ABSTRACT
Social dilemmas are situations in which individuals receive a higher payoff from a socially defecting choice than from a socially cooperative choice, but all individuals are better off if all cooperate than if all defect (Dawes, 1980). The idea that people voluntarily cooperate for the implementation of needed structural change, to resolve social dilemmas, is termed instrumental cooperation (Yamagishi, 1986b). This article is concerned with the discrepancy that exists between the representation of structural change decisions in this area of research and the sociopolitical processes that surround such decision making in real world social dilemmas. To help bridge this gap, a preliminary taxonomy of social structures is proposed to assist in generating further research into potential solutions of social dilemmas and in related research areas.
