Drivers and Free Riders: Collective and Private Rationalities in an Ecomovement

In: Politics & policy, Volume 25, Issue 2, p. 231-252

Abstract

Why do citizens with a common interest in providing a public good fail to act on that interest? Private‐rationality theory maintains that individuals are most concerned with private goods and will tend to ride free on the efforts of a few activists. Other theorists contend that citizens are public‐interested and therefore a collective rationality can override individualistic concerns. Empirical research, however, has yet to compare the two theories in a single design. This paper examines the two perspectives with data from a protest movement against a nuclear waste facility. The findings offer little support for private‐rationality theory. Few opponents of the facility rode free, and variables for private rationality failed to predict participation. Instead, participation was extensive and variables for collective rationality were significantly related. Solidarity, political alienation, ideology, and political interest had a positive effect on protest. The study validates recent scholarly attempts to de‐economize and re‐socialize political analysis.