Social Movements and Social
Change
Announcements
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Soc Lexicon: Final Deadline Today, 5 pm!
Extensions to PD model
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Allow for conferencing
participants make a pact
 Creates even more incentive to defect?
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Multiple iterations
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Don’t want to rat out partner, since they might
punish you next time
More actors
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Hope that ‘others’ will cooperate
Generalizing to Groups
1.
2.
3.
There are large numbers of persons relative to a
particular space
All persons have the same 2 opposing impulses, to
conform (usually the dominant impulse) and not to
conform
It is possible to act non-normatively; that is, it is
physically possible to do the non-normative thing
Payoff matrix for groups
Group
Take Turns
Take Turns
P = +/G = ++
Rush Exit
P = -G=-
Person
Rush Exit
P = ++
G = +/-
P = +/G = -Payoff matrix
Implication of PD models
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Behavior that is rational at the individual level
leads to sub-optimal outcomes at the aggregate
(collective, group) level
Can explain riots and mobs, without attributing
behavior to ‘loss of control’
Results in a failure to provide collective goods
Collective Goods
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Goods that, if provided, are enjoyed by all, whether or
not they contribute to their provision
Examples:
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Commons
Parks
PTA
Picnics
public television
clean air
union negotiated wages
Class ‘Union’ Outcome
Group
Vote Yes
Vote Yes
P = snacks (-)
G = snacks
+ fun
Vote No
P =out $1
G = nada
Person
Vote No
P = free snacks! P = no loss
G = snacks
G = no snacks
Payoff matrix
Collective Goods and the Free
Rider Problem
Group
Contributes
Contributes
Collective good
Provided
(optimal)
Doesn’t contribute
‘sucker’
Person
Doesn’t
contribute
Free rider
Sub-optimal
outcome
Payoff matrix
Free Riders
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Free riders enjoy the benefits of collective goods
without contributing to their provision
It is rational to be a free-rider if you can get
away with it, but if everyone is a free rider,
collective goods will never be provided
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Solution to the free rider problem: Organization
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Overcoming the Free Rider
Problem
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Organizations may offer Incentives (available only to
those who contribute) to encourage people to
participate
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Selective incentives: special tangible benefits available only to
members
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Solidary incentives: promise of strong social bonds among
members, distinction between “us” and “them”
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According to RC, strongest type of incentive
Hard to maintain in large groups
Value incentives: emphasis on intrinsic value of the work of
the organization