Year 2011-12
Collective Action Theory (21678)
Qualification: Degree in Social Politics and Administration (3391)
Year: 3rd
Term: 2nd
Number of ECTS credits: 6
Hours of student dedication: 150 hours
Teaching language: Catalan
Teacher: Jaume López
1. Introduction to the course
The aim of the course is to teach students to analyse instances of collective action present in our society. This ranges from the more institutionalised collective action in a trade union to that of a neighbourhood community, from the action by part of a state to provide public goods to the cooperation networks in co-management research. Attention will be paid to the continuity among these diverse phenomena. Our aim is to provide students with a series of conceptual tools and analytical models that will help them understand the dynamics of integration and cooperation between individuals when they seek to promote collective actions and provide different types of public goods.
2. Competences to be achieved
Instrumental
Ability to analyse and synthesise
Cognitive abilities (deduction, abstraction, critical interrelation between observation and inference).
Oral and written communication in one's own language
Interpersonal
Ability to criticise and be self critical
Systemic
Ability to learn
Ability to think critically when reading
Analysing and synthesising qualitative and quantitative information
Ability to apply knowledge to practice
Specific Competences
To recognise the behaviour of political actors.
To identify the different types of collective goods.
To interpret, in terms of collective action, political problems in which there is production, management, provision and consumption of public goods.
To identify and reflect on the relation between production and distribution of public goods and types of organizations.
To apply aggregation models for generating collective action.
Relation between formal models of aggregation and game theory to specific empirical cases.
3. Contents
The theories and concepts will be presented based on the answers to a series of questions that will grouped into 5 units. Some examples of questions are:
Why aren't just causes more prosperous? Why are some things not achieved despite there being a lot of people that want it? In collective action, is it always better to be more than less? What is the relationship between the nature of what we want to achieve with the probabilities of achieving it? How can collective action spread? What is the role of leadership and motivation in the development of cooperation? Does capital exist for reaching cooperation? Can it be accumulated? How can it be obtained? How can it be lost? Is there no exit (from collective action problems) other than the state? How small must a collective be in order for it to sustain spontaneous cooperation?
4. Assessment
The course assessment will combine continuous assessment and a final exam.
5. Bibliography and other resources
5.1. Basic Bibliography
Gladwell, Malcolm. 2001. "Las tres leyes de toda epidemia", El punto de inflexión. Cómo pequeñas cosas pueden provocar una gran diferencia. Madrid: Espasa Calpe.
Hardin, Garrett. 1968. "La tragedia de los comunes". Science, 162.
Diamond, Jared. 2005. Colapso. Barcelona: Mondadori, 2009: 21-43.
Olson, Mancur. 1965. La lógica de la acción colectiva. Bienes públicos y la teoría de grupos, México: Noriega Editores, 1992.
Hardin, Russell. 1982. "La acción colectiva y el dilema del prisionero", Lecturas de Teoría Política Positiva, ed. Josep M. Colomer, Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Fiscales. 1991: 81-114.
López, Jaume. 1994. "El estado del sindicalismo o el sindicalismo de Estado". Claves de Razón Práctica, 39: 36-43.
Marí-Klose, Pau. 2000. Elección racional. Madrid: CIS: 87-95.
Schelling, Thomas C. 1989. "Termostatos, cacharros y otras familias de modelos", Lecturas de Teoría Política Positiva, ed. Josep M. Colomer, Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Fiscales. 1991: 125-152.
Mezo, Josu. 1996. Políticas de recuperación lingüística en Irlanda (1922-1939) y el País Vasco (1980-1992). Madrid: Instituto Juan March de Estudios e Investigaciones: 12-37.
Fernández, Xavier & Jaume López. 2010. "Marco cultural de referencia y participación electoral en Cataluña", Revista Española de Ciencia Política, 23: 31-34.
Ostrom, E. I T.K. Ahn. 2003. "Una perspectiva del capital social desde las ciencias sociales: capital social y acción colectiva". Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 65 (1): 155-233.
Boix, Carles. 2000. "Capital social o comunitat cívica". Estudi crític introductori a la traducció del llibre de Robert D. Putnam: Per a fer que la democràcia funcioni. La importància del capital social. Barcelona: Ed. Proa.
North, Douglass C. & Robert P. Thomas. 1973. El nacimiento del mundo occidental. Una nueva historia económica (900 -1700). Madrid: Siglo XXI, 1991: 5-16.
Axelrod, Robert. 1984. "El problema de la cooperación" en La evolución de la cooperación. Madrid: Alianza Editorial: 1986.
Taylor, Michael. 1982. Community, anarchy and liberty. Cambridge: CUP: 25-33
Gambetta, Diego. 1991. "La mafia: el precio de la desconfianza" , Intereses individuales y acción colectiva, Fernando Aguiar (comp.). Madrid: Editorial Pablo Iglesias.
5.2. Other resources
Students will find additional material in the Aula Global.
6. Methodology
The teaching methodology will combine class based activities, such as lectures, seminars and tutorials with the use of online tools that can be found in the Aula Global.
7. Programme of Activities
Week 1 and 2: 1. Introduction to collective action
In this first unit students will be introduced to the logic of collective action. From the beginning emphasis will be placed on the discontinuity between individual and collective rationality and between the aggregate will and the social impact.
Week 3 and 4: 2. The nature of the collective good: the logic of Olson's collective action (an economic point of view)
This unit places the student within the economic perspective of analysing collection action. It presents the main contributions of Mancur Olson and his derivatives. The focus will therefore be on discovering the connections between the nature of the common good and the most efficient collective action formulas or possibility for obtaining it.
Week 5 and 6: 3. The types of individuals from the point o view of collective action and its interaction (the social psychology perspective and aggregation models)
In this unit we will examine some of the main aggregation models and models of contagion in collective action. Attention will be paid to some of the key elements in their formation such as, among others, expectation levels or the relationship between individual and collective benefit.
Week 7 and 8: 4. The role of social capital and networks (seen from sociology)
Unit 4 is centred on presenting the concept of "social capital", the different ways of understanding it and the ways of applying it to the problems of collective action that have been examine. This will be seen, particularly, from a structural point of view (relationship networks).
Week 9 and 10: 5. The importance of rules (seen from political science)
Unit 5 is dedicated to comparing the different ways of solving problems of cooperation (market, state and community). This will be done by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the different mechanisms (more or less centralised) implied in each different approach.