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What Makes Collective Goods a Shared Concern?

Re-Constructing the Construction of the Collectiveness of Goods

Institut für Soziologie, Universität Bielefeld, Germany, annette.schnabel{at}mail.uni-bielefeld.de

When dealing with collective phenomena, rational choice theories (RCT) focus mainly on the collective good problem. However, the question of how a collective good becomes a shared concern has not been considered up to now. This article demonstrates theoretical possibilities to answer this question within the frame of reference of RCT. It is argued that issues become shared ones if actors adapt socially shared situational definitions and valuations (e.g. ideologies). This can be understood as a rational choice between several options that provide individual benefits. Such an adaptation occurs only under particular circumstances that can be derived from RCT. At the same time, rational actors influence and shape situational definitions and valuations during the process of adapting them.

Key Words: collective goods • framing • ideology • rational choice • social movements

Rationality and Society, Vol. 18, No. 1, 5-34 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1043463106060151


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