Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Pressure groups and social movements
Throughout the last three decades, as internet use became widely adopted,
many pressure groups and social movements became able to use websites and
social media to frame and communicate issues and mobilise people online. The
internet significantly reduced the costs of recruitment and participation as public
meetings, street encounters, and mailed newsletters became increasingly redundant
in comparison to the low costs of internet engagement. While the internet supplemented
traditional activism, it has also provided virtual spaces for exchanges and
engagement.
Why do pressure groups and social movements cease to exist?
Just as groups and movements continue to form and act in response to their
context, they also disappear if they are no longer relevant.
Mortality and salience
Recent studies of organisational mortality look at the life cycle of interest groups.
Some pressure groups are not formed to persist and cease to exist once they achieve
their goal. 67 Other groups that have longer-term interests may be less concerned
about competing with other or new groups. Rather, they focus on identity, purpose,
and adaptive responses to endure. 68
A group’s salience (prominence and suitability) is also reduced if it does not
contribute to policy change and its influence is not recognised. That said, measuring
influence is fraught as many intersecting factors affect the policy process –
a pressure group’s contribution is one factor among many. Funding and resources
both affect how a group operates, its chances of contributing to change, and its
ability to last.
Funding and resources
The resources pressure groups have at their disposal vary. If a group does not have
sufficient numbers to support collective action, they may require more financial
resources to support their operations. Many groups have membership income,
whereasothersrelyonpatronsordonors. 69 As groups form or begin to develop,
they may overcome the ‘free rider’ issue without significant expense if they have a
patron. 70 A range of figures and institutions can be patrons for a group or an issue,
including benefactors, celebrities, and even the state itself.
67 Gray and Lowery 2000.
68 Halpin and Thomas 2012.
69 Nownes and Cigler 1995.
70 Walker 1983, 401.
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