Monday, January 25, 2010
Citizen Collective Action
The large turnover of around 500 citizens at Anand Run this year, & the event’s successful completion, goes on to give us new lessons on collective action. It is indeed extraordinary that so many strangers came together to collectively work for a special cause and made it a success. There were no apparent free-rider problems, and cooperation from everyone involved.Not everyone who ran, was running to win, and yet people gave their time and energy for the cause. What can be the underlying reasons that made such a large-scale collective action a success & how can things be replicated in future?
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11 comments:
The underlying reason which I think is that, all 'Informed' people need to do something to change what is going on around them, all want to contribute in some way or other. But, they really dont know how to. Such common platforms give them a direction to express their desire to contribute their part to the society. For example, after 26/11 blasts, everyone wanted to vent out their angers. Candle light march, protests, etc. are modes of expressions that bring people together!
Yes. Such events make us realize that change IS happening. There are conscientious citizens who genuinely want to be agents of change in the society, and they make efforts to facilitate it. Since rational behaviour incurs costs, this collective action involving common people's time, energy and finances, is indeed a sort of awakened rationality. For future replications, one needs to channelize the right people’s energies, in the right direction. When and if that happens, unconditional cooperation may not be impossible to achieve.
Priyanka[30093]
similar thing had happened when around 2000 people from all over India came together for the social audit in Bhilwala, Rajasthan. The motivation had overcome the hunger , fatigue ,thirst and comfort. They walked for miles , did'nt complain for food if they didn'nt get.One of the factor can be the organisers being MKSS and eminent pesonalities like Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey who have successfully led movements for RTI earlier and YES , change IS happening
the cause of the movement- 'running for a greener tommorow' was so noble and good that it attracted the people to participate in it without having any short term benifits arising from it. However if we look at marathons happening across the nation the purpose of spreading awareness is so big and important for people that all people from celebrity to commoners participate and make it a success without having any evident benifits arising from it
@Raghav
I dont think the cause of movement is that big a motivating factor to come out and run. Had the cause been a motivating factor, we would not had seen used glasses, packets etc. littered in the ground. Everyone including our own PRM participants were involved in that littering, and I am a witness to it. I still maintain that the reason for large turnout could be much more important to the society as a whole..
I believe that ‘along with’ all the above stated reasons like a need to bring about a change and awareness, one reason behind high turn out was the fact that it was an event involving an element of fun. People need ways to diverge out of their monotonous lives, and what could be a better way than to be a part of social cause for the same! Taking place on a Sunday, in early morning- the environment also suited the participants. And well, running once in a while is good for health too!
A couple of years back when we had anti-reservation protests all over the country, while talking to a friend studying in AIIMS, i asked him their reasons for 'resentment',about why reservations are bad, etc. After just 5 minutes of talking on the subject, he found himself short of words, and even ready to change to 'the other side'.
'Change' is one of the most abused words in English language today. The turnout at anandrun was nodoubt amazing, but im not sure how many of the 400 odd even knew what the run was for..
The anand run was indeed a splendid example of collective action. Agreeing to Raghav's point of view, many participants including me, were inspired by the motto of the anand run. We wanted to sensitize people about the environment. We showed that we have the stamina and the will to do it.
Arpit mentioned about littering, which concerned me as well. But the organizers have already made the necessary arrangements and contacted the concerned authorities regarding the cleaning up.
if the motive of the collective action was "a greener tomorrow" there could be some fundamental issues with our Anand Run:
1. The banners shouldnt have been printed on flex or any plastic based material.
2. cotton T-shirts shouldnt have been printed just for the run.
3. traffic shouldnt have been stopped for the 'run'.
4. ambulance, pilot volunteers etc shudnt have been there burning petrol.
It was a successful event no doubt.
A good example of collective action by the organisers.
I doubt if there was no extra rational motive for the participants.
A sensitisation program in different localities would have served the purpose of spreading concioussness about a greener tomorrow better...
This is what i think.
Exactly.. People do things. Many times they do them with great intentions. However, most of the times, the words are much louder than their actions. If anyone has ever been to the highprofile marches and the india gate rallies, then he would know how many of the conscientious citizens are there with the objective of spreading awareness and to be 'agents of change'..
Agreed,there r many diffrnt motivations that create the snowball effect to execute a collective action.There r those who become a part of the movement,AnandRun in our eg,motivated by others joining or by the knowledge that other cooperators can observe them.Another set of people join because its fun, or for its ‘process benefits’.A 3rd category join it as an occasion for ‘character building’ or ‘consciousness raising’.Many such categories exist.Now that we agree on that,& given the fact that this collective action was a success, can we not +vely say that the outcome,or the ability of a movement to take off,depends more on the first movers,than on any other conditional co-operators?
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