Abstract
The problem of collective action is that each member of a group wants other members to make necessary sacrifices while he or she 'free rides', reaping the benefits of collective action without doing the work. Inevitably the end result is that no one does the work and the common interest is not realized. This book analyses the social pressure whereby groups solve the problem of collective action. The authors show that the problem of collective action requires a model of group process and cannot be deduced from simple models of individual behaviour. They employ formal mathematical models to emphasize the role of small subgroups of especially motivated individuals who form the 'critical mass' that sets collective action in motion. The book will be read with special interest by sociologists, social psychologists, economists and political scientists. It will also be of concern to those in industrial relations and communications research working on issues in collective action and rational choice.
Keywords
Collective actionAction (physics)Simple (philosophy)Work (physics)Process (computing)Positive economicsEpistemologyPoliticsLaw and economicsSocial psychologySociologyPolitical sciencePsychologyComputer scienceEconomicsLawEngineering
Related Publications
Structure and Strategy in Collective Action
This article considers both structural and strategic influences on collective action. Each person in a group wants to participate only if the total number taking part is at leas...
Game Theory for Political Scientists
Game theory is the mathematical analysis of strategic interaction. In the fifty years since the appearance of von Neumann and Morgenstern's classic Theory of Games and Economic ...
Foundations for a Theory of Collective Decisions
This paper examines the fundamental problem posed by collective decisions for a social theory based on rational actors each pursuing his own interest. The problem is the absence...
Civic Norms, Social Sanctions, and Voter Turnout
Voter participation is viewed as a collective action problem overcome chiefly by means of “solidary” and “purposive” selective incentives in the contemporary United States rathe...
What to Do When Stakeholders Matter: The Case of Problem Formulation for the African American Men Project of Hennepin County, Minnesota
We propose a series of stakeholder analyses designed to help organizations—especially governments—think and act strategically during the process of problem formulation in order ...
Publication Info
- Year
- 1993
- Type
- book
- Citations
- 902
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
902
OpenAlex
Cite This
Gerald Marwell,
Pamela Oliver
(1993).
The Critical Mass in Collective Action.
Cambridge University Press eBooks
.
https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511663765
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1017/cbo9780511663765