For example, we now understand that group formation and goals cannot simply be assumed, as was done by the pluralist theorists early in this century.Groups are collections of individuals, who join and participate (or free ride) for individual reasons. We cannot treat groups as organic entities, and any theory whose normative implications rest on such an assumption (as the pluralists did)must be critically reexamined. It may be, as Becker would assert, that the pluralists were not wrong in their conclusions, but their reasoning has been shown to be flawed.