Contents
Lesson 14.1 – Collective Action and Disturbance Theory
In this last module of our semester, we try to get answers to an important political question: Why is it that often, when faced with some difficult situation, people come together and start to act collectively, as one body? On the other hand, why is it that, when something significant and terrible happens in society, many people choose to not get engaged, and just watch by the sidelines? These are problems that the study of politics has tried to understand through the concepts of collective action and disturbance theory.
READ – Reading 14.1 – Collective Action Group Formation
This reading presents the key concepts of collective and disturbance theory:
COMPLETE – Response Paper 14.1
Our Response Paper this module has a number of important review questions, which will prepare our Discussion Board conversation. After reading the letter, do you best to carefully and accurately answer the following questions related to the letter, some of which will appear on the second exam:
- When do collective action problems come up? What causes collective action problems?
- Describe the free rider problem? Give an example.
- What are some ways to overcome collective action problems?
- What is disturbance theory? Give an example.
Submit your response paper below:
https://www.dropbox.com/request/PKDc38v4FORX51til8Pj
WATCH – “Geographies of Racial Capitalism”
In this last module of the semester, we return (in a way) to what we discussed at the start of our semester. Prof. Gilmore (a distinguished professor at CUNY’s Graduate Center) makes the point that capitalism, the political and economic system we live under, is more actually called “racial capitalism”. In this video, you should hear a number of ideas that we already discussed in our study of social class:
WRITE – Discussion Forum 14.1
Now, let’s move on to our discussion forum for this module:
