Monday, January 9, 2012
The world is scarce or abundant?
Is not the question of scarcity very similar to the paradox of half-full glass? Is scarcity really a determinant of collective action? We could make argument for and against such a statement. What contexts of scarcity may generate collective action, and what may demobilise collectives?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
34 comments:
Had the resources been in abundance, no one might have needed any collective action. It is the scarcity that has lead to insatiability. Scarcity is the main reason why men are fighting, sometime for basic needs only. Abundance means resources will never end irrespective of how these are consumed. Scarcity is not the only determinant for collective action but very important reason for it. Other reasons may include sense of security, belonging-ness etc when people co-operate.
It could be the other way round. Scarcity of resources can be a hindrance for the people living in a community for collective action. Due to scarce resource subtractivity may play a deterministic role for the people leading to lack of co-operation.
But if every one starts thinking that there is abundance of resource and kill the competative feeling within them then wouldn't the economic growth slow down.
Komal Didwania
It can be said that scarcity provides a ground for collective action. However, one can’t say without reasonable doubt that every scarcity will give rise to a collective action. In case, people think they are better able to exploit the resources for their benefit, collective action is unlikely. There will be a collective action only when the resource is such that it needs people to come together – and there is no possibility of enjoying any benefits individually.
Scarcity coupled with prolonged crisis makes people really think about what could be done to steer the ship out of crisis. The people when stuck in a situation where either they can come up togther and face the situation or get perished by the circumstances choose to come togther and work togther. The energy is required to excite the electron(people)from the valence shell and to form a bond.But if the resource is so scarce that it cant be shared it would always demobilise the collective action.when the individual realizes that its the only way out or the collective action would increase there surplus than only they would come up togther to initiate a collective action."Altruism" is like looking for dinasaurs in 21st century.
Mehul Khare
PRM32
World seems to be an image of one's perceptions and thoughts.If we talk about the people in a collective action we are refering to the people who are having the same thought of scarcity. If they would have been a beleiever in abundancy, they would have definitely not been a part of it. The question is only valid for those who believe it to be a dilemma. For others, its just a single ended statement. For them, the world is either abundant or scarce!
Shubham Tomar
32093
Scarcity of resources is not the only drive for collective action, even in the case of abundance there may be substantial collective action. It all depends upon the benefits perceived by the individual members. If they believe that joint action has more benefit and reduced risk than such action is likely to be forthcoming. Economics says we are rational beings who try to maximize utility. Be it scarcity or abundance, if people find that utility is being maximized by joint actions then incentives for atomized action would reduce and they will go for collective action.
Mayank Tiwari
32079
Scarcity or abundance are point of view of individuals, the same resource can be treated as scarce by some but another person may be more willing to share the resource because of his abundance mentality. Scarcity is not a determinant of collective action but it is a facilitator that makes many of the individuals, who would not have been part of a collective, take part in it. Scarcity makes people attach a higher value to the resource, hence, they see more benefit in managing the resource collectively and promote collective action.
Kireet Pande
Scarcity of resources may not be the only determinant for collective action ,instead collective action depends on the coherence of individual gains and the community( who more or less are facing the same problem). If by being in a collective an individual can gain more then he will advocate collective action. For example a person having fodder shortage (either because of small landholding or because he has large number of animals)would advocate that "for the good of the community we need to grazing rules for common land" keeping in mind that the rules favor him.
I believe the scarcity or abundance of a resource does not really lead a collective action to capture it unless those pursuing it actually feel that collectively they will be able to benefit more than alone. If people believe that they are better off by themselves. For either an abundant resource or a scarce one people come together so that improve their efficiency and are discouraged if they find no visible advantage.
scarcity of a resource can lead to collective action. but not always. for example, absence of collective action for saving water. although water is scarce resource, but it is rare to see people coming together to save this scarce resource. one reason for could be that harms or disadvantages arising from not saving water are distributed to very large population. so effect on a particular individual is very less. i think more than gain arising from collective action, it is the loss which arise because of absence of collective action which force people to form a collective action.
I share the Gandhian View on this and that too in totality.
"The world has enough to fulfill the need of all but the greed of none."
that for me sums up scarcity or abundance.
salman haider
32089
It seems to be a case of "to each his own". Same resource can be abundant for some and scarce for others. Scarcity is certainly not a determinant of collective action rather it helps in the initiation of the action. The subtractable nature of the resource leads to collective action as without collective action they would not be able to reap its benefits.
Shweta Singh
Scarcity can both result in collective action and can also hinder it. It all depends on how people take the current situation. For those with abundance mentality (seeing the glass as half empty) scarcity will trigger collective action as they will think that this scarcity can be avoided through collective action. But for those with zero-sum mentality (seeing the glass as half full), the scarcity is going to only hinder the collective action as they are of the view that this scarcity is unavoidable.
Raj kamal goldi
(32033)
It is the scarcity of resources, which results in conflicts among the people. People with greater opportunities take advantage of people who have none. The collective action emerges as the best way to manage and get optimum results from those resources.
Durga Satapathy
32065
From the collective action point of view, it can be argued that, whenever there is any scarcity of resources, people will come together to put in an effort to make that resource available within the group. One of the example is that of building a community water tank in a village, where there is scarcity of water.
