American Government › Section J · Interest groups and lobbying › Topic J.2
Collective action and group formation
Millions of people may share an interest, yet few of them ever join a group to defend it. Explaining why, and how some groups manage to organise anyway, tells you which voices are loudest in American politics.
In this topic
- The group project problem
- Why acting alone rarely pays
- The free-rider problem
- Worked example: the arithmetic of free riding
- Size and resources
- Selective incentives
- Leaders, patrons and required membership
- Disturbance theory
- Worked example: a free-rider dispute in court
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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