The term collective action is very ambiguous depending on the area in which we find ourselves. Also called social actions, collective actions do not have an exact origin, because for a long time we humans have been in charge of organizing ourselves in groups or small collectives in order to achieve goals common that we could not otherwise achieve.
Benefits of collective action
Regarding the most common characteristics of collective actions, we find:
- In the political sphere, they are ideal for solving social problems in a very effective way
- They offer relative organizational stability in a collective of people, groups or any other form of organization
- They focus on achieving specific ideas, objectives or goals
- Joint work makes it possible to achieve those ideas, objectives or goals that have been raised
The most common forms of collective action in the economic sphere are the governments of the countries, which through leyes and political actions are directed at a group of users (citizens) to provide the necessary help to meet their needs.
Along with this, we have to include the provision of public goods and infrastructure through the collaboration of two or more individuals and assess the impact it generates.
Obviously, to meet the needs of citizens it is necessary to have infrastructure or public goods that allow such actions to be carried out. The implementation of collective actions is linked to the appearance of public infrastructures that allow their execution.
A very simple example is that of public education. In order to carry out the collective actions that are undertaken (advice, content teaching, transmission of values, etc ...) the existence of infrastructures is necessary (such as public centers, parks, etc.). Thanks to them, the actions that are carried out collectively can be carried out without any problem.