Reading 16 Many Hands Make Light the Work: The Causes and Consequences of Social Loafing

There is an old saying that “many hands makelight the work.” This saying is interesting for two reasons. First, it captures one of the promises of social life-that with social organization people can fulfill their individual goals more easily through collective action. When many hands are available, people often do not have to work as hard as when only a few are present. The saying is interesting in a second, less hopeful way-it seems that when many hands are available, people actually work less hard than they ought to.