Collective action

Collective action is when a group of people work together to reach a shared goal or solve a problem that is too big for one person to handle alone.[1] It can happen in small ways, like neighbors cleaning a park, or on a large scale, like national movements for civil rights or environmental protection.[2] Collective action is often used to create or protect public goods, such as clean air, safe streets, or national defense, things that benefit everyone and are hard to limit to only those who pay for them.[3] It requires coordination, which means planning, communicating, and agreeing on strategies. Unlike individual action, its success depends on the cooperation of many people working toward the same purpose.[4][5]

Collective action can be either organized or spontaneous. Organized examples include labor unions negotiating wages,[6] political parties running election campaigns,[7] or international organizations tackling climate change.[8] Spontaneous examples happen without a set plan, such as strangers helping each other after a natural disaster. It can happen in person, like street protests, or online, like petitions and social media campaigns.[9][10] Less well-known examples include “buycotts,” where consumers buy from companies they support,[11] and cooperatives, where members share resources like farm equipment or internet access.[12] Throughout history, collective action has been key to major changes, such as ending slavery, winning women the right to vote, and creating labor laws.[13]

One challenge in collective action is the “free-rider problem,” where some people enjoy the benefits without helping.[1] This happens because public goods are non-excludable, once they exist, no one can be stopped from using them.[3] To solve this, leaders may create incentives, set rules, or build trust among members.[14] Another challenge is coordination, getting everyone to agree on what to do. Disagreements can arise when people have different priorities or ideas. Success often depends on leadership, shared identity, and clear communication.[15]

Technology has transformed collective action by making it easier to organize across distances.[16] Online platforms can quickly spread information, raise money, and gather participants.[17] Crowdfunding lets thousands of small donations fund creative projects, community work, or emergency aid.[18] Social media hashtags can unite global movements, such as #MeToo or #FridaysForFuture. But technology can also spread false information or make it hard to keep people involved over time.[19] Collective action is crucial for tackling modern problems, from protecting wildlife to improving local infrastructure, because it combines the skills, resources, and efforts of many people toward a single goal.[2][4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Olson, Mancur (2003). The logic of collective action: public goods and the theory of groups. Harvard economic studies (21. printing ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-674-53751-4.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tarrow, Sidney G. (2011). Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics (3 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511973529. ISBN 978-0-521-15572-4.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hardin, Russell (1982). Collective action. Baltimore: Published for Resources for the Future by the Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-2818-8.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ostrom, Elinor (1990). Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511807763.
  5. ↑ Sandler, Todd (1999). Collective action: theory and applications. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-06501-1.
  6. ↑ Freeman, Richard B.; Medoff, James L. (1992). What do unions do? (5. [print.] ed.). New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-09132-4.
  7. ↑ Aldrich, John Herbert (2011). Why parties? a second look. Chicago studies in American politics. Chicago, Ill. London: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-01274-2.
  8. ↑ Keohane, Robert O.; Victor, David G. (2011). "The Regime Complex for Climate Change". Perspectives on Politics. 9 (1): 7–23. doi:10.1017/S1537592710004068. ISSN 1541-0986.
  9. ↑ Tilly, Charles (2004). Social movements, 1768-2004. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59451-042-7.
  10. ↑ Bennett, W. Lance; Segerberg, Alexandra (2013). The Logic of Connective Action: Digital Media and the Personalization of Contentious Politics. Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139198752. ISBN 978-1-107-02574-5.
  11. ↑ Kam, Cindy D.; Deichert, Maggie (2020). "Boycotting, Buycotting, and the Psychology of Political Consumerism". The Journal of Politics. 82 (1): 72–88. doi:10.1086/705922. ISSN 0022-3816.
  12. ↑ "New Frontiers of Cooperation in the Economy". JEOD. doi:10.5947/jeod.2012.001. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  13. ↑ McAdam, Doug. Political process and the development of black insurgency, 1930 - 1970 (2nd ed.). Chicago, Ill.: Univ. of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-55553-9.
  14. ↑ Ostrom, Elinor (2005). Understanding institutional diversity. Princeton paperbacks. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-12207-6.
  15. ↑ Kollock, Peter (1998-08-01). "Social Dilemmas: The Anatomy of Cooperation". Annual Review of Sociology. 24: 183–214. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.24.1.183. ISSN 0360-0572.
  16. ↑ Shirky, Clay (2009). Here comes everybody: the power of organizing without organizations. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-311494-9.
  17. ↑ Earl, Jennifer; Kimport, Katrina (2011). Digitally enabled social change: activism in the Internet age. Acting with technology. Cambridge, [Massachusetts] London: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01510-3.
  18. ↑ Belleflamme, Paul; Lambert, Thomas; Schwienbacher, Armin (2014-09-01). "Crowdfunding: Tapping the right crowd". Journal of Business Venturing. 29 (5): 585–609. doi:10.1016/j.jbusvent.2013.07.003. ISSN 0883-9026.
  19. ↑ Howard, Philip N. (2011). "The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom. By Evgeny Morozov. New York: PublicAffairs, 2011. 432p. $27.95". Perspectives on Politics. 9 (4): 895–897. doi:10.1017/S1537592711004014. ISSN 1541-0986.
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