1. PO 326 Introduction to Political Science
Week 10: Formal Methods
Rational choice
Instrumentalism
Game Theory

2. Collective Action Collective Action
individuals working together to achieve something that each benefits from
The goal is often considered a “public good”
available to all, group benefits are inherently shared
it is difficult or impossible to privatize the benefit
National Defence

3. Collective Action Problem
Collective Action Problem / Free Rider Problem
a situation in which some individuals would benefit from a certain action without contribution to its provision
if something is nonexcludeable and nonrivalrous, everyone has an incentive to "free ride" on the efforts of others: to let others pay the price of the good

4. Collective Action Problem
Mancur Olson
The Logic of Collective Action, 1965
rational choice as solution to the problem
of collective action
collective action can be achieved by
introducing the notion of selective ( individual)
incentives

5. Collective Action Problem
Olson argued that individuals participation depends on:
whether one’s action would make a noticeable difference in the collective good (in achieving the outcome) OR
whether one’s action is not enough to make a difference (i.e. not benefit)
-> the probability of "making a difference" in the outcome is the ‘calculus’ of individual rational action

6. Collective Action Problem
Olson predicts that
it will be more difficult to organise groups for broad, general purposes (or often simply, large groups) than for narrow, special purposes
individuals will be more likely to join small groups organised for narrow purposes than those organised for broad purposes (because, he argued, smaller groups were more likely to achieve their stated goals)

7. Collective Action
Are individuals’ choices, when aggregated, perfectly equal to collective choices?
How does this thinking inform our understanding of participation in Social Movements?

8. Collective Action
Have you ever participated in a social movement? Why? Why did others? Did the incentive of achieving your goal play an important part of you activity?
What contributes to the thinking about participating in a movement?
e.g. Occupy?
What about regular voting?

9. Collective Action
What if students wanted to organise a protest to advocate lower tuition fees or lecturers going on strike to secure better pension benefits
All students (lecturers) will benefit from lower fees (better pensions) but not everyone will participate
Why?