Page 117 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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The Fourth Information Revolution

Figure 3.1. Hypothetical effects of contemporary information technology on
the capacity to organize collective action.
direct mail, for example, average 30 cents to one dollar per letter sent,
depending on how elaborate the message. 22 These costs require larger,
resource-rich groups to choose carefully how to expend their resources,
and they cause more modest groups to often forgo efforts at organizing
collective action altogether.
The relationship between capacity to organize collective action and
marginal resource requirements is illustrated schematically in Figure 3.1
by the solid line. In this theoretical curve, the relationship between re-
sources and organizational capacity has a key feature: a threshold near
the origin. The small slope near the origin reflects the fact that groups
with very few resources are typically unable to mount effective collective
action on any substantial scale. In many cases, only after resources reach a
critical threshold, which should vary by group and issue area, are groups
able to begin to mobilize citizens in an appreciable way. Research by

22
Direct mail campaigns to 100,000 citizens cost from $30,000 for a simple letter in
a printed envelope using an internal mailing list, to $100,000 for a letter, brochure,
and reply-card envelope, along with the purchase of a mailing list. Source: Direct
Marketing Association, 2000.

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