Public choice, an important subdiscipline in the field of political theory, seeks to understand how people and societies make decisions affecting their collective lives. Relying heavily on theoretical models of decision making, public choice postulates that people act in their individual interests in making collective decisions. As it happens, however, reality does not mirror theory, and people often act contrary to what the principal public choice models suggest. In this book, Russell Hardin looks beyond the models to find out why people choose to act together in situations that the models find quite hopeless. He uses three constructs of modern political economy--public goods, the Prisoner's Dilemma, and game theory--to test public choice theories against real world examples of collective action. These include movements important in American society in the past few decades--civil rights, the Vietnam War, women's rights, and environmental concerns. This classic work on public choice will be of interest to theoreticians and graduate students in the fields of public choice, political economy, or political theory--and to those in other disciplines who are concerned with the problem of collective action in social contexts.
FREE Two-Day Shipping for students on millions of items. Learn more |
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- Buy $50 in qualifying physical textbooks, get $5 in Amazon MP3 Credit. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
'Offers a trail from the micro-assumptions of rational-choice theory to the macro-concerns of many students of collective-action.' Politics & Society
About the Author
Russell Hardin is professor of politics at New York University. His recent books include Indeterminacy and Society and Trust and Trustworthiness.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A challenging book,
By R. Bagula "Roger L. Bagula" (Lakeside, Ca United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Collective Action (Rff Press) (Paperback)
The personality and action of groups as defined by a games interaction
is what makes this book special. In most cases the arguments are hard and the text is dense, but the idea that large groups of people use strategy as to best score is clear. Not everyone plays to win, not everybody can win in a society that constrains individual potential. That the prisoner's dilemma should be a theme of what is political science text that speaks to the math is puzzle and wonder.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
Every individual contributing to the general productiveness of society, says Adam Smith, "intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
extrarational behavior, contingent choosing, shift from row, intense demanders, efficacious subgroup, private good substitutes, collective action game, coordination equilibria, iterated play, market collusion, coordination equilibrium, narrow rationality, pure coordination game, latent groups, dominating strategy, collective bads, private consumption goods, iterated version, tacit communication, prominent solution, explicit contracting, political entrepreneurship, iterated game, successful collective action, selective incentives Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sierra Club, United States, Anatol Rapoport, Brian Barry, Voter's Paradox, Michael Taylor, Environmental Quality, Russell Hardin, Mancur Olson, Norman Frohlich, David Hume, Hanged-Man Paradox, Petersburg Paradox, The Club Looks, The Strategy of Conflict, John Chamberlin, San Marino, Concealed Weapons, Daylight Savings, Don Coombs, Explicit Contract Versus Contract, Hockey Helmets, Political Argument, Robert Cameron Mitchell, San Francisco Bay Area New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Every individual contributing to the general productiveness of society, says Adam Smith, "intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
extrarational behavior, contingent choosing, shift from row, intense demanders, efficacious subgroup, private good substitutes, collective action game, coordination equilibria, iterated play, market collusion, coordination equilibrium, narrow rationality, pure coordination game, latent groups, dominating strategy, collective bads, private consumption goods, iterated version, tacit communication, prominent solution, explicit contracting, political entrepreneurship, iterated game, successful collective action, selective incentives Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sierra Club, United States, Anatol Rapoport, Brian Barry, Voter's Paradox, Michael Taylor, Environmental Quality, Russell Hardin, Mancur Olson, Norman Frohlich, David Hume, Hanged-Man Paradox, Petersburg Paradox, The Club Looks, The Strategy of Conflict, John Chamberlin, San Marino, Concealed Weapons, Daylight Savings, Don Coombs, Explicit Contract Versus Contract, Hockey Helmets, Political Argument, Robert Cameron Mitchell, San Francisco Bay Area New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 92
books:
See all 92 books this book cites
100
books
cite this book:
See all 100 books citing this book
- The Strategy of Conflict by Thomas C. Schelling on 7 pages
- Anarchy and Cooperation by Michael Taylor on 6 pages
- Games and Decisions by R. Duncan Luce on 6 pages
- Micromotives and Macrobehavior by Thomas C. Schelling on 5 pages
- A Treatise of Human Nature (Oxford Philosophical Texts) by David Hume on 5 pages
See all 92 books this book cites
- Morality within the Limits of Reason by Russell Hardin on 6 pages
- Making Sense of Marx (Studies in Marxism and Social Theory) by Jon Elster on 5 pages
- Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics) by Sidney Tarrow on 5 pages
- The Moral Conditions of Economic Efficiency (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Law) by Walter J. Schultz on 4 pages
- The Possibility of Cooperation (Studies in Rationality and Social Change) by Michael Taylor on 4 pages
See all 100 books citing this book
Books on Related Topics
(learn more)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Books > Business & Investing > Economics
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Social Sciences > Political Science
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Social Sciences > Sociology
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Government > Constitutions
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences
- Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology
