Why do so many people volunteer to help others in need in society today? What makes people give up the convenience of driving their car to benefit a better environment? And why are citizens, in general, quite prepared to pay taxes to ensure adequate health care, and support for the elderly and unemployed? These are examples of a more fundamental question addressed in this book: why do people cooperate for the welfare of their community, state, or organization? Cooperation in Modern Society is a unique collection of contributions from internationally reputed scholars across the social sciences.

Part I. Introduction to Cooperation 1. Perspectives on cooperation in modern society: helping the self, the community and society Mark Van Vugt, Mark Snyder, Tom Tyler and Anders Biel 2. Factors promoting cooperation in the laboratory, in common-pool resource dilemmas, and in large-scale dilemmas: similarities and differences Anders Biel Part II. Individual and Collective Restraint in Common Resources 3. Choosing between personal comfort and our environment: solutions to the transportation dilemma Paul Van Lange, Mark Van Vugt and David De Cremer 4. Why do people cooperate in groups? Support for structural solutions to social dilemma problems Tom R. Tyler 5. An economic analysis of compliance with fishery regulations Aaron Hatcher, Olivier Thebaud and Shabbar Jaffry 6. Collective cooperation in common-pool resources Edella Schlager Part III. Individual and Collective Action in Common Goods 7. Doing good for self and society: volunteerism and the psychology of citizen participation Mark Snyder and Allen M. Omoto 8. Workplace justice and the dilemma of organizational citizenship Russell Cropanzano and Zinta S. Byrne 9. Identity and protest: how group identification helps to overcome collective action dilemmas Bert Klandermans 10. But taxpayers do cooperate! Henk Elffers 11. Willingness to contribute to the finance of public social services Daniel Eek, Anders Biel and Tommy Gärling 12. The universal welfare state as a social dilemma Bo Rothstein Part IV. Commentary 13. Context, norms and cooperation in modern society: a post-script David M. Messick