The Critical Mass in Collective Action

This book analyses the social pressure whereby groups solve the problem of collective action.

Gerald Marwell (Author), Pamela Oliver (Author)

9780521308397, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 March 1993

224 pages, 9 tables
22.2 x 14.5 x 2 cm, 0.37 kg

"This book is a useful addition to recent efforts to stretch rational-choice collective-action theory beyond its original assumptions....this contributes to a healthy reawakened debate on the conditions surrounding collective action." Sun-Ki Chai, Social Forces

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.

Preface
Acknowledgements
1. The critical mass and the problem of collective action
2. Building blocks: goods, groups and processes
3. The paradox of group size
4. The dynamics of production functions
5. Social networks: density, centralization and cliques
6. Selectivity in social networks
7. Reach and selectivity as strategies of recruitment
8. Unfinished business
References
Name index
Subject index.

Subject Areas: Social & political philosophy [HPS]