After today’s session ( wrt session 22) it is clear that even though we are studying collective action at present it has been in existence from ages. The clipping from the Shakespeare’s drama ‘Julius Caesar’ clear says that the collective action have taken places ages back and brought changes in the world along with that helped in writing the history of the Roman empire.
So it can be said that collective action definitely has the power to bring about the change (positive) in the world.
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Not only in human history from the cave man to present beings but also in other species we can see glimpses of collective action.A beehive or ants collecting their food are all examples of collective action.
Its kind of natural instinct in crude form. But when it comes to more evolve species like us the question of rationality and self interest comes into picture which makes the situation more complex and hence the question of feasibility of the collective action arises.It has been there at times of Roman Empire and probably will remain there till human race survives!
From our previous readings we have learnt that collective action exists even in the most primitive of life forms, let alone humans. But, as has been pointed out here, the significance and impact that collective action has had in the course of human history, is staggering. Even the most autocratic of rulers have fallen prey to the collective action of his meek subjects.
@ rupesh
I think it is not kind of a natural instinct in crude form ...
According to me ants cooperate with each other during the collective action.. It can be observed as they walk in a line while they move around to collect food...
ants move in a line following other ants because of their natural instincts. the rear bag of the ant has Antanoic acid, the smell of which helps the other ants to follow them. That is how the acid got its name.
Collective action has the power to change...true...but in order to bring that change we need to cooperate...and human being can not cooperate until there is personal gain...
And as rightly pointed out some actions are merely INSTINCTIVE...
Deepika..the formation of line and the mechanism described is fine..but these are just the means to the end..and the end is to collect the food and store for future use..which ants do while working as a group!!
okie.. answer that line formed by ants are instinctive is convincing...and no doubt that collection of food by ants can be termed as collective action whose benefits can be reaped later as they store food for future..
When a collective action takes place, a consciousness about the objective is shared by all the members involved in the collective action which is not the case in the movement of ants. It's just an instinctive action not a collective one but from the movie it can be deduced that collective action exists for ages.
It's true that collective action has brought about positive changes all over the world. However a certain example of implicit collective action i.e. the inability of the Jews to unite and eventually bear the torture of the Nazis collectively led to their near extinction. Thus change through collective action may not always be positive.
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