Litter may not be the most pressing problem facing our society, but many people still wish that our streets and parks had less trash strewn about. However, it is difficult to convince people to clean these public areas, which is a problem that sociologists would call
A) a public goods dilemma.
B) the tragedy of the commons.
C) resource mobilization theory.
D) community policing.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A public goods dilemma is a situation where individuals have little incentive to contribute to the public good, such as cleaning up litter in public areas, because they do not have a direct personal benefit from doing so. This leads to a collective action problem where everyone expects someone else to do it and no one ends up doing it. This is likely the reason why it is difficult to convince people to clean up public areas.

Litter May Not Be the Most Pressing Problem Facing Our