On the basis of these findings, Saunders argues that routines and rules of access may be just as significant as the dominant ideology in accounting for patterns of political behaviour.
Another approach to this issue is provided in Blowers' study of a British pollution issue, the nuisance caused by brickworks in Bedfordshire (Blowers, 1984). Here a change over time when a community problem off the political agenda shifted on to the agenda is explored in terms of a comparison between pluralist, elitist and structuralist perspectives. The latter term refers to a theoretical position close to that of the modern neo-Marxists who see the dominance of economic interests as of determining importance.