Question

Q. What do you understand by the expression ‘ The tragedy of Commons’ as described in your text -book? In light of the same, can you think of a modern example of the tragedy of the commons, where public use without accountability has created a negative outcome? Please elaborate  

500 to 600 words

subject: Introduction to sociology.

Answer 1

'The Tragedy of Commons' is a very influential and generalized concept which opines that when some resorces are available for the unconditional use of all common people or when some resources are common to all individuals, there is a tendency for individuals to overuse or overexploit those resources for their own benefits. These actions directed towards selfish gains not only affects the other common people negatively but also leads to the reduction and finally extinction of those natural or common to all resources. This leads to the tragedy for all these common people. This concept of Tragedy of Commons was mainly put forward by Llyod in the year 1833. He mainly focused on the example of a common land which gets grazed by a large number of cows. He opined that if we allow grazing of that limited area of land by a more than enough number of cows then it will lead to overgrazing and end up making the land not useful to be grazed further. Another way tragedy of commons was also explained by many researchers who opined that if we start fishing as many fish we like from a pond common to all then we will end up being in a position when the pond will be there, our hunger will be there but there won't be any fish left to fish out and eat. Thus, we all must use resources in some limits as this will benefit everyone. If anyone of us gets selfish then this affects all of us and destroys the balance of the ecosystem.

In the modern days when the world is so much focussed on globalization and industrialisation there is a growth in illegal deforestation practises. The forests are natural resources and are common to all but when some industrialists uses them for their own benefits, they end up affecting the ecosystem and thus brings a tragedy for everyone and every commoners. Another example can be given such as a road can only take a certain amount of cars in a horizontal space but we all tend to overtake each other and fight for being ahead. This action directed toward self benefit of being quicker than others affects others by accidents and these accidents may lead to cessation of the road which affects all commoners including us. Thus, according to tragedy of commons, the actions directed towards self benefit on the cost of natural resources ends up in affecting all including us negatively.