ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the three main postural possibilities: continuation of the relatively passive status quo; rejection of politics altogether; and a more assertive interest-group program. It describes some of the things a more assertive posture might mean and require. It is, however, one thing to list aspects of hypothetical programs; it is quite another to mobilize resources for them. The chapter considers some of the major facilitants and inhibitants of any important upgrad-ings in our collective posture. The term interest group refers to any formal organization that engages in activities designed to protect or enhance the social resources of its members by influencing the policies and practices of other associations and the sentiments and dispositions of the public at large. One critical upshot is a new way in which audiences of interest groups gauge the seriousness with which to take the claims they ubiquitously encounter.
