Cookies’ Collective Action Problem
A precursor: Zachary and David have written blog posts about similar sink snags, and excellently at that; but, I would like to suggest that these occurrences, though similar, are also products of selfish misbehavior and not only collective action problems. That being said, living in a dorm is never an easy thing to do. Living in close quarters with any one is a difficult task, whether it be a sister, parent, or friend. Tensions are high during the school year regardless, but six girls confined to one suite for an entire year can be a perfect formula for a lot of unnecessarily catty arguments. Commonly people hear of fights between roommates, fights over objects (or people), and fights over space, especially shared spaces.
Myself and my suitemates
In my suite we have not been fighting over who gets to study with the hunk from the sailing team, nor where to spend our Friday nights, but rather: Who is going to finally clean the filthy communal sink?
It’s gross; it’s unhygienic; it’s starting to produce a pungent odor. This is one chore that really has to be completed. The cleaning of this sink, covered with make-up powder, toothpaste residue, and other unidentifiable substances has become our collective action problem. As one can gather from the teachings of Thomas Hobbes, in the case of a collective action problem, everyone would benefit from cooperation. Unfortunately, no one is willing to physically remove themselves from whatever else is occupying them to grab the sponge, apply some Scrubbing Bubbles™, and wipe the thing down.
My roommate, taking initiative, starting posting passive aggressive sticky notes on the mirror that is positioned above the sink. They said things like, “I’ve cleaned the sink already. Your turn.” and, “Don’t you think it’s time that someone else completed this chore? I’m getting tired.” Her rhetorical questions are on point considering that, according to Hobbes, we are all equal in the state of nature. We all have equal rights and equal abilities, so wouldn’t this also indicate that we have equal responsibilities?
Hobbes also believes that humans are selfish by nature. Everything that we do, we do out of selfish motivations. This could not be more true. Not one of the other girls in my suite is motivated to do anything to solve our collective action problem.
An accurate representation of every afternoon in our suite
Instead, we would all rather stalk the ROTC boys on Facebook or continuing procrastinating on our Calculus homework – anything that would please us as individuals, rather than benefit our commonwealth, the suite.
Knowing myself and the rest of my suite mates, it is unlikely that the sink will be cleaned in the near future. A disgusting prospect, I’m aware. What will it take in order to give us incentive to remove ourselves from our current selfish states? Perhaps a series of threatening emails from the RA, a “feared rather than loved“, Machiavellian-type of approach? Or perhaps the creation of a contract according to which we are all bound to sink-cleaning duty on a particular day? All interesting options, but until then… The sink doesn’t stink that badly and I have another season of Gossip Girl to catch up on.
No comments:
Post a Comment