> These single tenants were the ones who held out the longest against
> it. Maybe they were selfish thoughtless people who took it for
> granted they were entitled to rattle around in their half-empty
> houses while other people, all battlers themselves, subsidised them.
That is quite common in coops and community organizations. Few do the work and take any responsibility, but but eberyone expects services to be delivered. That is a well know phenomenon of "free rider" prominently featuring in the rat choice model. The argument is that thetransaction of cost of participation in managing collective goods is relatively high, but benefits acrue to all members of the collectivity, so a rat choice actor has an incentive not to participate and reap the benefets anyway.
Of course, if we intriduce cognitive aspect tro this approach we can easily see that the "free-rider" argument hinges on the cognitive ability to "filter out" the long term consequences of nonparticipation from the equation. That is to say, the argument works only if we assume a frame of reference that considers only short term gains/costs. If, otoh, we assume a farme of reference that includes long term losses and benefits (i.e. if I get involved now, it may require some sacrifices, but I will benefit in a long run) - the free rider argument is a nonsequitur. The key question is thus which frame of reference, short or long term, and individual will use to process all potentially available information into cons and pros to be legitimately considerd in making a decision (which almost invariably involved disregarding some of that potentially relevant information). I would argue, that a particular frane of reference is adopeted as a result of social interaction (i.e. how the issue id framed by others, what is the status of others, what legitimating mechanisms are used by others, etc.). [shameless self-promotion: I wrote about in my book _Civil Society and the Professions in Eastern Europe_ where I discuss the role of theprofessions and organizational forms in innovation dissemination].
It seems that in many cooperative housing establishments, the culture of poverty prevails and sets the frame for interaction among residents - or at least that has been my own experience.
Wojtek