The Logic of Collective Action in Large Groups

南卡罗来纳州大学的布伦特·约翰逊至少从20世纪60年代开始，社会科学家就认为，在组织成功的集体行动方面，大群体比小群体面临更大的问题。虽然许多研究人员对这种原始推理提出了质疑，并且关于为什么群体规模会损害成功的集体行动的争论仍在继续，但大多数集体行动学者都同意确实如此。在自然环境中的实证研究和精心控制的实验室实验支持预测的群体规模和集体行动之间的负相关关系。重要的是，系统的比较表明，即使客观的激励，以促进组是保持不变的，组的大小产生负面影响的合作，人们认为大团体是比小团体更有效，即使在大团体客观上更有效的条件下。 当然，在真实的世界中，也存在着大量贡献者的集体行动。因此，问题是大集团如何克服与集团规模有关的问题，以实现其共同利益。这里提出的答案是基于对群体规模问题的紧急解决方案：较大的群体是由成功的较小的集体行动发展而来的。他们这样做是因为他们从小处做起，从中获利。也就是说，群体利用最初较小群体的较高贡献，并随着它们的成长而继续这些较高的贡献。研究人员将进行三个实验室实验，旨在测试论证的关键含义。第一个实验涉及提供公共产品方面的基本论点（人们必须贡献私人资源来生产所有人都能获得的公共产品）。第二个实验在几个方向上扩展了研究。首先，它将测试在公共资源池（人们必须避免从公有资源中过度收获）的背景下对群体规模问题提出的解决方案。此外，第二个实验将解决的作用？市场？集体行动小组，人们决定加入哪个小组。研究者假设，市场有助于进一步催化成功的小型集体行动团体成长为成功的大型集体行动的机制。第三个实验使用更大的群体来测试这个论点。更广泛的影响：除了获得对群体规模问题的理论理解的重要性，以及大群体如何能够实现他们的共同利益之外，这项研究还有一些更广泛的影响。从地方到全球一级，群体和社会面临的许多最重要的问题都涉及公益物的生产（例如，公共资源（如公共媒体渠道的维护、血液和器官供应的建立和维护）或公共资源（健康和多产的森林和水道）的保护。公共物品和共同资源所造成的集体行动问题在较大的群体中更加严重。因此，随着社会的不断相互联系，我们面临的集体行动问题变得越来越全球化，这使得了解大型群体实现共同利益的过程（以及它们无法实现共同利益的条件）变得更加重要。除了这些社会层面的更广泛的影响，研究将提供教育和培训的研究生和本科生。

SES-1058236Brent SimpsonUniversity of South Carolina At least since the 1960s social scientists have argued that large groups face greater problems than small groups in organizing successful collective actions. While many researchers have taken issue with this original reasoning and there is continuing debate about why group size impairs successful collective action, most collective action scholars agree that it does. Empirical studies in natural settings and carefully controlled laboratory experiments support the predicted negative relationship between group size and collective action. Importantly, systematic comparisons show that group size negatively affects cooperation even when the objective incentive to contribute to the group is held constant, and that people perceive large groups to be less efficacious than small groups, even under conditions in which large groups are objectively more efficacious. Of course, there are collective actions with large numbers of contributors in the real world. The question is thus how large groups overcome the problems associated with group size to realize their common interests. The answer proposed here is based on an emergent solution to the group size problem: Larger groups grow out of successful smaller collective actions. They so by capitalizing on the gains from starting small. That is, groups harness the higher contributions of initially small groups and continue those higher contributions as they grow larger. The investigator will conduct three laboratory experiments designed to test key implications of the argument. The first experiment addresses the basic argument in the context of public goods provisions (where people must contribute private resources to produce a public good available to all). The second experiment extends the research in several directions. First, it will test the proposed solution to the group size problem in the context of common-pool resources (where people must refrain from overharvesting from publicly owned resources). In addition, the second experiment will address the role of a ?marketplace? of collective action groups, in which people make decisions about which group to join. The investigator hypothesizes that marketplaces help further catalyze the mechanisms through which successful small collective action groups grow into successful large collective actions. The third experiment tests the argument using larger groups. Broader Impacts: In addition to the importance of gaining a theoretical understanding of the group size problem, and how large groups are able to realize their common interests, the research has a number of broader impacts. Many of the most important problems facing groups and societies, from the local to the global level, entail the production of public goods (e.g., maintenance of public media outlets, the creation and maintenance of blood and organ supplies) or the preservation of commons (healthy and productive forests and waterways). The collective action problems posed by public goods and common pool resources are exacerbated in larger groups. Thus, as societies continue to become interlinked, the collective action problems we face become increasingly global, making it even more important to understand the processes through which large groups can realize common interests (and the conditions under which they do not). In addition to these societal-level broader impacts, the research will provide education and training of graduate and undergraduate students.