Collective action takes off only once a small, highly motivated core has absorbed the initial cost.
Oliver and Marwell's finding: the core absorbs disproportionate cost, and only after they have does the majority find participation cheap. It is why movements look futile until abruptly they do not.
In practice
- Three people start a monthly reading group and carry it for a year at real cost before it becomes something people join casually.
- A neighbourhood recycling scheme is unusable until enough households join to justify the collection, and the first households get the worst service.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Networks & Collective Behavior
- Essay
- How connections shape what crowds do