Part 1: Theories and Concepts of STS
3 Tragedy of the Commons
Riley Karsen Lovelace; Nick Allan Rodgers; Leah C Chappell; Liam Dennis Wood; Cole Thomas Gaccione; Morgan Breanna Reeves; Caleb Eickhoff; Nick Sanborn; Elizabeth K Bland; Giulia Emanuel; and Patrick James Orr
Definition
The Tragedy of the Commons is the social dilemma involving the exploitation of common resources because these resources are shared and human beings act in self interest. This issue affects people from all walks of life, all over the world, of all socio-economic statuses, and all backgrounds. In the early 1970’s the general public was made aware of the effects of Tragedy of the Commons theory proposed by Garrett Hardin in the late 1960s. It is generally viewed as an economic issue, but it can be applied to many situations. An occurrence of this phenomenon was described in Hardin’s, Tragedy of the Commons and an overview is provided in this video:
What is the Tragedy of the Commons (embedded video)
As countries and economies have continued to develop, the theory of Tragedy of the Commons does so as well. One modern tale of the theory is described:
“Embedded in a capitalist economy, firms compete by striving for supernormal profits, gaining quick benefits based on short-term outlooks, outsourcing intolerable working conditions, and low wages to poor developing countries with weak social protection (Meisinger, 2022).”
In today’s society tragedy of the commons can be seen in the exploitation of resources by large corporations in search of large profits. It has been a trend in the last decade that companies are willing to sacrifice creating lasting environmental consequences in order to earn higher profits. This can also be seen in finding locations where there are less working condition regulations.
Challenges
The theory of Tragedy of the Commons has been incredibly influential in many different disciplines. Given it was developed in 1968 by Hardin, a man well known for his work in ecology and natural selection, it is worth exploring its relevance in this decade. Hardin’s model assumes that individuals are short-term, self-interested “rational” actors, seeking to maximize their own gains. This would mean that such individuals will exploit commons (have more babies, add more cattle to pastures, pollute the air, etc) if they believe the costs to them individually are less than the benefits. But is this true? Consider the modern-day example of the community garden. How do community gardens prosper? Hardin would believe that the expected behavior is to clean out all the tomatoes before your neighbor can get his share. Yet, most community gardens do thrive. In taking a closer look at Hardin’s claim that “any competitor knows that unrestrained competition will ultimately result in one victor” it becomes apparent that there may be exceptions to this absolute statement in which commons can be successfully managed (Frischmann et al. 2019).
Perhaps the most well-known challenger of H