Groups of interests are commonly referred to as voluntary associations formed to express and defend their politically significant interests with the state and other political institutions. The diversity of interests in modern society determines the activity of numerous diverse and diverse public associations (Holyoke 125). They represent the interests of social, national, religious, regional, and other human communities, serve as a form of their collective action. At the same time, for an individual, participation in groups of interests is also a way of self-realization and self-expression in public and political practice, a form of civic activity. For the political system in Texas, the presence of diverse interest groups is a strengthening of direct and reciprocal connections with civil society, an effective system for representing social interests.
Interest groups serve three crucial societal functions. They are the function of articulating interests, the function of aggregating interests, and the function of recruiting political elites. Articulation is the process of identifying and articulating the people’s interests in the group and putting forward specific demands and slogans (Holyoke 163). In the process of aggregation of interests, the set of private interests, expectations, needs are reduced into unified requirements and programs reflecting the general group purposes. Representing specific interests, putting forward requirements and programs, groups of interests carry out an essential function of informing the authorities about a socially significant problem and desirable ways of its solution. The function of forming and recruiting political elites is also vital. Groups of interests can provide the authorities with expertise on the problems they are interested in. They can also delegate their experts to work in various kinds of advisory councils and commissions and influence the selection of the personnel of the relevant power structures. Consequently, interest groups are beneficial to the political system in Texas.
Work Cited
Holyoke, Thomas. Interest groups and lobbying: Pursuing political interests in America. 14th ed., Routledge, 2020.