The Logic of Collective Action in Large Groups

至少自20世纪60年代以来，南卡罗来纳州布伦特·辛普森大学的社会科学家们一直认为，在组织成功的集体行动方面，大团体比小团体面临更大的问题。虽然许多研究人员对这一原始推理提出了异议，关于群体规模为什么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。自然环境中的经验研究和精心控制的实验室实验支持了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，即使在为集团作出贡献的客观激励保持不变的情况下，集团规模也会对合作产生负面影响，而且人们认为大集团的效率低于小集团，即使在大集团客观上更有效的情况下也是如此。当然，在现实世界中，也有大量贡献者的集体行动。因此，问题是大型集团如何克服与集团规模相关的问题，以实现它们的共同利益。这里提出的答案是基于对群体规模问题的紧急解决方案：较大的群体是从成功的较小集体行动中发展出来的。他们通过利用从小规模起步的收益来做到这一点。也就是说，团队利用最初较小的团队的较高贡献，并随着规模的扩大继续这些较高的贡献。研究人员将进行三项实验室实验，旨在测试这一论点的关键含义。第一个实验在公共产品条款(人们必须贡献私人资源以生产所有人都能获得的公共产品)的背景下解决了基本论点。第二个实验在几个方向上扩展了研究。首先，它将在公有资源(人们必须避免从公有资源中过度捕捞)的背景下测试针对群体规模问题的拟议解决方案。此外，第二个实验将解决市场的作用。集体行动小组，人们在其中决定加入哪个小组。研究人员假设，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检验这一论点。更广泛的影响：除了从理论上了解群体规模问题的重要性，以及大型群体如何能够实现他们的共同利益之外，这项研究还有许多更广泛的影响。团体和社会面临的许多最重要的问题，从地方到全球，都涉及生产公共产品(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(健康和多产的森林和水道)。公共物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，随着社会继续相互联系，我们面临的集体行动问题变得越来越全球性，这使得了解大团体能够通过哪些过程实现共同利益(以及在哪些条件下无法实现这些利益)变得更加重要。除了这些社会层面的更广泛影响外，这项研究还将为研究生和本科生提供教育和培训。

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.