Pressure Group Politics: the Case of Sohyo
| Author | Richard J. Willey |
| Date | 01 December 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296401700408 |
| Published date | 01 December 1964 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
703
PRESSURE
GROUP
POLITICS:
THE
CASE
OF
SOHYO
RICHARD
J.
WILLEY
Vassar
College
N
THE
FIRST
CHAPTER
of
a
recently
published
work,
Pressure
Group
Poli-
~
tics,
Harry
Eckstein
sets
down
a
theoretical
framework
for
the
study
of
pressure
group
behavior.’
In
several
ways,
this
framework
represents
an
advance
over
other
schemes
for
the
comparative
study
of
interest
groups
which
have
appeared
in
the
past
few
years.2
In
the
first
place,
Eckstein
includes
a
new
and
crucial
deter-
minant
-
the
activities
of
government
or
pattern
of
governmental
policy
-
along
with
the
other
variables
(governmental
structure,
political
culture,
and
group
char-
acteristics)
indicated
by
previous
designs
as
significant
determinants
of
group
be-
havior.3
3
He
also
incorporates
two
new
dimensions
or
aspects
of
pressure
group
behavior
into
his
scheme.
The
first,
&dquo;scope
and
intensity,&dquo;
is
not
treated,
and
the
second,
&dquo;effectiveness,&dquo;
is
barely
considered
by
the
other
designs
which
are
concerned
primarily
with
the
&dquo;form&dquo;
of
group
activities.4
Finally,
unlike
the
previous
designs,
Eckstein
specifies
the
relative
importance
of
particular
variables
as
determinants
of
each
of
these
three
aspects.
As
Eckstein
admits,
however,
the
generalizations
of
his
theoretical
framework
have
yet
to
be
put
to
the
test
of
comparative
inquiry.5
The
generalizations
are
based
on
two
sources:
the
single
case
of
the
British
Medical
Association
(BMA)
and
the
theoretical
works
on
pressure
groups
of
other
writers
-
chiefly
David
B.
Truman
and
S.
H.
Beery
Significantly,
the
case
study
and
theoretical
works
mentioned
all
draw
their
data
from
an
Anglo-American
social
and
cultural
sphere.
The
purpose
of
this
paper
is
to
put
the
theoretical
framework
through
a
single
but
especially
rigorous
test
by
applying
it
to
a
pressure
group
quite
unlike
the
BMA,
located
in
a
setting
neither
Anglo-American
nor
even
Western.
The
pressure
group
under
consideration
is
the
peak
association
of
a
federation
of
labor
unions:
Sohyo -
the
Japanese
General
Council
of
Trade
Unions.
The
severity
of
using
such
a
dis-
parate
case,
however,
is
mitigated
somewhat
by
certain
features
of
Japanese
political
structure
and
physical
environment
which
are
quite
similar
to
those
of
Great
Britain.
Like
the
British,
the
Japanese
inhabit
a
highly
industrialized
little
island
and
must
&dquo;export
or
perish.&dquo;
They
have
a
figurehead
emperor,
a
parliamentary
demo-
NOTE:
I
am
most
grateful
to
Harry
Eckstein
of
Princeton
University
for
his
valuable
sugges-
tions.
1
Pressure
Group
Politics:
The
Case
of
the
British
Medical
Association
(Stanford:
Stanford
University
Press,
1960),
pp.
15-39.
2
The
best
of
these
is
Gabriel
A.
Almond’s
"A
Comparative
Study
of Interest
Groups
and
the
Political
Process,"
American
Political
Science
Review,
52
( March
1958), 270-82.
A
simi-
lar
design
is
presented
by
Henry
W.
Ehrmann,
"The
Comparative
Study
of
Interest
Groups,"
Interest
Groups
on
Four
Continents,
ed.
Henry
W.
Ehrmann
( Pittsburg :
Uni-
versity
of
Pittsburg
Press,
1960),
pp.
1-8.
3
Eckstein
writes:
"About
[the
pattern
of
policy]
Almond
has
nothing
to
say,
and
I
suspect
that
his
silence
is
due
to
one
of
the
most
ancient
and
dubious
postulates
of
pressure
group
theory:
that
policy
is
always
the
result
of
the
interplay
of
group
pressures
rather
than
a
determinant
of
the
interplay
itself."
