Such personal connections can allow interest groups to get their points across to the government and perhaps expedite the policymaking process.
Mass media then is the way to spread such policies to the people and rally the citizens to support certain interests. In light of the upcoming presidential election, candidates from both the Republican and Democrat parties have released promotional videos through television and the Internet in order to articulate what each presidential candidate wishes to do to better the government.
Mass media then is the way to spread such policies to the people and rally the citizens to support certain interests. In light of the upcoming presidential election, candidates from both the Republican and Democrat parties have released promotional videos through television and the Internet in order to articulate what each presidential candidate wishes to do to better the government.
civil society
In civil society, the people can freely interact socially and politically without having to worry about state control or regulation. Groups such as Greenpeace and PETA have been formed to voice the people's concerns regarding the environment and animal protection, while groups such as the NRA have a more political basis in their fight against gun control. Civil society teaches the people how to organize and express their interests, while at the same time brings the people to work together for common goals.