ABSTRACT
I dentity groups are citizen groups that often havecut across traditional and ideological lines empha-sizing group rights or individual rights, with protection on the basis of some group characteristic. Over the past 30 years, traditional class-based or economic interest groups have been joined, in what has been termed an ‘‘explosion,’’ by interest groups that either have had a sole noneconomic focus or have had mixed noneconomic emphases with the traditional economic focus. Citizen groups, formed from the social movements of the 1960s-most notably the civil rights and feminist movements but also the general drive toward post-materialism and quality of life issues-began to dot the political landscape in the United States and elsewhere. Civil rights, human rights, ideological, religious rights, environmental, and other groups appeared during the 1960s to lobby government, stage protests, and engage in advocacy and service on behalf of either their members or for the general citizenry (both national and international). Still, citizen groups in total comprise less than 10 percent of all interest groups officially registered in the United States and, though they have the ability to stage large-scale protest, are generally less well funded and powerful than the traditional economically based interest groups (though exceptions are notable to this general rule).
