Title: Collective Action: Definition, Theory, Logic & Problems - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com
Headings: Collective Action: Definition, Theory, Logic & Problems
Collective Action: Definition, Theory, Logic & Problems
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Collective Action Definition and Variety
Theories
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Theories
In 1965, Mancur Olson, Jr. published the first major text on the study of collective action, The Logic of Collective Action. Olson's theories are still reflected in the theories of many economists to this day, especially issues with public goods and free riders. Public goods are things that are available for the use of everyone, regardless of those people's investment. The concept of free riding is the use of public goods by people uninvolved in the process of making them available. Olson's book was one of the first to suggest that people may be encouraged to free ride, thus introducing one of the classical problems with collective action. Another concept Olson suggested was that minorities could compel the majority to give into their interests in a democracy. The majority often fails to act to change the status quo because of poor incentives. The minority is strongly motivated to act because incentives for them are stronger. Both of these concepts broke with the conventional wisdom of the day. It used to be assumed that people always acted on their own interests, and that the majority always ruled over the minority in a democracy.