Readings Summaries:

The ideal readings summary will look something like this:

Author	Independent variable (s) (aka causes)	Dependent variable (s) (aka effects)	Explicit Premises	Alternative and/or underlying causes / arguments
Olson, Logic of Collective Action	Size of group Nature of group Degree of exclusivity of good Etc…	Different forms of CA Why are some groups more successful at CA? Etc…	Rational actors w/ known interests Homogeneity of CA for business, labor, “citizens”	Offe /Weisenthal: some actors are privileged Are interests known prior to organization?
Marx, Capital	Primitive accumulation Pressure on firms to make profit Pressure on firms to accumulate capital Immiseration of proletariate Etc…	Transformation of more primitive modes of accumulation Expansion of Capitalist MoA. Concentration of capital Revolution	Action is dialectical Economic causes > other causes Etc….	Weber: Social status may be more important than class Skocpol (etc): logic of state may trump economic logics International security system has own logic

Followed by a FEW more discursive paragraphs [ONE PAGE MAXIMUM] that tie the variables together and offer questions for discussion.

Eg: how are olsonian public goods different from “true” public goods? Given multiple, complex and sometimes conflicting interests at the level of the individual, doesn’t collective action always reduce to questions of identity (I organize over this issue because I am an “X”)? etc…