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Assessing the Importance of Financial and Human Capital for Interest Group Sector Strength across American Communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2011

Maryann Barakso ,
Jessica C. Gerrity  and
Brian F. Schaffner
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Abstract

One of the most profound changes in the interest group sector over the last fifty years is interest groups’ increasing need to attract financial donors in order to assure long-term sustainability. Groups’ growing propensity to attract ‘chequebook’ members is thought to compromise their ability to foster the personal involvement of individuals in their communities. Yet we know very little about the consequences of these dynamics for the strength of the interest group sector in American communities. This widespread macro-level analysis of the interest group sector indicates that human capital is more important than financial capital for the strength of a community's interest group sector. Financially disadvantaged communities may still enjoy the benefits of a strong interest group sector provided they have a citizenry equipped with time to donate.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , July 2011 , pp. 557 - 580
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

1 Although this study focuses on American organizations with the tax status of 501(c), we employ the term ‘interest group’ rather than ‘non-profit organization’, because, as we describe in this article, their tax statuses notwithstanding, ‘nonprofits’ possess many opportunities to engage in the political process, and it is this potential, we argue, that is central to understanding their role in the polity. The legal capacity of nonprofits to engage in legislative or electoral activity is often misunderstood, even by the organizations themselves; see Berry, Jeffrey and Arons, David, A Voice for Nonprofits (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 2005)Google Scholar. As a result, we feel it is particularly important to locate groups with this tax status firmly within the context of the interest group universe as typically described in the literature on groups in American politics; see Baumgartner, Frank F. and Leech, Beth L., Basic Interests: The Importance of Interest Groups in Politics and in Political Science (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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14 Many organizations, if not most, that visit congressional offices to educate members of Congress and their staff fall into this category. Organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, Planned Parenthood and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids provide members of Congress with important information about legislation – providing valuable analyses of legislation and amendments, for example – without officially lobbying for or against a bill.

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54 The Census does not provide data at the market level; however, media markets are defined so that they almost never divide counties. Therefore, we are able to use county-level data to build up to the market level since markets do not divide county boundaries.

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