| 释义 |
pressure group
[f. pressure n. + group n.]
A group or association of people representing some special interest, who bring concerted pressure to bear on public policy. Also attrib. Hence pressure groupism, activity characteristic of a pressure group.
1928P. H. Odegard Pressure Politics vii. 202 The character of pressure groups as of individuals can frequently be understood from the manner in which they spend their money. 1934W. Lippmann Method of Freedom iii. 97 We come then to the conclusion that it is not the pressure groups as such which make it impossible for the state to act in the general interest..but pressure groups attached to and reinforced by political machines. 1936A. Huxley Eyeless in Gaza xxii. 316 One joined the Party, one distributed literature, one financed pressure-groups. 1937B. Zeller Pressure Politics in N.Y. viii. 229 The outstanding feature of modern pressure group technique is the widespread use of propaganda channels. Ibid. ix. 263 This frequent and flagrant abuse of pressure group politics. 1941W. Temple Citizen & Churchman iii. 56 One American professor opened his reply with the words: ‘It is obvious that the Church is a pressure-group.’ 1953Wodehouse Performing Flea 154 You can no longer put a negro on the stage unless you make him very dignified. Owing to the activities of the Negro pressure group, comic negro characters are absolutely taboo. 1954Encounter Mar. 58/2 The illusion..that US opposition to the admission of Communist China to the UN is..an ephemeral, emotional attitude dictated by a nebulous pressure-group called ‘The China Lobby’. 1959Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 16 Mar. 795/1 It is an interesting aspect of the workings of pressure-group politics to see that in Australia and New Zealand it is the interests of the manufacturers which prevail, with both political parties, against the general good of those countries, which urgently require greater production and export of farm products. 1960Encounter Jan. 39/2 Those literal-minded pressure-groups which haunt all public organs of opinion. 1966New Statesman 13 May 683/1 Comment on this affair included, not surprisingly, accusations of pressure groupism and intolerance. 1971P. Gresswell Environment 18 In a literate society, such pressure groups [sc. amenity societies] are a necessary adjunct to parliamentary democracy. 1978Dædalus Spring 75 Almost equally annoying to scientists is the change in political attitudes; members of Congress now tend to look on them as just another selfish pressure group, and not as the wizards of perpetual progress. |