The Logic of Collective Action in Large Groups

至少从20世纪60年代起，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一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这一点。在自然环境和精心控制的实验室实验中的实证研究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，系统比较表明，即使客观上为群体做出贡献的动机保持不变，群体规模也会对合作产生负面影响，而且人们认为大群体比小群体效率低，即使在客观上大群体效率更高的情况下也是如此。当然，在现实世界中有大量贡献者的集体行动。因此，问题是大群体如何克服与群体规模有关的问题，以实现他们的共同利益。这里提出的答案是基于团队规模问题的紧急解决方案：更大的团队来自成功的小型集体行动。他们通过利用从小处开始的收益来实现这一目标。也就是说，群体利用最初小群体的高贡献，并随着群体的壮大而继续这些高贡献。调查人员将进行三个实验室实验，旨在测试该论点的关键含义。第一个实验解决了公共产品供应背景下的基本论点（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，它将在公共池资源（人们必须避免过度获取公有资源）的背景下测试提出的解决群体规模问题的方法。此外，第二个实验将探讨“市场”的作用。在集体行动小组中，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。第三个实验用更大的群体来检验这个论点。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，以及如何大的群体能够实现他们的共同利益，这项研究有许多更广泛的影响。从地方到全球各级，各群体和社会面临的许多最重要问题都涉及生产公益产品（例如，维持公共媒体渠道，创造和维持血液和器官供应）或保护公地（健康和富有生产力的森林和水道）。公共产品和公共资源带来的集体行动问题在更大的群体中加剧。因此，随着社会的不断相互联系，我们所面临的集体行动问题变得越来越全球化，这使得了解大群体能够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.