Part 1 of Essay
In 1965 an intellectual bomb was dropped on the field of interest groups, in the form of . In this seminal work Olson details the dynamics of group formation. The central theory is that men and women are rational, correspondingly they maximize benefits and minimize costs; because of this rationality people will not join ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... must have a firm grasp of the assumptions underlying it, to which groups it applies, and the broad conceptual ideas the theory entails. The most important underlying assumption of the by-product theory is the rationality of man that is, people maximize benefits while minimizing costs. This cost-benefit analysis says that people want the maximum amount of benefits or results with the least amount of cost (money, time, etc.). A rational person will not join an interest group because the benefits do not outweig ....