But scarcity of resources like that of food during draught or cyclone, will certainly not lead to a collective action as in this case the individuals would first like to survive themselves and then think of others.
- Abhishek Misra
(32001)
Although scarcity in itself is a very relative term, it is not hard to define where scarcity may lead to collective action. If i drink 90% of the water in a glass, i am still leaving 10% for you. But the question is- how much water do we both need and whether it is enough for you? Thus whenever a scarcity can be traced to someone else's excessive use, a collective action is prompted.
Arpit Bansal
32009
We say that rich people have control over the resources and hence they have no motive for collective action. It directly adds to the fact that scarcity of resources does motivate people for collective action.But for the poor its a zero-sum situation. All they crave for is improvement and if they see the potential for this in collective action they mostly go for it. Their short run interests are taken care by the co-operatives and so they can think in long terms. Scarcity or abundance do effect the grounds for collective action.
Kajal Kumari
32074
Scarcity of a necessity might become a cause of collective action but this need not be the case always. there can be some other dimensions to it e.g. efficiency(milk co operatives of gujarat) and security (salwa judum)
salman haider
32089
Scarcity may not be always the motivation for the collective action to be taken up. In many situations the poor depend on the present conditions for their survival. But to take up a collective action, scarce resources with the commons have to be pooled and also the benefits are reaped over a longer period of time. The limited options of survival demobilize the collective action. But if the community realizes benefits from the action to be sustainable over a period of time leading to their long term development, the scarce resources can be utilized effectively
Raunak Shashikant Rao (32036)
The cause effect relation between scarcity and collective action has limited applicability. Scarcity may be due to lack of collective action. The poor rather than involving in collective get involved in a zero sum game and may seek patronage and. Scarcity promotes collective action when people recognise scarcity and related uncertainty about tapping benefits- could be tackled in a better way only through collective action which could be achieved more easily in less stratified societies upon stimulation. A stratified society in which those in power have no appreciable benefits through alternative arrangement makes emergence of collective action difficult.
Avinash Kumar(32059)
Scarcity of resource is not the only per-requisite for collective action.Farmer in a village may have large land. To manage it properly he needs to collaborate with others.Collective action also depends on the world view the person has.A scarcity mentality forces the individual to grab the scarce resource.Abundance mentality leads one to believe that there is enough in the world for everyone to use and hence prompts collective action.
Mayank Gaur
p32021
Scarcity does not define collective action per se but acts as a catalyst for the inception of the same. when a group of people come together to ensure optimum utilization of scarce resources is one way through which collective action can be generated. Another way could be when there is a shared understanding among people that there is an urgent need to protect certain resources for the sustenance of the community. An example of this could be the Chipko Movement which was started in 1970s with growing awareness towards rapid deforestation.
Aditi(32052)
if scarcity is limited to an individual then there is limits to collective action,the scarcity should be scarcity to a community or a group of people then only it can drive strong collective action. the other aspect of it is having an abundance mentality & not a scarce one, this will help in sharing the resources in best way possible.
anurag srivastava
32056
Definitely, scarcity is a major driving force of collective action, but it is not the only factor that governs it.People may even come together to maximize their profits/efficiency which individually they wouldn't have been able to pursue. Scarcity can also demobilize a collective action. If people come together for fulfilling a motive and during the course of action realize that the resources being scarce won't meet their requirements, then they disperse from the group thinking that individually they would be able to fetch a higher share of the fruit and satiate their needs.
Avanita
32058
How many times have we seen that marginal farmers coming togther and pooling in their resources to generate collective action? i guess very few and far in between so that proves that scarcity is not the only condition to generate the collective action,there have been istances where people having resources in abundance have generated a collective action to achieve greater benifits.
Harendra
p32067
I would like to give an example here. Time is a scarce resource at times when there are too many submission deadlines close by. At such times, we tend to divide the work among us and work collectively to everyone's benefit. However, even if one of members feel that why he should be a part of it, he not only endangers the collective but also has to do more work alone.
-Bhavi Patel (32011)
Though it is generally believed that scarcity alone leads to collective action, I feel even abundance can lead to collective action. This would happen in a case where even as resources are in plenty, no one person is able to exploit them without joining hands with others. As far as scarcity is concerned, there will be collective action only if people affected by such a scarcity understand the need to come together and there exist a number of factors that bring people on a common platform.
- Swati Vashisth(32098)
When a resource is available in abundance, many a times the user of such a resource will not be unsatisfied even if his need at time t is not completely fulfilled. This because he is aware of the fact that the resource is available and it will not be exhausted the next time he would like to use. However, it is the opposite in case of users of resources which are scarce in nature. They want to consume above their level of need. This leads to the need for appropriate allocation of scarce resource generating collective action.
supriya bajaj
32097
Collective action is mostly seen as last resort, when individual efforts fails to succeed then people come together to make collective action. Scarcity in most conditions forms the pre-requisite for any collective action although exceptions are always there.In order to survive people may come together but most of the times when individuals get better off they follow their own path and thus collevctive action break.
Manas MIttal(P32020)
Post a Comment