Logic of Collective Action

by Olson, Mancur, Jr.

• ISBN13: 9780674537514
• ISBN10: 0674537513
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1971-06-01
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

This book develops an original theory of group and organizational behavior that cuts across disciplinary lines and illustrates the theory with empirical and historical studies of particular organizations. Applying economic analysis to the subjects of the political scientist, sociologist, and economist, Mr. Olson examines the extent to which the individuals that share a common interest find it in their individual interest to bear the costs of the organizational effort. The theory shows that most organizations produce what the economist calls "public goods"--goods or services that are available to every member, whether or not he has borne any of the costs of providing them. Economists have long understood that defense, law and order were public goods that could not be marketed to individuals, and that taxation was necessary. They have not, however, taken account of the fact that private as well as governmental organizations produce public goods. The services the labor union provides for the worker it represents, or the benefits a lobby obtains for the group it represents, are public goods: they automatically go to every individual in the group, whether or not he helped bear the costs. It follows that, just as governments require compulsory taxation, many large private organizations require special (and sometimes coercive) devices to obtain the resources they need. This is not true of smaller organizations for, as this book shows, small and large organizations support themselves in entirely different ways. The theory indicates that, though small groups can act to further their interest much more easily than large ones, they will tend to devote too few resources to the satisfaction of their common interests, and that there is a surprising tendency for the "lesser" members of the small group to exploit the "greater" members by making them bear a disproportionate share of the burden of any group action. All of the theory in the book is in Chapter 1; the remaining chapters contain empirical and historical evidence of the theory's relevance to labor unions, pressure groups, corporations, and Marxian class action.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(4)
A Theory of Groups and Organizations	5	(48)
The purpose of organization	5	(4)
Public goods and large groups	9	(7)
The traditional theory of groups	16	(6)
Small groups	22	(14)
``Exclusive'' and ``inclusive'' groups	36	(7)
A taxonomy of groups	43	(10)
Group Size and Group Behavior	53	(13)
The coherence and effectiveness of small groups	53	(4)
Problems of the traditional theories	57	(3)
Social incentives and rational behavior	60	(6)
The Labor Union and Economic Freedom	66	(32)
Coercion in labor unions	66	(10)
Labor-union growth in theory and practice	76	(12)
The closed shop and economic freedom in the latent group	88	(3)
Government intervention and economic freedom in the latent group	91	(7)
Orthodox Theories of State and Class	98	(13)
The economists' theory of the state	98	(4)
The Marxian theory of state and class	102	(3)
The logic of the Marxian theory	105	(6)
Orthodox Theories of Pressure Groups	111	(21)
The philosophical view of pressure groups	111	(3)
Institutional economics and the pressure group	114	(3)
John R. Commons
Modern theories of pressure groups	117	(8)
Bentley
Truman
Latham
The logic of group theory	125	(7)
The ``By-Product'' and ``Special Interest'' Theories	132	(37)
The ``by-product'' theory of large pressure groups	132	(3)
Labor lobbies	135	(2)
Professional lobbies	137	(4)
The ``special interest'' theory and business lobbies	141	(7)
Government promotion of political pressure	148	(5)
Farm cooperatives and farm lobbies	153	(6)
Noneconomic lobbies	159	(6)
The ``forgotten groups''---those who suffer in silence	165	(4)
Appendix	169	(10)
Index	179