Participation-Induced Change in Feasible Alternatives: How Taking Part in an Arrangement Changes the Options Left When It Ends
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Restoring an arrangement does not necessarily restore the alternatives its participants once had. Using a service, working within a system, or joining a practice can change the resources people hold, the skills they maintain, and the commitments they make. This paper develops Participation-Induced Change in Feasible Alternatives, the mechanism through which those adjustments alter what remains possible afterward. The paper distinguishes participation, changes in reliance and resources, and the resulting set of feasible alternatives. It assesses restoration against earlier possibilities and the costs of exercising them, while recognizing that participation can open alternatives as well as close them. Research on switching costs provides the nearest comparison; the analysis considers whether actions remain available at all, as well as what changing arrangements would cost. The discussion examines published survey research on the 2016 suspension of Uber and Lyft in Austin, Texas. That research documents changes in travel and vehicle acquisition following the interruption. The paper distinguishes those observations from changes caused by earlier participation and treats persistence after the services returned as a conditional inference. Part of the Relational Conditions and Dynamics series within On Human Modeling, the analysis identifies questions for evaluating a claimed restoration: what participation changed, which earlier options remain feasible, what new alternatives became available, and who bears the consequences when an arrangement ends or returns.
Author: Cary, Alexandra
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225621703
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