Evaluating Collective Action Theory Through Cross-Cultural Analysis of Pre-Modern States

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

This research by two anthropologists will make use of probability sampling and comparative research methods to better understand how collective action can develop in the governance of pre-modern states. This is an interesting problem, because collectively-based organizations may be unstable due to behavioral problems. Ideally, compliant taxpayers produce surpluses that go to a communal fund controlled by rulers that benefits the collectivity (public goods), but tensions may develop owing to the fact that rulers and subjects will expect each other to behave appropriately with respect to the production and distribution of public goods. Ruler agency (appropriation of public goods for personal benefit) and subject free riding (benefiting from public goods but not contributing to their production) may threaten organizational stability. To assure that collective organizations can function, institutions must be developed to detect and control both agency and free riding. To evaluate the theory, and to better understand how such institutional features have been developed in complex societies, the research will code data from the Human Relations Area Files and other sources on 40 to 50 well-described cases from all world areas. Variables to be coded include measures of public goods (such as roads, public water systems, public safety, and redistributive economies), subject tax compliance, "voice" (the ability of subjects to communicate opinions to rulers), and "exit" (the opportunity for dissatisfied subjects to leave the polity), as well as ruler behavior monitoring and controls, ruler morality, and measures of income and expenditures which affect policy. This research will advance our understanding of the nature and causes of variation in pre-modern states and will evaluate the degree to which collective action theory can be applied in diverse social and cultural settings. The research should be of interest to a wide range of students in the biological and social sciences interested in the evolution of cooperative social behavior, including the social and cultural origins of democracy.