Pressure Groups and Social Movements

What Pressure Groups and Social Movements covers

Pressure Groups and Social Movements is examined in AS Unit 2, Living and participating in a democracy — parties, pressure groups and movements. It covers pressure groups and how they differ from parties, sectional and promotional groups, insider and outsider groups, access points in Wales and the UK, lobbying and direct contact with decision-makers, direct action and public campaigning, using the media and new technologies, factors in pressure group success, pressure groups and the health of democracy, social movements: nature, membership and methods and the women's movement and the environmental movement.

The 11 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Pressure groups and how they differ from partiesPressure group, single-issue group and peak or umbrella organisation.Open →
• Sectional and promotional groupsSectional pressure group, promotional or cause group and two farming organisations that lobby on behalf of Welsh agriculture.Open →
• Insider and outsider groupsInsider pressure group, outsider pressure group and ideological outsider group.Open →
• Access points in Wales and the UKAccess point and cross-party group in the Senedd.Open →
• Lobbying and direct contact with decision-makersRevolving door, cash for questions affair and four of the Seven Principles of Public Life.Open →
• Direct action and public campaigningDirect action and two changes campaigners for the Welsh language have secured.Open →
• Using the media and new technologiesMedia stunt, online petition and how new technology has changed the organisation of campaigns.Open →
• Factors in pressure group successFive factors that make a pressure group successful, sanctions in the context of pressure group power and how devolution has affected the success of Welsh campaigns.Open →
• Pressure groups and the health of democracyTyranny of the minority in this debate, criticism that pressure groups lack internal democracy and argument that pressure groups improve the quality of legislation.Open →
• Social movements: nature, membership and methodsSocial movement and movements that spread across borders.Open →
• The women's movement and the environmental movementGreenham Common women's peace camp, welsh origin of the Greenham Common protest and fourth wave of the women's movement.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Pressure Groups and Social Movements further

The same content, four other ways.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Define a pressure group.

   Model answer

   A pressure group is an organised body that seeks to influence the decisions of government without itself seeking to form a government.

2. 2

   State three similarities between pressure groups and political parties.

   Model answer

   Both are organised, both seek to shape public policy, and both mobilise supporters and try to win public opinion to their side.

3. 3

   State three differences between pressure groups and political parties.

   Model answer

   Parties seek office while groups seek influence, parties must cover the whole range of policy while groups usually concentrate on a field, and parties are accountable to voters at elections while groups are not.

4. 4

   Why is the distinction between a party and a pressure group sometimes blurred?

   Model answer

   Some groups stand candidates to publicise a cause without expecting to govern, and some small parties campaign on a single issue much as a group would.

5. 5

   Give one example of a group that became a party, and explain why.

   Model answer

   The environmental movement in Britain generated the Green Party, whose founders judged that contesting elections would give their cause a hearing that campaigning alone had not.

6. 6

   What is meant by a single-issue group?

   Model answer

   A single-issue group campaigns on one narrow question, often intending to disband once that question is settled.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Pressure Groups and Social Movements revision questions

What does Pressure Groups and Social Movements cover in WJEC A-Level Government and Politics?

11 subtopics: pressure groups and how they differ from parties, sectional and promotional groups, insider and outsider groups, access points in wales and the uk, lobbying and direct contact with decision-makers, direct action and public campaigning, using the media and new technologies, factors in pressure group success, pressure groups and the health of democracy, social movements: nature, membership and methods and the women's movement and the environmental movement. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Pressure Groups and Social Movements organised?

By the WJEC 603-1979-3 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.