# Collective action
## MicroSim spec
- **Recommended sim type:** game-theory payoff grid
- **Microsimmability score:** 66/100
- **Layout:** drawing region (canvas) on top; control region (sliders/buttons) below.
### Parameters (tunable controls)
- `Group size`
- `Cooperation benefit`
- `Contribution cost`
### What animates
Agents decide whether to contribute to a shared good as costs and benefits change.
### Learning objective
Show why individual incentives can undermine a collectively beneficial outcome.
## Links (Wikipedia order)
<!-- injected from _registry/childlinks/Collective_action.json (2026-07-30T02:09:12Z) -->
`Advocacy_group` · `Alexis_de_Tocqueville` · `Anthony_Giddens` · `Anthropology` · `Anti-corruption` · `Arnold_Gehlen` · `Assurance_contract` · `Astrosociology` · `Auguste_Comte` · `Behavioral_contagion` · `Bibliography_of_sociology` · `C._Wright_Mills` · `Charitable_organization` · `Collaboration` · `Collaborative_innovation_network` · `Collective_action_problem` · `Collective_animal_behavior` · `Collective_consumption` · [[Collective_intelligence]] · `Collective_intentionality` · `Communication` · `Comparative_historical_research` · `Computational_sociology` · `Conflict_theories` · `Conformity` · `Constitutional_economics` · `Contact_hypothesis` · [[Convention_(norm)]] · `Conversation_analysis` · `Cooperative_game_theory` · `Coordination_game` · `Coordination_good` · `Criminology` · `Critical_theory` · `Daniel_Bell` · `Demography` · `Deviance_(sociology)` · `Dunbar's_number` · `Economic_sociology` · `Economics` · `Emmanuel_Joseph_Sieyès` · `Environmental_sociology` · `Environmentalism` · `Erich_Fromm` · `Erving_Goffman` · `Ethics_(journal)` · `Ethnography` · `European_Journal_of_Political_Economy` · `Externality` · `Feminist_sociology` · `Ferdinand_Tönnies` · `Fiscal_sociology` · `Fourth_Industrial_Revolution` · [[Game_theory]] · `Georg_Simmel` · `George_Herbert_Mead` · `Gerontology` · `Globalization` · `Goal` · `Group_action_(sociology)` · `Gustave_Le_Bon` · `Harriet_Martineau` · `Helmut_Schoeck` · `Herbert_Spencer` · `Herd_behavior` · `Historical_method` · `Historical_sociology` · `History_of_sociology` · `Human_behavior` · `Human_impact_on_the_environment` · `Identity_(social_science)` · `Index_of_sociology_articles` · `Industrial_sociology` · `Institution` · `Intellectual_property` · `Interview_(research)` · `James_M._Buchanan` · `Jane_Addams` · `Jean_Baudrillard` · `John_Searle` · `Jürgen_Habermas` · `Karl_Mannheim` · [[Karl_Marx]] · `Keith_Dowding` · `Lester_Frank_Ward` · `List_of_sociological_associations` · `List_of_sociologists` · `List_of_sociology_journals` · `Louis_de_Bonald` · `Mancur_Olson` · `Margaret_Gilbert` · `Marxist_sociology` · `Mass_collaboration` · `Mathematical_sociology` · `Max_Weber` · `Medical_sociology` · `Michael_Bratman` · `Michel_Foucault` · `Military_sociology` · `Nash_equilibrium` · `Nation` · [[Niklas_Luhmann]] · `Non-cooperative_game_theory` · `Norbert_Elias` · `Outline_of_organizational_theory` · `Outline_of_sociology` · `Pareto_efficiency` · `Peer_group` · `Pierre_Bourdieu` · `Political_science` · `Political_sociology` · `Polytely` · `Popularity` · `Positivism` · `Postpositivism` · `Power_(social_and_political)` · [[Prisoner's_dilemma]] · `Private-collective_model_of_innovation` · `Psychology` · `Public_sociology` · `Qualitative_research` · `Quantitative_research` · `Raymond_Aron` · `Real_utopian_sociology` · `Resource_mobilization` · `Robert_K._Merton` · `Robert_Nisbet` · `Rural_sociology` · `Self-enforcing_agreement` · `Shoaling_and_schooling` · `Social_Darwinism` · `Social_aspects_of_jealousy` · `Social_complexity` · `Social_construction_of_technology` · `Social_constructionism` · `Social_cycle_theory` · `Social_environment` · `Social_equality` · `Social_equilibrium` · `Social_equity` · `Social_experiment` · `Social_fact` · `Social_group` · `Social_identity_theory` · `Social_movement_theory` · [[Social_network_analysis]] · `Social_psychology_(sociology)` · `Social_research` · `Social_science` · `Social_stratification` · `Social_structure` · [[Society]] · `Sociocybernetics` · `Sociological_theory` · `Sociology` · `Sociology_and_the_history_of_science` · `Sociology_of_Jewry` · `Sociology_of_architecture` · `Sociology_of_art` · `Sociology_of_culture` · `Sociology_of_death` · `Sociology_of_disaster` · `Sociology_of_education` · `Sociology_of_emotions` · `Sociology_of_food` · `Sociology_of_gender` · `Sociology_of_health_and_illness` · `Sociology_of_human_consciousness` · `Sociology_of_immigration` · `Sociology_of_knowledge` · `Sociology_of_language` · `Sociology_of_law` · `Sociology_of_leisure` · `Sociology_of_literature` · `Sociology_of_peace,_war,_and_social_conflict` · `Sociology_of_philosophy` · `Sociology_of_punishment` · `Sociology_of_race_and_ethnic_relations` · `Sociology_of_religion` · `Sociology_of_scientific_knowledge` · `Sociology_of_sociology` · `Sociology_of_space` · `Sociology_of_sport` · `Sociology_of_terrorism` · `Sociology_of_the_Internet` · `Sociology_of_the_body` · `Sociology_of_the_family` · `Sociomusicology` · `Structural_functionalism` · `Survey_(human_research)` · `Symbolic_interactionism` · [[Talcott_Parsons]] · `The_Logic_of_Collective_Action` · `Theodor_W._Adorno` · `Theory_of_generations` · `Thorstein_Veblen` · `Timeline_of_sociology` · `Trade_union` · `Tragedy_of_the_anticommons` · `Tragedy_of_the_commons` · `Urban_sociology` · `Victimology` · [[Vilfredo_Pareto]] · `Visual_sociology` · `W._E._B._Du_Bois` · `Zygmunt_Bauman` · `Émile_Durkheim`
> p5.js MicroSim stub · part of Systems Science · [Wikipedia source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_action)
> Relation: subfield of systems science.
## Concept summary
Collective action concerns how groups of self-interested individuals do (or fail to) cooperate to achieve a shared goal.
## Build checklist
- [ ] Claim it: set `status: in-progress` + `lease` + `leased_at`
- [ ] Write the child page explaining the concept (tie it back to systems science)
- [ ] Finalize parameter ranges and defaults
- [ ] Implement the p5.js sketch (drawing + control regions)
- [ ] Add caption + the learning objective on the page
- [ ] Set `status: done`
## p5.js sketch
```javascript
// MicroSim: Collective action
let controls = {};
function setup() {
// createCanvas(...); create sliders for the parameters above.
}
function draw() {
// background(...); read controls; render game-theory payoff grid; respond live.
}
```
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Back to Systems Science · Wikipedia: [Collective action](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_action)
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## Semiotic profile
> *The semiotic universals this article invokes, machine-derived from the crossref — **unverified** (born so). Populated 2026-07-06 for the Systems room.*
**Universals (2):** 🟡 science (5) · 🟡 system (5)
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## Wikipedia : Wikitube
**Strict pair:** [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_action) : [Wikitube](https://en.wikitube.io/wiki/Collective_action)
## Previous hub tags
Tree parents: [[Complex_system]] · [[Cybernetics]] · [[Emergence]] · [[Feedback]] · [[Self-organization]] · [[Systems_science]] · [[Systems_theory]].
Legacy hubs: none.
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*Sources: 1 legacy note. Minted wave 1, 2026-07-30 (v1.6 order).*