Op.
cit.,
p.
8.
4
Ibid.,
pp.
8-9.
5
Harry
Eckstein
and
David
Apter,
Comparative
Politics:
A
Reader
(forthcoming).
6
Eckstein,
op.
cit.,
p.
7.
704
cratic
system
of
government,
a
large
national
bureaucracy
which
is
somewhat
the
preserve
of
the
graduates
of
one
or
two
prominent
universities,
and
even
a
like
number
of
major
political
parties
-
the
conservative
Liberal-Democrats
and
the
Socialists.
The
similarities
with
British
political
structure
are
largely
formal,
but
the
over-all
parallelism
with
many
features
of
the
British
setting
at
least
assures
the
framework
an
authentic
test.
This
paper
treats
in
turn
each
of
the
three
important
aspects
of
pressure
group
behavior
identified
by
Eckstein
-
form,
intensity,
and
effectiveness
-
introducing
each
section
with
a
brief
reference
to
his
theoretical
framework.
The
case
study
demonstrates
that
although
the
behavior
of
Sohyo
is
adequately
explained
within
the
scope
of
the
four
major
determining
variables
posed
by
Eckstein,
modification
is
necessary
in
the
relative
importance
which
is
attributed
to
each
variable.
One
of
the
four
is
shown
to
be
so
important
that
it
renders
the
others
almost
insignificant
in
comparison.
The
conclusion
indicates
why,
in
the
case
of
groups
such
as
Sohyo,
the
other
variables
lapse
into
relative
insignificance,
and
suggests
that
such
groups
may
better
be
treated
as
distinct
types.
THE
FORM
OF
SOHYO
POLITICS
By
the
&dquo;form&dquo;
of
pressure
group
behavior,
Eckstein
means
both
the
principal
&dquo;channels&dquo;
through
which
a
group
acts
on
government
and
the
&dquo;character
of
the
relations&dquo;
between
the
group
and
the
government.
According
to
his
framework,
the
most
important
determinant
of
&dquo;channels&dquo;
is
the
decision-making
structure
of
the
government,
and
this
is
so
because
groups
adjust
the
form
of
their
activities
to
reach
the
locus of
effective
power
in
government.
Because
of
the
marked
diffusion
of
decision-making
power
into
the
bureaucracy
in
contemporary
Britain,
the
prin-
cipal
channel
of
BMA
pressure
is
the
Ministry
of
Health.
Two
other
factors
help
to
explain
this
increase
in
the
power
of
the
bureaucracy
and
thus
act
as
major
determi-
nants
of
this
particular
pressure
group
channel.
One
is
the
activities
or
policies
of
government
which
are
important
because
the
decisions
that
are
most
likely
to
affect
the
pressure
group
in
the
age
of
the
social
service
state
are
made
in
the
bureaucracy
rather
than
in
the
Cabinet
or
Parliament.
The
other
is
political
attitudes,
or
more
generally
-
political
culture.
The
broad
consensus
concerning
major
policies
which
has
lately
prevailed
in
Great
Britain
has
tended
to
shift
the
arena
of
conflict
from
Parliament
and
the
Cabinet,
where
major
policies
are
hammered
out,
to
the
bu-
reaucracy,
where
in
the
administration
of
policy
lower-level
but
important
decisions
are
left
to
be
made .7
In
addition
to
these
three
factors,
the
power
base
of
a
group -
belonging
in
the
more
general
category
of
group
characteristics
-
may
be
a
fourth
important
determinant
of
the
channels
of
group
activity.
But
this
is
so
only
under
particular
circumstances.
If
there
is
a
relatively
even
distribution
of
power
among
legislature,
parties,
and
bureaucracy,
or
if
a
group
has
only
a
single
power
base
from
which
to
operate
effectively,
a
group
in
command
of
a
large
number
of
votes
will
tend
to
work
through
elected
representatives;
a
wealthy
group,
through
party
or-
ganizations ;
and
a
group
with
specialized
knowledge,
through
the
specialists
in
the
governmental
structure,
chiefly
the
bureaucrats.&dquo;
7
Ibid.,
pp.
15-17.
8
Ibid.,
p.
20.
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